GOOGLE LOCAL REVIEWS STUDY
WHAT INFLUENCE DO GOOGLE REVIEWS HAVE?
Fake ratings, machine-generated ratings, bots. Do ratings still have the same value with customers? As an introduction, we have already mentioned that “fake” ratings have long since reached customer awareness. Here it would be obvious, if accordingly much less customers would still trust online reviews. A survey by BrightLocal showed that 78% of consumers trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations. This corresponds to a loss of 8% compared to the previous year. In 2017, 86% still said that they trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. In the relevant target group of 18- 34-year-olds, the figure was even higher ( 91%). However, older consumers have become more sceptical about the reliability of online reviews.
DO YOU TRUST ONLINE REVIEWS AS WELL AS PERSONAL RECOMMENDATIONS?
Compared to the previous year, the survey showed an increase in the proportion of consumers who need to consult several reviews in order to have confidence in the reviews. Both the Google Algorithm and customers rate the number of reviews as a relevant factor for trustworthiness.
INFLUENCE OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE REVIEWS
The average rating was seen and the general trend in the ratings was also examined. How does the content of the Google reviews affect the further customer behaviour? 68% of consumers said that reading positive reviews makes it more likely that they will use a local business. Negative reviews, on the other hand, keep 40% of consumers from doing so. In the Reviewtrackers survey, as many as 94.3% of respondents said they had already shunned a company because of a negative review. So these are all leads and therefore also sales that are definitely lost to the company. This can cause considerable economic damage, especially to companies that are not yet established. On the other hand, positive reviews can lead customers directly to the local company:
GOOGLE REVIEWS ARE THE DISCLAIMING FACTOR
The majority of respondents (50%) say that after reading positive reviews they look at the company’s website. 19% of consumers are looking for more reviews, while 15% visit the local company directly – in the target group of 18-34 year olds the figure is as high as 21%. Not only are Google reviews reviewed by 60% of consumers, but consumers are more likely to leave a review on Google than on any other site. No wonder – users are usually permanently logged in to their Google or Facebook accounts, so it is particularly easy and uncomfortable for them to leave a review on these platforms. This makes Google and Facebook especially attractive for reputation management. Ratings are therefore no longer a unique selling point of rating portals. They have now also reached social platforms like Facebook.
DAS WAR NOCH LÄNGST NICHT ALLES…
Erfahre auf 45 Seiten alles rund um das Thema Bewertungen. Das E-Book bietet angefangen von den Grundlagen ausführliche Statistiken und Umfragen zum Thema Google Bewertungen. Ein Muss für jeden Unternehmer.