How much of a difference do Google reviews make to your business?

[t15]

How do you know whether they make a difference and how do you get them now?

 

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[Tiago]

It probably depends on the type of business. A client of mine has over 50 reviews with 5 stars, and she gets about 50% of her clients from Google. But it is a very local type of business.

 

[Paul David]

Google reviews make a massive difference. For starters at least 15% of the ranking is based on number of reviews, relevance and recency.

Unless one of your friends recommends a new business to you, what do you do before deciding whether to use them? 92% of consumers read online reviews.

It's also important the reviews are genuine. NEVER BUY THEM.

You get them by either manually asking every customer or by using an app like this LeadTalker | Get More Reviews & Referrals which automates the whole process.

If you've got a database of previous clients you can upload them into that app and it will send out bulk requests and you can get lots of new real reviews very quickly.

Reviews are extremely important these days.

 

[MattR82]

Be careful with any big change in review volume from what's been normal for your account though.

It's suspicious to Google if you go from 2 or 3 reviews per week for the last year to all of a sudden having 50 a week, even if legit.

@Paul David do you warm your accounts up gradually? I'll def look into lead talker. I'd like to find something for a good review funnel.

 

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[Paul David]

Be careful with any big change in review volume from what's been normal for your account though.

It's suspicious to Google if you go from 2 or 3 reviews per week for the last year to all of a sudden having 50 a week, even if legit.

I've done this lots of times now and not had any issues, sometimes what can happen is that the reviews don't show up immediately. Google staggers them over a week or two.

I've recently helped someone go from 1 Google review to 57 in 4 days. They've now got over 120, all showing up fine.

 

[alexkuzmov]

Google reviews make a massive difference. For starters at least 15% of the ranking is based on number of reviews, relevance and recency.

Unless one of your friends recommends a new business to you, what do you do before deciding whether to use them? 92% of consumers read online reviews.

It's also important the reviews are genuine. NEVER BUY THEM.

You get them by either manually asking every customer or by using an app like this LeadTalker | Get More Reviews & Referrals which automates the whole process.

If you've got a database of previous clients you can upload them into that app and it will send out bulk requests and you can get lots of new real reviews very quickly.

Reviews are extremely important these days.

Indeed reviews are very important, but its so easy to fake them that literally hordes of people get tricked/scammed by fake reviews and testemonials.
I wonder if this practice will catch up to us in the future and make the reviews obsolete.
Like no one would trust them anymore.

 

[MattR82]

I've done this lots of times now and not had any issues, sometimes what can happen is that the reviews don't show up immediately. Google staggers them over a week or two.

I've recently helped someone go from 1 Google review to 57 in 4 days. They've now got over 120, all showing up fine.

Is lead talker your business Paul? I can see some reviews thanking someone named Paul on the website.

I'll definitely be checking it out more in the morning. I was looking for something a few months ago that would help me prompt not only a review but how they construct it, kind of like asking a few short survey questions that are then collated that they can copy paste to a review but no such luck.

 

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[MattR82]

Indeed reviews are very important, but its so easy to fake them that literally hordes of people get tricked/scammed by fake reviews and testemonials.
I wonder if this practice will catch up to us in the future and make the reviews obsolete.
Like no one would trust them anymore.

I think many people still go in and look at the actual reviews on Google maps and read them. I think you can still get a really good idea of what's legit in gmb.

 

[Paul David]

Is lead talker your business Paul? I can see some reviews thanking someone named Paul on the website.

I'll definitely be checking it out more in the morning. I was looking for something a few months ago that would help me prompt not only a review but how they construct it, kind of like asking a few short survey questions that are then collated that they can copy paste to a review but no such luck.

yes. We not only help get more reviews but has a feature enabling your clients to refer your company to their friends and family on Facebook. Only available in UK and US at the moment.

 

[Paul David]

Indeed reviews are very important, but its so easy to fake them that literally hordes of people get tricked/scammed by fake reviews and testemonials.
I wonder if this practice will catch up to us in the future and make the reviews obsolete.
Like no one would trust them anymore.

