What effect do Google reviews have on your business? Can bad reviews really have that much of an impact on sales? Can bad reviews prevent your business from getting new customers? The answer is a hard yes.
Bad Reviews And Your Reputation
Reviews can affect sales in all sorts of ways. At the very least, people look at the average review score. In one survey, 78% of online reviewers said that seeing a business respond made them trust that business more. Simply put, if you are one-star lower than your competitor, people will go to your competitor.
More Than The Score Matters
Beyond the score of the reviews, there are the reviews themselves. While it is extremely rare for someone to read every review, many people do read a handful of reviews. The amount they read depends on what level of involvement they are putting into buying the product or service. For something that costs a lot of money or something they are very passionate about they are likely to read many reviews before making a decision. However, even in these cases, your top reviews will usually leave the first and foremost impression. If those aren’t good they won’t even be interested enough to care about the rest.
Bad Online Reviews And SEO
According to the 2017 Local SEO Ranking Factors study, Google My Business reviews that included the searched-for keyword were the second-most influential factor when examining a local business’ performance in the “Local Pack,” the box of local search and map results that appears at the top of relevant searches in Google. A company with multiple bad reviews will have a lesser ranking on Google results, which can make the customer likely to not even see your business.
Ultimately, it comes down to this: people trust other customers more than they trust what you say about yourself. Other customers have extremely high credibility to a neutral observer, while the business has a neutral credibility. This makes word of mouth, especially word of mouth that is seen immediately after googling someone’s business, is the most valuable marketing there is
Luckily, NTFS can help you manage these things and more with our reputation management services. Interested in learning more? Contact us today!
