Part 2 of the Local Consumer Review Study 2112 by Search Engine Land just came out and here’s the take-away. When customers write about how reliable your business is, readers sit-up and take notice. When they write about how friendly and courteous you are, they yawn! Reliability is your ticket to building your business through customer reviews.

 

No Surprise Here

I don’t think this comes as a surprise to anyone, but what is surprising is that so few business owners are taking advantage of this information.

Prospects who read customer reviews that answer their concerns are much more likely to initiate contact with a company than if they read reviews that address how likeable and attentive the employees are. Likeability and attention are critical, and the lack of likeability and attention are the biggest reason people complain. But they’re not the reason people buy.

Good To Great Reviews

As a business owner you want to do everything in your power to encourage your happy customers to write reviews that address reliability and other customer concerns. The Five Star Review System takes care of this automatically, so please take advantage of this feature.

When a customer is asked to write a review using the Five Star Review System, they’re taken to a page that subtly coaches them on how to write a meaningful review. The reason for this is two fold.

  1. First, if left to their own devices, they will write a review about how wonderful you are … thinking that is the kind of review you want.
  2. Second, when you provide simple and subtle guidance, they will write a much more meaningful review and appreciate the help.

When customers get to the page on the Five Star Review System where they’re asked to write their review, they will see two pieces of information..

The first thing they see is text that reads.

Did You Know?

Did you know that the three biggest concerns homeowners have when hiring a painter include:

  • Reliability
  • Neatness and cleanup
  • Value

By offering this information to soon-to-be reviewers, it gives them guidance as to what you REALLY want them to write about. Business owners who use the system can add any three concerns they choose … and it’s different for every industry, but remember that Reliability rules.

The second thing they see are examples of three very well written reviews that address one or more of these concerns. By providing this information, reviewers can quickly see what you’re expecting of them, and they’ll appreciate the help. Choose reviews that talk about how reliable you are.

If you’re not using the Five Star Review System, let me encourage you to create a page on your website or add this information to the email you send when asking customers to write a review for your business and notice how much better and more persuasive your reviews become.

If you want more information on the Five Star Review System, please visit BestLocalReviews.com

One Response to “Reliability – The Most Important Review Factor”

  1. Tom S says:

    Bob:

    I haven’t had much experience asking patients about reliability (in my business, a bit harder to judge), but the concept of giving people suggestions or coaching about what those reading the reviews would like to know is **brilliant** in my opinion. Especially when patients want to help me by writing a review but are inexperienced, having some suggestions of what particular part of their experience they could review is really useful.

    Tom