Take a look at the some of these businesses:
Search Term : Best hair salons in Yaletown
Which ones you would consider purchasing a service from?
We showed these images to 10 different people. Here are the businesses that got the most votes from each search term:
- CüR Laser and Skin
- LA Dental Clinic
- Pink Lime Salon and Spa
Does that ranking match your choices? Do you see what’s common between the 3 top choices? Their customers love them and it shows in their reviews.
Your clients might be fans of yours, but does it show in your online presence? If not, then you should consider reputation management software to manage your online reviews. At ElementIQ, we use and recommend BirdEye.
Why Reviews Are Important
As per this Local Consumer Review Survey conducted by Bright Local in 2018, here are 3 charts that explain the growing importance of online reviews among various age demographics:
Chart #1: Do You Read Reviews For Businesses?
Key finding: 86% of consumers read reviews for local businesses.
Chart #2: What Is Your Typical Next Step After You Read A Positive Review?
Key finding: 50% of consumers visit local businesses’ websites after reading positive reviews (including 69% of 55+).
Chart #3: How Many Online Reviews Do You Read Before You Can Trust A Business?
Key finding: Consumers read an average of 10 reviews (up from 7 in 2017).
Insights:
- Online reviews are important to your customers - they are looking to interact with businesses that have a strong review profile.
- Online reviews are important to customers of all age groups - albeit not equally.
- The trend of consumers researching a business by reading reviews is on the rise - more people are reading a higher number of reviews before deciding if they want to further research a local business.
Why You Should Use BirdEye For Reputation Management
There are a few different review management tools out there, but BirdEye is our preferred choice because it's credible, effective, and simple to use!
Credibility - It's one of few such tools that is fully integrated with Google. It also has one of the widest selection of websites that you can manage reviews on, including Facebook, Yelp, ZocDoc, Homestars and many more. We have seen Google and Yelp remove a number of reviews for various businesses when they are unable to trust the authenticity of a review - this is less likely to happen when reviews are generated using BirdEye.
Simplicity - BirdEye makes it really easy to ask for a review, analyze trends using available data insight charts, and, respond to reviews on different places from one central platform.
Effectiveness - Each of the 3 businesses highlighted at the beginning of this blog post have built a stronger review profile than their immediate competitors. Need we say more?
Features We Love The Most
While being simple, there are a few awesome things you can do - like responding to reviews from within BirdEye and measuring the effectiveness of your review management initiatives from an insightful dashboard. Let's elaborate.
Responding to reviews - We already mentioned that BirdEye is fully integrated with Google. This means BirdEye users are able to respond to Google review from within BirdEye. When you click on ‘Reply’ for other platforms like Yelp and Facebook, you will be directed to your listings where you can post a reply.
Microsite - BirdEye automatically creates a microsite for all registered businesses. The microsite contains basic business information, live reviews from multiple platforms and a form users can use to book appointments. This also has positive SEO effects, as we have seen the microsite make top 10 search results for business name search phrases.
Get Your Business To Become Your Customers Preferred Choice
Imagine that you are trying to pick a place to get a laser skin treatment, or dental implants or a haircut or a pizza. Would you go on Google and search for ‘best ___ near me’? Who would you trust with your health, time and money?
Your customers screen their choices when they search for service providers like yourself - make sure you appear in top search results and ensure that your businesses review profile is compelling buyers to choose you! Contact us and we'll help you set up your online persona in a way that lets your reviews shine and attract new business!
