Online reviews can make or break your small business. (Photo Credit: Willirish.com)
By Ryan Vowles -In the modern age of online review sites, small business owners may find it tricky to maintain a healthy image on sites like Yelp, Angie’s List, Google Places, Yahoo ‘Local’, CitySearch, and the all-powerful Facebook.
In the modern age of online review sites, small business owners may find it tricky to maintain a healthy image on sites like Yelp, Angie’s List, Google Places, Yahoo ‘Local’, CitySearch, and the all-powerful Facebook.
When you are only getting a few reviews here-and-there, your overall rating can change with each gust of wind. Like a baseball player’s batting average with just a few at-bats, it only takes one negative review to damage your percentage on a given review site.
Should your business, then, care about these review sites? Absolutely.
A 2013 survey conducted by Dimensional Research found that 90% of customers attributed their buying decisions to positive online reviews.
These reviews impact your ranking in online search engines, whether or not your page even gets clicked, and ultimately, who gives you their business.
So then, what to make of negative reviews?
For most small businesses, there are already some reviews out there. Unfortunately, they happen to be scattered amongst the many previously mentioned review sites (and more), resulting in many review pages with only a few reviews, rather than one review page with many reviews. This makes each of these review pages easily swayable for small businesses.
For example, your business has just 12 reviews on Facebook, but with the all-so-elusive five-star-rating. That is one sexy looking Facebook rating. Then, out of nowhere, a dissatisfied customer gives you a 0 star-rating. Now your rating dips from a 5 to a 4.6. Still very good, but no longer that sexy 5-stars.
It gets worse, unfortunately. The younger sister of the previous reviewer wants to stick up for her sibling and decides to give your company a 0 star-rating to get revenge. Now your 4.6 star-rating falls to a 4.3.
With just two unsatisfied reviews, your rating has dipped from a perfect 5 to a 4.3. So yes, it is imperative for your small business that you keep tabs on your online reputation.
You should do your best to encourage customers to review your business online to boost the overall review count. This will help combat negative and deceptive reviewers (like the previously mentioned sister).
In fact, deceptive reviews have become quite the issue for small/local businesses. Eric Anderson and Duncan Simester published a 2014 study in The Journal of Marketing Research focusing on low ratings from deceptive users.
The article identified four indicators for a review with deceptive intent. They were; above average word count, less complex words, inclusion of unrelated details, and repeated use of exclamation points.
If the search above this particular business has more reviews and/or a higher rating, it is more likely to be considered.
The article identified four indicators for a review with deceptive intent. They were; above average word count, less complex words, inclusion of unrelated details, and repeated use of exclamation points.
To be clear, these attributes don’t automatically discredit an online review, rather, they are precursors commonly associated with deceptive posts.
Their study found that 5% of reviews that had no evidence of actual purchases or transactions had significantly lower ratings. They also found this phenomenon to be more prevalent than previously thought.
Possible explanations for this activity could be rival businesses trying to smear their competition, or just individuals satisfying their own intrinsic needs. Whatever the case may be, it may only take a few of these deceptive reviews to harm your image on a review site.
Thankfully, there are two simple ways to combat these posts.
First, you can always notify the website of a possible deceptive post. If they feel your accusations may be valid, they will pull the review.
Second, encourage your satisfied customers to review your webpage on the platform you are most concerned with. Their positive reviews will go a long way in combating future negative and deceptive reviews.
Many times, this sort of thing is just too much for an owner of a small business to designate time to. If that’s the case, companies like NEXT! Ad Agency have services to help maintain a positive online image.
One final tip for handling your review pages: Don’t be a perfectionist.
Having a perfect rating is a tough and unrealistic goal to achieve. If you have a solid product or service, the positive reviews will come. Just know that unattended review pages can lead to bigger problems for small businesses and their reputations.
If you get a negative review and would like to respond to it, be sure to read this article on how to deal with negative reviews.
Have a question or story about online reviews? Comment below!
