Why Your Business Needs Reviews on Yelp
Why Are Reviews Important?
Reviews are important. Consider your own process in determining where to eat, shop, or stay. It’s likely that you look at reviews to gauge whether the food is good, or the housekeeping is immaculate. Online reviews help provide an accurate profile of your business or organization to prospective customers & clients. This results in an increased confidence and trust that your customers will have for your business. Are the good reviews being acknowledged? What about the bad reviews?
- Reviews can help you improve your customer experience: Online reviews can help confirm if your goods and services are working. Reviews are first-hand experiences told by your customers describing your products or services that provide you with an incite about what is working and might need improvement.
- Reviews will increase your company’s presence online
Online reviews can help you get noticed by more people. Reviews can jumpstart conversations about you, your company, or your products & services a reputation. - Reviews are good for your search engine rankings
Reviews can be very helpful for your search engine optimization and marketing efforts. Online reviews are displayed in search results and can help drive traffic to your listings. According to a Moz study, online reviews comprise more than a whopping 15+% of the Google algorithm’s ranking factors. Basically the more reviews you can get, the more times your company will appear in the search results, which helps to increase your position in the search engines.
How to Get More Reviews
Now that we have hammered the importance of reviews and that you should try to get as many as possible – the next big question is “How do you get more reviews?” Encourage Reviews on Google, Yelp, and Beyond by making it easy for a customer to actually leave a review. Below are some examples of how some of The Clever Robot Inc.’s clients are currently getting reviews.
- “Looking Glass XR” has set up a page on their website with a simple “url” (‘yourdomain.com/reviews’) so that their sales team can easily ask for reviews in email and conversation. The page offers several options for networks and they purposely limit the networks depending on where they hope to get the reviews to show up online.
- “That Place in the West End” uses stickers printed with QR codes throughout their establishments encouraging customers to leave a review
- “Magitarius” Toys send a small thank-you card with each order which includes a request to leave a rewview.
- And of course simply asking every customer to leave a review works too!
Getting reviews is not as easy as just providing a good service or product. Let’s face it, most people simply do not like the hassle of providing a review in the first place. More and more businesses are requesting these reviews all day – your “competition for reviews”, which only makes it harder to rise above the noise. People only have so much time per day that they are willing to allocate to leaving reviews.
Requesting reviews requires reengaging customers in conversation about their experience, followed by asking for their feedback. When good service is rendered, it’s not always common for a person to leave a review. Though, if you ask, there is a good chance they would be happy to leave a positive review. So, the key takeaway here is to ask each customer to leave a review. On the flip side, if a person has a negative takeaway or an experience less than what they expected, it is probable that they will choose to leave a review highlighting their experience.
Keep in mind that your customers have busy lives – you’ll want to make sure the review process is as simple as possible. Including QR codes or links to a review section of your site ensures that the process welcomes valuable feedback. This page should include a note of your appreciation as well as clear instructions on leaving a review.
Reviews Should be Natural & Widespread
Since we just covered the natural ebb and flow of customer reviews – good and bad – we can now consider the location of each review. Sure, Google reviews are consistently number one; however, having reviews on other platforms is equally important. It shows internet users a more natural review approach. When you push Google-only reviews, reviews become saturated in one place. Encouraging your customers to leave reviews on multiple platforms is important. Those include Facebook, Yelp (the review app that feeds Apple Maps in the United States), and industry specific review sites. Here, we’ll focus on the importance of Yelp. Let’s consider why:
Yelp is generally associated with restaurant businesses. While this is true, it is also the review system that feeds into Apple Maps. While Google Maps is more prominent, Apple Maps still has a significant impact in the world of reviews. So, even if you don’t own a restaurant, you definitely want to rank as a naturally well-reviewed business on Yelp, thus Apple Maps.
The occasional bad review is not neccessarily a deterrent to future business…
…in fact it can have the opposite effect. We tell clients that instead of outright fearing a negative review, try to look at the negative review as an opportunity to show how your business cares about everyone’s experience. It shows you are honest, acknowledge their displeasure and seeking a resolution. Use this ‘bad’ experience to aim for a better experience in the future, while also focusing on how to amend the negative experience!
When a good review is graciously accepted, with an extended invitation to continue the relationship, the reviewer will likely feel valued. However, it’s important to note that having multiple bad reviews where the problems follow the same theme, or not handling bad reviews well, will result in the loss of business.
Are you worried about losing a perfect 5-star review reputation? Having all 5-star reviews, and never a lower-star review, may look “too-good-to-be-true” to the perusing eye. Considering this, having an overall 4.2 to 4.6 star rating is a great spot to be in.
Why Is Getting Reviews on Yelp So Important
Yelp is the review site that feeds Apple Maps Business Reviews. If a prospective customer looks up your business on Apple Maps, they will see your business only if you’ve already established a Yelp review account. It’s important to note that while Google Maps is the golden standard for reviews, Apple maps still sees significant traffic. With this being the case, you must get reviews on Yelp and Google.
Having your business properly verified and accepting reviews on Yelp means you will also benefit from Yelp’s audience of regular daily users. The website, app, and mobile site are all used to find the right local business for whatever needs are looking to be met. While most people associate Yelp with the restaurant business world, it is also incredibly useful for a slew of companies ranging from home improvement to local parks and tourist attractions.
PRO-TIP: Many businesses still do not know this meaning you could get your business showing well on Apple Maps with just a few reviews!
How to get on Yelp
To start receiving reviews on Yelp you must claim and verify your business on Yelp. First, you’ll want to make sure your business isn’t already listed. You can do this by following the link provided here. Once confirmed that your business isn’t already listed, you’ll want to fill in as much accurate and pertinent information as possible. Then, simply click Add Business. That’s it for creating a business profile; however, you’ll want to ask your customers for reviews here as well! We’ll dive more into this in the next section.
Following Up
In addition to gaining natural, widespread reviews, you’ll want to ensure that you have a solid follow-up strategy. Reviews that go unnoticed by businesses are a common mistake and a missed opportunity to improve connections to gain more traction. Commenting on all reviews – good or bad – is vital. Future customers will want to see the good and the bad and see how you’ve chosen to respond to each.
Providing a sentiment that shows gratitude upon receiving a good review is recommended. Writing a thorough, thoughtful response to a bad review, admitting fault if applicable, is equally important. For both, make sure to provide original follow-ups; don’t just use a generic, copy-and-paste approach.
To sum everything up, reviews are one of the best ways to gain new customers. The reviews should be natural, in multiple locations, and followed up by original comments provided by your business. Without any reviews, how will anyone trust your products or services? With many bad reviews on similar issues, and no real follow-up strategy, your sales are sure to plummet. Offering a great customer experience, from the service to the follow-up, is what is going to get you natural, genuine reviews and continued success moving forward.
