How do reviews influence consumers?

Quite simply, reviews have become a huge part of consumers’ buying decisions over the past 10 years. Reviews form a large part of web search results these days, so it’s very difficult to ignore a poor rating or feedback from dissatisfied customers.

According to the Local Consumer Review Survey, 91% of consumers believe that positive reviews drive them to use or buy from a business. We can say that a review is positive or negative is something subjective, especially if it’s a rating with stars, however, consumers are influenced by the impression caused by the reviews they consult.

For this reason, companies must ensure that the opinions they receive are mostly positive and this can be achieved by listening to customer feedback and improving in the areas of opportunity where they complain the most. However, a viable option is found on web sites like thebusiness.reviews that offer a service of real reviewers with truthful and honest opinions that go unnoticed by Google’s algorithm.

Like positive reviews, negative reviews have a strong impact on a customer’s purchasing decisions. 82% of consumers are less likely to buy or choose a business after reading negative reviews. 39% of local businesses have a rating of less than 4 stars on Google, which means that many businesses are losing much of their potential customers

We know there are clients who don’t like our services, however, it’s best to always be courteous and respond quickly to their comments to learn more details and offer a clear solution to other potential clients who may be reading. A bad review won’t always give your business a bad reputation.

How many reviews do consumers read?

An average consumer consults around 10 reviews before trusting a company or deciding to buy a product, which means that having few reviews is not good.

Both the 18 to 34 age group and the 35 to 54 age group now read more reviews than in 2018 before trusting a company. The younger group now needs to read 13 reviews, while last year it read 11. The 35-54 age group used to read 9 reviews, now it reads 11. This doesn’t mean you only need 10 reviews, now more than ever it’s very important build a reputation management strategy focused on generating a constant stream of reviews.

On review sites like Google, reviews are not ordered from newest to oldest. Voting for helpful reviews can be one way to influence the order in which your business reviews are displayed. Invite your friends and clients to vote for positive reviews to position them at the top of the list so that your potential clients can first see good opinions about your business or service.

It can also be useful to encourage your customers to comment in their reviews about factors that other customers may be looking for, such as your services, products or attributes that stand out to you, such as being pet friendly.

We recommend that you do not focus only on one review site. 70% of consumers consult multiple sites before choosing a local business. In addition to Yelp, Google, TripAdvisor, and Facebook, there are numerous specialized review sites that allow consumers to easily compare similar services. It’s important for companies to monitor each review site.

At thebusiness.reviews we can help you get positive reviews, increase your search engine rankings and get more customers. Contact us.