The Advantages of Google Reviews for Your Business and How to Use It

In this day and age, digital marketing makes an absolutely critical component of any successful gig. However, reaching out to prospective clients admittedly presents a lot of taxing obstacles, at least when compared to traditional advertising.

The sheer abundance of different channels, marketing resources, and possible outcomes definitely makes the very top of this list.

That brings us to Google Reviews, voluntary and unpaid reviews people assign to the places they previously visited and that later appear in Google’s platforms like Google Maps and Google Search. Are these ratings a simple whiff with no tangible impact on consumers’ behavior, can they be turned to your advantage, and how, and most importantly, are they even worth your time?

Well, let us try to break these important issues down together in the article below.

The true value of Google Reviews

Well, to see that, we will have to zoom out and take a look at online reviews as a whole. And, with that in mind, we will see that nine out of ten customers read online reviews before making a final decision on some product. These numbers are very translatable to the companies they decide to buy from or places they decide to visit as well. Google and its sub-platforms make the biggest possible stage for displaying and checking these products. Taking a look at recent research, we will see that 81% of consumers are likely to check Google Reviews before making any further interactions with a business.

So, we can see that, following in the big footsteps of social proof, getting positive reviews on the biggest possible venue does present an excellent way to, let’s say, push new products or gain repeat occupants at your hotel. The simple star rating and other materials you can add to your Business Profile only make this job even easier.

How to obtain positive reviews

Now that we’ve firmly established that GBP (Google Business Profile) and its review component play a critical part in building your brand’s authority and reputation, let’s see how you can actively encourage people to give you a positive review. As we know, due to heightened emotions, people are far more likely to post negative reviews. Now, we will see what we can do to wake up that silent majority.

Invite people to post reviews

Yeah, it’s as simple as that. Still, due to the very online infrastructure and the sheer amount of people you will need to reach out to, you will probably need to use some online tool to easily share your Google review link for feedback. You only need to enter your GMP, you get the link, and then you can post that link on your social media profiles, make it a part of the checkout process, or send it via email to your previous clients. Even though this may sound a bit intrusive, people will appreciate the effort, and, if they are satisfied with your services, they will gladly give you five stars.

Maintain a killer customer service

Excellent customer service makes an irreplaceable component of a positive customer experience. Recent research discovered that about 70% of people who take their business elsewhere do that due to poor customer service or genuine lack of human interaction. On the other hand, investing in this department helps people get a positive image of the brand and encourages repeat purchases, which is of tremendous importance in establishing secure long-term revenue. Speaking strictly in terms of reviews, your CR experts also get plenty of opportunities to point out satisfied clients to your GBP.

Introduce some sort of incentives

These incentives can come in countless forms ranging from discounts to access to limited items or services. Be that as it may, it’s been proven times and again that gamification keeps people hooked and even the smallest rewards provide excellent ROI. Of course, you shouldn’t give away expensive prizes for the posted reviews only. But, if you make reviews a part of some guerilla action or call-to-action, you can get wonderful synergy and move the needle across several online channels at the same time.

You’re getting reviews – What’s next?

For the very end, we would like to point out that getting reviews on GBP, as valuable as it may be, should not be your end game. Even more so, keeping in mind that the ratings you are going to get may not always be positive, despite your best efforts to satisfy the consumers. So, try to look at Google Reviews as a valuable digital marketing resource as much as the KPI you should use to make quick course corrections whenever you see that things are getting off-rails.

So, try always to keep one eye on this venue and quickly respond to any emerging negative trends and grievances you notice developing. Your public commitment to publically resolving existing issues will definitely smooth out the impact of negative reviews. Also, try to take client’s suggestions seriously, especially if they are recurring. If they are providing you with new ideas about how you can improve your products or services and these ideas make sense business-wise, sure. Put them into the pipeline.

The goodwill you will earn can’t be bought any other way.

In conclusion

We hope you have enjoyed this short look at Google Reviews for your business. Generally speaking, consumers always trusted the opinions of their peers, no matter whether they were coming in the form of personal recommendations or online ratings. Google Reviews are only one of the ways to use that old trend to your advantage. But, in this case, you are advertising on the biggest billboard in the world and you are backed up by the leading voice in the IT industry.

So, we can only sum it all up by saying that this resource is more than worth your time. Especially taking into consideration that the GR-specific investments you will need to make are very low.