When you are visiting a business for the first time, do you check their website or Facebook page before you visit? Most people do that now. If there are customer reviews, do you read them? A recent study says 90% of people do.
Reviews are quickly becoming the new word-of-mouth. If a site has 50 reviews and they have a rating of 4.9/5 it’s a good indicator that it is a good place to do business. But how did businesses get people to write a review? Is the 4.9 a real number? To me, this seems almost too good to be true.
We have a client that received a scathing Google review from someone – who it seems – was never a customer. Yes, that happens too. How did the business handle that review? They solicited happy customers to write good reviews to nullify the bad one. And yes, that happens a lot as well.
Unsolicited reviews are usually the most believable. A good example of this is Tripadvisor. Resorts, hotels, restaurants and attractions live and die by Tripadvisor, because the reviews are generally real. When you are planning a vacation, and you will again someday, you visit Tripadvisor to find the best place to stay. It’s what we do now.
Does your business get reviews? Do you have a formal process in place to solicit them? Ask your satisfied customers to give you a review. A recent survey stated that 57% of consumers would use a business with a three star rating and 94% would use a business with a four star rating. If your competitors aren’t soliciting reviews, they will be soon. You better get a jump on them, now!