Yes this has always been a problem but Google have spent a lot of money now to detect things like that in order to protect the system.

 

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[DoingDeals]

Funny you should ask & we just got 500 5-star Google reviews yesterday.

 

[DoingDeals]

It definitely helps for most business like food service restaurants, but I've seen several million & billion dollar companies have trouble getting genuine good reviews they're still profitable.

The first thing I do is filter out the lowest ratings when researching, not sure if anyone else does this, as well.

 

[Paul David]

Funny you should ask & we just got 500 5-star Google reviews yesterday.

500 reviews in one day? how?

 

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[DoingDeals]

500 reviews in one day? how?

I'm sorry didn't specify let me explain 500 reviews in less than 2 years.

By looking at bad reviews it helps figure out what's wrong with the business Cloud Kitchens, Yelp & McDonald's are examples.

 

[Paul David]

I'm sorry didn't specify let me explain 500 reviews in less than 2 years.

By looking at bad reviews it helps figure out what's wrong with the business Cloud Kitchens, Yelp & McDonald's are examples.

ahh your 500th review. Congratulations!

 

[David Fitz]

Yes they make a massive difference. I think it's the first thing people check for now. Even if I'm buying something on Amazon I'll check the reviews.

How to get more reviews? Do a very good job and ask for the review. Make it easy for them to leave a review by giving them your review link.

 

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[MattR82]

Yes they make a massive difference. I think it's the first thing people check for now. Even if I'm buying something on Amazon I'll check the reviews.

How to get more reviews? Do a very good job and ask for the review. Make it easy for them to leave a review by giving them your review link.

Yeah man, I'm seriously amazed when people don't ask for reviews.

A Google Ads client of mine has had success with putting a QR code with a link to leave a review on the back of his business card.

He finishes the job, asks if they're happy and would consider leaving a review and if they are, gives them the card and QR code right then and there before he starts the 5 mins of clean up. They are way more likely to do it then and there while he is still there finishing packing tools away etc.

People are a lot more lazy about it if he gives them the link on his way out the door.

I've also heard that different quality reviews can have a different impact. Reviews with photos and that mention the brand names used (in his case Samsung, LG, Sony etc) are potentially better in Googles eyes (or so I've heard on a few different gmb YouTube channels).

 

[t15]

I've also heard that different quality reviews can have a different impact. Reviews with photos and that mention the brand names used (in his case Samsung, LG, Sony etc) are potentially better in Googles eyes (or so I've heard on a few different gmb YouTube channels).

Could you share a few of these GMB channels?

 

[Deleted85763]

How do you know whether they make a difference and how do you get them now?

Potential customers see even one 1 star review without any description and they'll never be a customer. That's obvious. So reviews matter, even though the products and services may actually not be as you would feel about then.

I have found that the more people you sell to the more likely someone is going to take to the internet. So you sell to 10,000 people you cab guarantee 100 reviews or something like that.

 

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[DoingDeals]

We're a recruiting & customer service company even though it's a restaurant. Also, if people like you they will care more about leaving a good review than the food that's what I tell my employees.

 

[MattR82]

Potential customers see even one 1 star review without any description and they'll never be a customer. That's obvious. So reviews matter, even though the products and services may actually not be as you would feel about then.

I have found that the more people you sell to the more likely someone is going to take to the internet. So you sell to 10,000 people you cab guarantee 100 reviews or something like that.

I disagree. I think most people these days realise there are loons out there that give 1 star reviews when it's not deserved. It's easy to drown the odd whack job review out with a tonne of great reviews.

 

[Deleted85763]

I disagree. I think most people these days realise there are loons out there that give 1 star reviews when it's not deserved. It's easy to drown the odd whack job review out with a tonne of great reviews.

That's assuming you also have a tonne of great reviews.

