97% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses. That’s a lot of people. This is why it’s important to be aware of your reviews and respond to them whenever you can. Any negative review is an opportunity to show your professionalism and turn an angry customer into a happy one. If you’re still not sure whether or not you should spend your time monitoring and responding to reviews, or paying someone to do it for you, check out these reasons reviews can have a major impact on your business.

Reputation

Your reviews are honest feedback of what your customers think of you, so it’s no surprise that your reviews, and your response to your reviews, shape your reputation. For example let’s take two businesses, Business A and Business B. They both have the same rating of 4.5. Business A thanks their positive reviews, showing their gratitude for their customers, but ignores the negative ones. Business B also thanks their positive reviews. But, instead of ignoring the negative ones, they respond, asking the customer for more details on what went wrong and offering ways to fix the situation.

Which business do you think a customer is more likely to work with? Business B. By responding to negative reviews and trying to fix the situation, Business B showed that they care more about their customers and that they are willing to go above and beyond to ensure good customer service and satisfaction. This will have a far larger positive impact on their reputation than simply ignoring the negative reviews. This is especially important since 89% of customers will read a business response to a review. Take every negative review as an opportunity to defend or even improve your reputation and show your customers that you care about them.

Revenue

On top of your reputation, your revenu is also impacted by the reviews customers leave. 94% of consumers will avoid a business with a bad review. That’s a huge loss of revenue. In the example above, Business B would be losing less revenue by resolving situations with unhappy customers than Business A would.

When you’re a local business you can’t afford to miss out on revenue because of a bad review. That’s why it’s so important to reach out to anyone who left a negative review, so you can try to resolve any issues and maybe even turn it into a positive review.

Hiring

Your online reviews can also impact your ability to hire good employees. Your products and services aren’t the only things people can leave reviews for. Your current and previous employees can also leave ratings on the workplace through sites like indeed and glassdoor. A poor rating could stop someone from applying to work for your business.

Search Engine Ranking

The purpose of the ranking in Google search results is to deliver the best experience to customers. So it’s no surprise that Google will trust your customers more than you. Too many bad reviews will sink you to the bottom of search results, while having more positive reviews will boost you to the top. Have you ever noticed that when you search for something online, the businesses with the highest rating will display at the top?

Sources:

https://www.brightlocal.com/research/local-consumer-review-survey/