The Importance of Local Ratings for a Business

The latest consumer review survey that was carried out by Bright local in 2016 shows that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. It’s a well-known fact that star ratings are the number one factor that is used by the consumers to judge a local business.

An upward trend has seen the number of consumers who read ratings increase to 92% in the last couple of years. Consumers need to see positive online star ratings for them to spend their money. The number of consumers who never read online reviews stood at 8% back in 2015.

Local businesses have awakened to the fact that over 90% of their clients read their online ratings and reviews, from which they base their buying decisions. Local businesses must safeguard and shape their online reputation in a way that influences buyer decisions.

A system ought to be in place to manage the online reputation. This is achieved by the deployment of a reputation loop, which gives one the power to automate feedback generation process that gets the best reviews posted to build a five-star reputation that attracts new customers.

Local ratings and reviews ought to be fresh for the attention of consumers who are not going to giving positive feedback. The business can thus be able to bury a negative review by generating positive ones.

High ratings are an indication of the positive reputation that a business has gained. The powerful marketing asset must be deployed to aid the business in securing more clients. High-ratings are important in that they give clients a positive image of the business.

Ratings are of great importance to both consumers and the local business in that they help consumers avoid the daunting research process before they make the buying decision.

Star ratings have been determined to be the number one factor that consumers result to in judging a local business. A prospective client can get an informed view of a business by looking at the star rating and how many reviews contributed to that rating.

Nearly every industry is being covered by review sites, this has provided huge benefits to both consumers and the businesses that fully embrace competition. Local businesses ought to create a five-star reputation.

A business can utilize a widget that creates the eye-catching gold star ratings. This is achieved using a reputation Loop that handles customer reviews and online reputation. The ratings show up in local search results, this enables people to see the overall star rating before they even search for reviews.

Any local business, that has the above knowledge on the importance of ratings, should use them to its own advantage. This will appeal to the 90% of consumers who are trusting online local consumer reviews in making their best buying decisions.

There has been a shift in consumers’ purchase behavior, this cuts across the way they make purchasing decisions to the way they search for local businesses. Businesses will have to leverage reviews for a positive impact to be realized in the businesses revenue.