Google reviews, actually all reviews, help our brain make choices. For example, they help us determine whether a product or company suits us. Is the price/quality ratio okay? Does the company value service? In this article, we dive deeper into reviews in general and then more specifically Google Reviews.
Why are reviews important?
Before we dive into the technical how and what of reviews, it is good to understand why reviews are important. Our brains have evolved over time such that we no longer just assume anything. We no longer blindly trust product descriptions in web shops or the text on a local carpentry company's website. We automatically question much of that information. Still, we would like to buy something or hire someone for something. So how do we make that choice? We rely on the experience of others with the same product or service. And we find those, among other things, in reviews.
The social proof principle
In the book Influence: The Six Secrets of Persuasion written by Robert Cialidini, he describes the Social Proof principle (also called social proof).
CRO tool explains social proof as follows:
"Imagine you are walking down a street in a city you don't know well, looking for a restaurant to get something to eat quickly. You come across two restaurants that are opposite each other. In one restaurant, people are already sitting around eating and drinking. The other restaurant is still completely empty. Which of these two restaurants would you choose? The restaurant with people or the restaurant without people? Most of us will choose the restaurant with people without thinking. This tendency is called "social proof" in human psychology. If a restaurant is cozily full, the quality will be fine."
The MBTI model
You may now be wondering aloud if this is also relevant to your visitors. Let's get into that. Have you ever heard of the MBTI model? This model divides your visitors into different groups. Below is an image of a simplified version of the MBTI model:
Using the MBTI model, you can determine which groups of visitors on your website value Google Reviews
So there are people who are more inclined to base their opinions on facts and people who rely more heavily on their feelings. In addition, there are those who predominantly decide quickly and those who usually take a little longer. Reviews are especially important for the methodical and humanistic visitors to your website, but also a little for your spontaneous visitors. The spontaneous and humanistic visitors decide based on their feelings. Reviews have a direct impact on that. The methodical visitors take their time to decide and go by the facts. If many visitors say similar things, this group will take that into consideration. The competitive visitors have less with reviews, chances are small that they will take the time to read them extensively.
Of course, some websites have a lot more visitors per day than others. But in general, you can assume that all these types of visitors visit your website. And so a sizable portion of your visitors' reviews weigh in on whether or not to do business with you!
Google reviews / Google reviews
There are several platforms that collect reviews/reviews. Consider Trustpilot, which you often see on the site of online stores, physical stores and business-to-business services. Or Yelp, which specializes in restaurant reviews. But there are many others.
A well-known and important review platform is Google. Nowadays, that is linked to Google My Business. So you can consciously start collecting reviews. Google My Business ensures that you are especially easy to find locally. If you are a local bike store, garage, hairdresser or mortgage broker, this is very important.
The other day I had to take my car to the garage for an MOT and major service. Since my car is quite important to me, I obviously didn't want to leave it at a "shitty" garage. So I checked the Google reviews of nearby garages. I paid attention to the average rating (number of stars), how recent the reviews were and whether the company had responded to the review.
When you search "garage company Groningen" in Google Maps, you get a list of companies, and you can click directly through to Google reviews.
Let's dissect these reviews further.
- Average rating/number of stars
Make sure your average rating on a scale of 1 to 5 never falls below 4. With a grade below 4, people are already going to doubt your reliability. Even a 4 can be risky, so it's better to show a 4.1 than the number 4. After all, it already feels better if it's a 4.1 than a hard 4. You can't remove bad reviews. So the only way to influence the grade is to provide good quality and service. - Recently added
Old reviews really have less value to visitors than recent ones. Although negative old ones can hurt considerably of course! So regularly encourage your customers to leave a review on Google My Business. - Comments on review
A negative review. It can happen to anyone. And it doesn't have to say everything about your company. You can even turn a negative review to a positive one when you leave a good thoughtful response as a company. Never put the blame directly on the person leaving the review! For example, you can respond with something like, "I'm sorry you had such a negative experience with us, that was obviously not our intention. How could we improve this in the future?" With such a last sentence, you involve the reviewer in the improvement process. As a result, you even have a chance that this person in question will come back to you. It is not said for nothing that every complaint is an opportunity.
Asking customers to write a review
With web shops, it is quite easy to send someone an automated message a few days after buying a product asking what they think of the product. This can be done with a plugin or with an external service like Webwinkelkeur. That way you can fill a webshop with reviews pretty quickly. If a product gets only bad reviews, you might consider removing that product from your shop. In the end, of course, you want to keep the quality of your shop as high as possible.
With services, it works a little differently. And especially when it comes to physical services and services where you enter into a longer partnership. Three tips for actively collecting reviews for physical services:
- Ask visitors to leave a review before they pay
With services, you often see that someone first gets a quote, and if they agree, the work is done and then the invoice follows. There is often some time between performing the work and sending the invoice. Try using that time to collect reviews. If you do that after paying invoice, people are sometimes less positive. Some people don't like the feeling of seeing less money in their account. Although fortunately, there are also many people who pay their bill with a big smile because they feel they had a great deal. - Make it easy on your visitors
Have the first major work in a longer partnership been completed? Then that might be a good time to ask your client to leave a review on Google. You can send them a link via email where they can leave a review directly. If you use WhatsApp in communicating with clients, you can use that to send the link. - Remind your customers to write a review
You'll find that some customers promise to post a review but simply don't get around to it. Not at all a big deal to send those people a reminder. It could also be that they are not so crazy about Google Reviews. In such a case, you can also ask for a review on your Facebook company page or LinkedIn profile, for example.
Bonus tip: Want to turn customers into real fans? Then send them a nice card or small gift when they leave a review.
Conclusion
Hopefully this article has made you feel that reviews can really add value to your business as well. They can boost your reputation and increase your conversions. Of course, with too many negative reviews, the opposite happens. That makes it pretty exciting, too. But it also helps you stay sharp on quality. If you do it right, reviews on Google My Business can bring you a pleasant flow of traffic to your website, leads, customers and sales.
