As of this year, reviews from sites like Google, Yelp, Trip Advisor and more have racked up a 93 percent influence on consumer purchasing decisions.

This percentage is just one piece of the endless list of statistics that prove just how powerful online reviews are to the success of a business.

Read this blog to see a breakdown of the influence of online reviews.

Don't assume, however, that review success comes from merely having good reviews. This is what has gotten a lot of businesses into trouble recently, especially with websites like TripAdvisor.

Fraudulent Reviews

So, what is wrong with having good reviews anyway? TripAdvisor recently ran metrics on businesses with online reviews and found that of all the reviews that were submitted in 2018, 2.1 percent of them were fraudulent.

This means that of the 66 million reviews that were submitted to the website in 2018, 1.4 million of those were fake. Businesses got those fake reviews either from biased sources or purchased reviews.

TripAdvisor has not taken these fraudulent ways of getting online reviews lightly. They have a three-phased system of punishments for business listings that have fake reviews:

1. The first penalty on a business is a temporary ranking penalty.
2. Next, they will ban those in question of writing false reviews from creating any content. These individuals will also be prohibited from creating new accounts as a way of keeping them from continuing to writing these fake reviews.
3. Extreme cases will call for a penalty badge on the business page which has been getting falsified reviews. This badge will serve as a warning to potential customers regarding the fraudulent actions that the business has taken part in.

How to Get Genuine Reviews

There are some severe consequences to pay when businesses partake in getting fake reviews, and it is not worth losing business credibility. Here are some of the best ways to gain authentic and valuable reviews on your business listings:

1. Ask for reviews, but only when it is appropriate. It should be relatively easy to gauge whether a customer is enjoying their experience at a business. If they seem pleased with your business, you may then find it appropriate to ask them to leave a quick review on one of your business listings. Customers are willing to help; sometimes, you just need to remind them!
2. Be accessible. If a customer quickly goes to Google to leave your business a review but you don't have a business listing on there, then they are likely to quit their efforts to give you a review. Make sure to get your business listed on multiple review sites like Google, Yelp and Facebook so you can be easily accessible to people who want to leave a review of your business.
3. Interact with reviews. Remember to show customers that you appreciate their support of your business. Even if it may not be a good review, responding allows you to resolve the issue at hand. It also shows others who visit your business listing your efforts to improve customer experiences.

Are you looking for more information on how to respond to negative reviews you receive? Click here to read our blog about the best ways to approach this issue.

There are simple ways to gain reviews without doing it illegally! Take these into consideration, and you will be dominating the world of online reviews.

Final Thoughts

Staying in control of your online reviews does not mean you need to go to extreme measures. Review platforms like TripAdvisor and Yelp will be quick to combat fraudulent actions, and it could cause more damage to your business.

With that being said, we also understand that it can be hard to manage all the reviews you get through Google, Yelp and more. Our strategists here at RevLocal are trained to handle all of these review concerns for you!

Click here for more information on our review marketing plan and how our reputation management service can help monitor negative reviews.