Most people do not know how to accurately judge reviews. Me included but I have gotten better. A few months ago I bought a product with thousands of mostly 4 and 5 star reviews. The product was actually junk. It was designed poorly and broke within weeks. I learned that all the reviewers, who were actual buyers, were given a free substantial gift immediately after purchase to review the product. It didn't have to be a good review but most people felt obligated in this instance to leave a good review.

 

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[BizyDad]

Potential customers see even one 1 star review without any description and they'll never be a customer. That's obvious.

The only thing obvious about this is how ridiculous that statement is.

In fact, I've found more often than not, phone calls go up when a 5 star business gets its first bad review.

My theory is the a bad review makes the other good reviews suddenly seem more credible.

There are industries in my town where the top ranked companies are a 3.8 on Google. But these companies are still in business and people still call them.

 

[Deleted85763]

The only thing obvious about this is how ridiculous that statement is.

In fact, I've found more often than not, phone calls go up when a 5 star business gets its first bad review.

My theory is the a bad review makes the other good reviews suddenly seem more credible.

There are industries in my town where the top ranked companies are a 3.8 on Google. But these companies are still in business and people still call them.

The current research is showing that one single bad review causes a loss of 22% of potential customers. More than 1 bad review will lose 50% of potential customers. 86% of people will hesitate if they see bad reviews. People seek out bad reviews to see what the worst downside is. That makes sense. Bad reviews can make a company more credible but not from trusted websites. Bad reviews can work well for a business, but not in gaining new customers who see the review. Negative reviews cam tell them what they are possibly doing wrong.

 

[DoingDeals]

Well, if you're like me what I said I'll look up the negative 1-star reviews first, take for instance Amazon.com I wanted to buy a gym bag & it has 7-9 customers saying it falls apart. I wouldn't consider buying it to need the hassle of returning, just look for another one. Another example powerstrips that catch on fire, even if it's just 5 out of thousands of reviews I'd rather not risk it burning the house down. This also helps me figure out if the other customers are writing fake reviews.

 

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[DoingDeals]

You'll never know what customers you lost, because they're not buying one.

 

[Paul David]

Potential customers see even one 1 star review without any description and they'll never be a customer. That's obvious. So reviews matter, even though the products and services may actually not be as you would feel about then.

I have found that the more people you sell to the more likely someone is going to take to the internet. So you sell to 10,000 people you cab guarantee 100 reviews or something like that.

Our system gets around 4 reviews from every 10 requests. Most people don't leave a review until the 3rd request.

Thats why an automated system always performs better than manually asking once.

 

[Paul David]

The only thing obvious about this is how ridiculous that statement is.

In fact, I've found more often than not, phone calls go up when a 5 star business gets its first bad review.

My theory is the a bad review makes the other good reviews suddenly seem more credible.

There are industries in my town where the top ranked companies are a 3.8 on Google. But these companies are still in business and people still call them.

correct!

 

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[Paul David]

Well, if you're like me what I said I'll look up the negative 1-star reviews first, take for instance Amazon.com I wanted to buy a gym bag & it has 7-9 customers saying it falls apart. I wouldn't consider buying it to need the hassle of returning, just look for another one. Another example powerstrips that catch on fire, even if it's just 5 out of thousands of reviews I'd rather not risk it burning the house down. This also helps me figure out if the other customers are writing fake reviews.

by the way Amazon reviews are a totally different ball game to Google. From my experience most people know to take Amazon reviews with a pinch of salt!

 

[MattR82]

That's assuming you also have a tonne of great reviews.

Most people do not know how to accurately judge reviews. Me included but I have gotten better. A few months ago I bought a product with thousands of mostly 4 and 5 star reviews. The product was actually junk. It was designed poorly and broke within weeks. I learned that all the reviewers, who were actual buyers, were given a free substantial gift immediately after purchase to review the product. It didn't have to be a good review but most people felt obligated in this instance to leave a good review.

I'm talking about Google Maps reviews. GMB reviews, not amazon reviews.