When consumers are armed with a camera and the power to review businesses, the owner must either deal with the situation or the impending negative review.
Customers now run the internet. One tweet at Delta for their horrible record of on-time flights could spark a stipend and an apology.
Google has evolved how search engine results pages are ranked. The company ranks your page equity through the number of visitors, the relevance of content, the sites to which you link and get linked.
97% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses in 2017
85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations
Customers report that positive reviews make 73% of them trust a company more
Almost half of the consumers said they need a four-star ranking before using a business worry-free.
30% of reviewers named “response to reviews” as a critical component in choosing a business
68% of consumers left a local business review when asked
Online reviews are one step removed from word of mouth. Connecting profiles to Facebook or Google make consumers more human and trustworthy.
Good business owners must address nasty online reviews.
Harvard Business Review found that businesses that respond to negative reviews online resulted in better ratings overall. Your customers are human beings, and the value of empathetic and compassionate customer service leads to more reviews, particularly positive ones.
The internet created millions of journalists and critics. You can leave your opinion of businesses across Google, Facebook, Yelp, and many others.
This helps all involved.
Consumers use reviews to build expectations. If I choose a cheaper product with fewer stars on Amazon, I shouldn’t be surprised when it breaks within a week.
Reviews provide information. When I chose to buy a refurbished Mac for half the price, I made a trade-off of money for risk.
Businesses can use reviews to fix critical problems. While many reviews don’t provide constructive criticism, owners can dive in to find problems.
Reviews aren’t proportional to your income (they are to your review history) because your comments are more valuable since you’re reviewing different kinds of businesses.
Google reviews verify identity and use your real name, so you sacrifice anonymity for review power. They’ve developed algorithms to punish companies that pay for fake reviews or directly compensate customers.