The airport security line is so long, and so slow, that you inevitably miss your flight. Where to go with that TSA gripe? Under a new agreement with Yelp, federal agencies can now claim or create Yelp pages. This means that posting complaints and feedback regarding federal services may result in an actual two-way dialogue–a significant improvement over the current situation, which feels a little like shouting into a black hole.
The arrangement highlights just how important reviews–a platform for two-way dialogue– have become today. For small businesses, positive reviews on sites like Yelp that you also display on your own site can be a valuable form of word of mouth marketing. Seventy-eight percent of purchasing decisions are influenced by online reviews. And recent Yodle research found that 36% of consumers said that a business with online reviews has a competitive advantage (36%) and 40% said they expect businesses to have them.
Nothing is more powerful to a prospect than seeing customers rave about you, but even negative reviews can be a positive, as we discussed in a previous post. They can open the door to a valuable dialogue with customers and give you a chance to make things right if you inadvertently disappointed someone.
It can be intimidating to ask customers for reviews at first, but once you get into the habit of doing so, you’ll be surprised how many say yes. Our research found that fewer than 1 in 10 consumers (7%) have been asked to write a review of a local business. The good news is that 89% said they would be willing to do so if they had a positive experience and were asked. The best time to pop the question? It’s usually when customers have expressed satisfaction with your service. If you’re too shy to ask, enlist employees on your team to do so.
Yodle offers services to help you make the most of reviews, so if you’re not familiar with them ask us about them. We’ve made it easy to do so. All you need to do is select a customer from your dashboard and then click. Once customers submit reviews, we’ll automatically post them to your website. You’ve worked so hard to earn great reviews that you might as well make the most of them to grow your business.