Do You Read Online Customer Reviews to Find Whether a Local Business is a Good Business?
One of the questions the survey wanted answer for was whether clients read online customer reviews to determine whether a local business was a good one. The finding was that around 85% consumers read online reviews for local businesses; this is much more than the 76% in 2012.
The survey found that most of the consumers consider reading online reviews as a logical step in their purchasing cycle. The review of a local product or service helps them determine whether their issue can be resolved with that particular product or service.
How Many Consumers Search for Business Types Online?
Survey also found that consumers depend on customer reviews mostly for lifestyle businesses such as restaurants (61% compared to 46% in 2012), doctors/dentists (32% compared to 21% in 2012) and more. It is important, that businesses should maintain a good online reputation to ensure that the searchers are converted into customers.
Do You Consider Online Reviews As Good As Personal Recommendations?
According to the survey, most of the consumers consider online reviews as good as personal recommendations. Around 79% of the consumers trust the reviews compared to 72% in 2012.
How Many Online Reviews Are Necessary For the Consumers to Believe In a Business?
Around 67% consumers read 6 or less reviews before trusting a business, which was 52% in 2012. Only 22% of consumers read more than 10 reviews which is much lower than the statistics (35%) in 2012.
The survey also point outs that customers give more importance to the authenticity of the reviews. Customers are now more aware about review spam. Local business sites can definitely turn their visitors into customers by providing genuine online customer reviews. But they should also make stringent efforts to eliminate review spam from their sites or applications.
Online Customer Reviews to Choose a Local Business
The survey sought to find whether the reviews affected the consumers’ opinion on a local business and their selection. In the former case, the survey found around 73% (58% in 2012) of consumers trust a business more when it has many positive online reviews.
What emerges is that a good section of consumers forms an opinion of a local business on the basis of online reviews. If the reviews of a particular business are not managed properly, it will result in negative reputation and directly affect the customer acquisition and revenue.
Influence of Online Reviews in Customers Decision Making to Select a Local Business
Regarding the influence reviews had in customers’ decision making to select a business, around 65% (increased from 52% in 2012) of consumers decide to use a local business on the basis of positive reviews.
It is clear that consumers give much importance to customer reviews while choosing a local business over their competitors. If you are a local business owner, you should not rely on advertisements alone to increase brand reputation; you must focus on making available more positive online customer reviews. Rather than focusing solely on brand awareness, you need to listen to and care about what customers think about your product and act quickly to solve their problems. Then only you can expect positive reviews that will recommend your products to others.
Consult an expert for the proper management of online customer reviews. An experienced search engine optimization company providing reliable reputation management and social media optimization services can be a great support in this regard. Such a company can increase your local presence, targeted traffic and conversions. Their reputation management service will help mitigate any negative online reviews that may be doing you damage.