Let’s imagine for a moment that you need a new auto repair shop and you know of two shops near your home. You search for each by name on Google so that you can get their phone numbers. One has several 5-star ratings in the search results page as in our earlier example; the other have lower ratings. Which shop are you more inclined to call?
The consequences of negative reviews should be readily apparent. Below are just a few of the consequences of negative reviews:
• Negative reviews undermine existing online marketing successes. It won’t matter if you’re number one on Google if you only have one out of five stars.
• Negative reviews erode trust.
• Negative reviews influence other potential customers not to use your products or services.
A good reputation in the search results could make the difference between a customer calling your office or continuing their search.
Where negative reviews erode trust and defeat all of your other marketing efforts, positive reviews build trust and support your marketing campaigns.
Imagine once again that you are searching for a new auto repair shop. This time, you don’t know where to start so you enter the words “auto repair London south” into Google.
Google returns its category search results as expected. The first listing has 3.9 stars, the second listing has 4.5 stars, the third listing, a local repair shop, has a 4.8 star rating with 66 reviews. Which repair shop will you pick?
Suddenly, being number one on Google isn’t what it used to be. Those five colorful stars immediately draw the eye to the 3rd repair shop in the list, and because the reviews are stellar and in numbers, they instantly build trust and compel users to click through. That said, Google is increasingly rewarding reputation by listing the companies with fantastic reputations higher in the results list.
Stellar reviews are even more powerful than that. Because they are trusted as much as personal recommendations by the vast majority of consumers, 5-star reviews pre-qualify your leads. Those who have read stellar, authentic customer reviews about your product or service have already been pre-sold. Conversions are higher because trust has already been earned.
Reputation Marketing is a form of referral marketing as opposed to lead generation marketing. With lead generation marketing, customers may find your business but you must work hard to earn their trust. With referral marketing, customers are referred to your business by others who have already shared their positive experiences with them.
