Build trust with your audience, while improving your search ranking.
Experiences vary user to user, and showing transparency with a complete review profile (good and bad) is very powerful.
97% of consumers looked online for local businesses in 2017, with 12% looking for a local business online every day
85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations
Positive reviews make 73% of consumers trust a local business more
49% of consumers need at least a four-star rating before they choose to use a business
Responding to reviews is more important than ever, with 30% naming this as key when judging local business.
REPLY, REPLY, REPLY - IT MAKES THE DIFFERENCE
The Positive Review: If your customer commits time to give you a positive review, sending a reply quickly to let those happy customers know you appreciate their feedback and their business.
The Negative Review: Take this as an opportunity to grow. Critical reviews can sting, but successful business owners remain calm, cool, and collected. When you respond outline a plan to fix the situation.
Respond directly to the reviewer using the direct message feature. Try to dig in and get more information about what happened. Thank them for reaching out and give them a way to communicate with you offline to get the situation resolved. Thank the reviewer for their feedback, outline steps you have taken to resolve the issue, and urge them to contact you to talk further about what happened. Your thoughtful response shows that you value feedback and want your customers experience to be exceptional. Even if the reviewer never responds, this allows you to showcase your business practices to all of your future customers.
HOW TO GET MORE YELP REVIEWS
A large variety of reviews are important. Per Yelp’s guidelines, Yelp does not want your business to solicit or ask for reviews. Reviews should come naturally, and at the will of each reviewer. This does not mean that you can’t make it easy on your site and in your storefront for people to leave reviews. The difference is subtle, but important.
YELP REVIEWS INCREASE SEARCH
As your ranking increases on Yelp, which happens as a consequence of getting both a lot of reviews and high-rated reviews, people will get to know your business and visit your website.
This will help a lot in local SEO, especially when people look for simple terms like, “where’s the best steak in town?”