These days, reviews on Google and other third-party sites can make or break a business’s reputation. The problem is that it’s not only poor reviews that have a negative impact. A lack of good reviews can also inspire mistrust in today’s consumers and drive away business.
Getting satisfied customers to leave positive reviews is tough. People are more likely to take note of negative experiences thanks to a psychological phenomenon called negativity bias, and the worst part is that it applies to people reading the reviews as well as those leaving them. Business owners who want to boost their reputations can either go right here to find help or read on to learn about the importance of Google reviews and how to get more of them.
Why Reviews Are Important
Some business owners may be tempted to ignore online reviews entirely and stick to word-of-mouth advertising, but according to realtimecampaign.com, that’s no longer a viable approach. Today’s consumers head online to research products, services, and companies even if they’ve already been recommended by trusted family members or friends. If they can’t find any information about how other customers have fared when working with the business, they’ll look elsewhere.
Create a Positive Feedback Loop
Wondering What Every Small Business Needs To Know About Google Reviews to overcome negativity bias and start generating positive results? It hinges on another aspect of human psychology called popularity bias. When used in the context of consumer behavioral psychology, this term refers to the tendency to consider larger sample sizes as proxies for higher quality.
In other words, people who see that a company already has plenty of positive reviews will be more likely to trust it, even if not all of the reviewers left five stars and raved about how positive their experiences were. Those people are then more likely to leave good reviews, or at least ratings, themselves, which creates a positive feedback loop. Business owners just need to convince that first handful of customers or clients to leave reviews to overcome that initial hump. From there, it will be at least a little easier to maintain a positive reputation online.
Google Reviews and Search Rankings
There’s a second way that Google reviews can create feedback loops for smaller businesses. The more reviews businesses have, the higher the site ranks them in the local search results. More people then see the listing and its positive reviews, patronize the business and go on to perpetuate yet another positive feedback loop.
How to Overcome Early Hurdles
As with most things in life, the hardest part of boosting an online reputation is getting started. Working with a company like GoSite that helps with review management can help. However, business owners will still need to put in some of the legwork by convincing their customers to start reviewing their experiences.
The Best Time to Start Is Now
It can take some time for even a popular business with an effective strategy to start getting reviews online. Don’t give up. Get started now and keep at it until the work pays off.
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