In today's digital age, online reviews have become an important and essential part of the consumer decision-making process. According to a survey conducted by BrightLocal, 92% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase, and 84% trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. This means that for local businesses, online reviews can make or break their reputation and ultimately impact their bottom line.

Why Do Local Businesses Need Reviews?

Online reviews provide social proof, which is a concept that says people are more likely to trust something if they see others trust it too. Like groupthink, positive reviews can help build credibility and trust with potential customers and search engine algorithms, while negative reviews can deter them. This is especially important for local businesses to know so that they can handle negative reviews professionally and continuously generate positive reviews.

Online reviews also provide valuable feedback for local businesses. Reviews can provide insights into what customers like and dislike about a business, as well as areas for improvement. This feedback can be used to make changes that can help improve the overall customer experience, ultimately leading to happier customers and a virtuous cycle of more positive reviews.

Online reviews can also impact a local business's search engine optimization (SEO) score. Google's search algorithm takes into account the quantity and quality of online reviews when ranking businesses in local search results. This means that businesses with more positive reviews and higher ratings are more likely to appear at the top of search results, making them more visible to new, potential customers.

Beyond earning the trust of customers and algorithms, regularly acquiring positive reviews can benefit your business in the following ways:

• Brand Awareness. Online reviews are a digital marketing tool that keeps on giving. How? Your customers are actually doing some of the marketing for you! Reviews will build your brand awareness and credibility for your business and offer potential customers a greater incentive to trust and choose your business.
• Improve SEO. Not only will reviews spread your business’s name, but it will also improve your rank within organic search results! When your brand racks up positive reviews, it will become more credible to search engines and they will serve your business more often and in better rankings.
• Drive Traffic to Your Website. One of your main digital marketing goals for your business is getting people to visit your website to make a purchase. If a potential customer is reading online reviews about your business and decides they want to learn more or buy, the next step is for them to visit your website! Reading reviews also inherently means that the online user already has some interest in engaging with your business and positive reviews can help seal their decision to buy.

How Review Marketing at RevLocal Can Help Your Local Business

Running a local business can make you busy but generating and responding to reviews shouldn't fall to the wayside.

At RevLocal, we have a review marketing and management platform that can help your business gain and manage your reviews to keep your reputation in order. With 89% of consumers reading the business responses to reviews, having a strategy that is dedicated to managing and collecting reviews is paramount to your business’s success.

When you leverage our review marketing services, you will build trust with your customers and drive referrals more than you ever have before.

Final Thoughts

Reviews aren’t an aspect of your digital marketing that you should overlook, no matter how busy you may be. Review management is an ongoing strategy that our team at RevLocal can help with! Check out this quick video to learn more about how we can help!

To learn how RevLocal can help you with every aspect of digital marketing for your business, contact us for a free consultation!