There’s no doubt that online reviews are beneficial to you and your brand. More and more people are using reviews from sites like Google and Yelp to influence their decisions. Ninety-four percent of consumers would use a business with a four-star rating.2
But what do you do with the middle-of-the-road reviews? The acceptable three stars? Most businesses tend to ignore these reviews, believing that they have minimal impact or provide little return. But here are three ways you and your practice can leverage these mediocre reviews to gain some five-star benefits.
1. Make a More Trustworthy Brand
When scrolling through Amazon, how often have you passed up too-good-to-be-true deals because 100% of their product reviews had five stars? It sounds a bit fishy, right? Well, most people would agree. According to recent statistics, 30% of consumers assume online reviews are fake if there are no negative reviews, and 68% actually trust reviews more when they see both good and bad scores.2
In our day and age where online personas are easy to fake, the same can be said of brands. Consumers are more conscious of this and are doing their due diligence by weeding out the false advertisements. A fair review with a well-written explanation may legitimize your business and be more meaningful to your potential customer.
2. Boost Your SEO
Businesses with a significant number of reviews on their Google My Business page will rank well in their local pack. Even if the reviews are three stars, the number of them indicates to Google that this is a legitimately popular business.
According to Local SEO Guide’s “2017 Local SEO Ranking Factors,” “Reviews are obviously a driving factor of ranking in Google My Business pack results. The prominence of reviews isn’t particularly shocking, as it’s a way for Google to crowdsource ranking factors, it’s hard to spam, and the most problematic type of abuse is illegal.”1
The more popular the business, the more Google thinks people will want to use it, and the higher Google will rank your business. It’s important to note that the quality of the review also has a large impact. What is being said about your practice factors into how people and Google perceive your business.
3. Navigate Trends of Improvements
On that note, you can leverage the comments left with these three-star reviews and pinpoint areas of improvement. Fixing minor problems in customer service or answering small gripes can be relatively easy and go a long way. Not only does it give you direction on where to start making progress, it shows your existing and potential customers that you are paying attention and care enough to act on their feedback.
If you would like to learn more about how you and your business can leverage online reviews, please contact us today to learn more about our amazing online review program.
Sources
1. http://www.localseoguide.com/guides/local-seo-ranking-factors/
2. https://storage.googleapis.com/wordpress-www-vendasta/2016/08/50-Stats-You-Need-to-Know-About-Online-Reviews-white-label.jpg