{"id":3618,"date":"2018-07-25T22:00:29","date_gmt":"2018-07-25T22:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpmudev.whitespark.ca\/convert-local-searchers-into-customers-with-reviews\/"},"modified":"2024-10-28T16:05:28","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T22:05:28","slug":"convert-local-searchers-into-customers-with-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/convert-local-searchers-into-customers-with-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Convert Local Searchers Into Customers With Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is my talk from MozCon 2018 turned into a blog post!<\/p>\n

Why Reviews Matter More Now Than Ever Before<\/h2>\n

1. Google is sending less traffic to websites from local results.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Clicks to your website from GMB are down. Google has been adding a ton of features to local results, so that you don’t need to visit the website. You can get all of the info you need right in the local search results. You can no longer rely on just having an awesome website to get conversions. You need to make your listing awesome, and reviews are one of the most powerful ways to do this.<\/p>\n

Local results used to take you to a business website, now you’re taken to the Local Finder which has almost everything someone would need to know about a business, and if your listing doesn’t have the info, don’t count on the user clicking through to your website – they’re more likely to just move on to the next business – so make sure you add all the things to your listing<\/a> and get reviews!\"\"2. Reviews help rankings.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the 2017 Local Search Ranking Factors<\/a>, we saw an increase of 21.53% in the importance of Review Signals. Local search practitioners are noticing the powerful impact that reviews can have on rankings. Some of it is likely direct, but a side ranking benefit might come from engagement factors. Listings with more reviews are going to get more clicks and users will spend more time looking at those listings.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to make your listing stand out from the competition, and the only differentiating factor in local pack results is reviews.<\/p>\n

Which business would you call?\"\"But, this opportunity won’t be around forever. What will the local packs look like in 2, 3, or 5 years from now when everyone has one hundred 5 star reviews. It won’t be a differentiating factor anymore. The time is now, people.<\/p>\n

Don’t miss this opportunity!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

How Reviews Can Transform a Business<\/h2>\n

In 2015 Eager Beaver Moving company in Edmonton<\/a> had a total of 4 Google reviews averaging a 4.2 rating. They were getting about 20 leads\/month from Google.<\/p>\n

Over the course of the next few years, they started asking customers to leave them reviews and as of today they have 83 Google Reviews and a 4.8 rating. Now they are getting 350 leads\/month from Google. They’ve seen a 1,650% increase!\"\"And a huge side benefit is that their leads are already presold. Eager Beaver doesn’t need to send them a quote and try to convince the prospect that they are the best moving company. They don’t need to, because their past customers have become their sales force through the Google reviews and have already convinced the prospect that Eager Beaver is the best. They call in ready to commit, and just want to know: \u201cwhen can you start?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

“Great experience with the Eager Beaver team, they were professional, upfront, friendly and efficient- definitely the best moving company I have ever worked with.” Kelly Scott<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

reviews have revolutionized his business.<\/p>\n

How to Get More Reviews<\/h3>\n

So you’re now convinced that reviews are awesome and you’re going to work on getting more of them. Good. Here are a bunch of suggestions for how you can encourage more reviews from your customers.<\/p>\n

A) Golden Rule – Ask every customer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Honestly, if you only do this, you’re 80% of the way there. So many businesses shy away from asking because they are worried they’ll get some negative reviews. What you’ll find is that if you don’t ask, your reviews will skew towards the negative. If you start asking ALL your customers, then the happy ones will be encouraged to support you too and your reviews will start to skew towards the positive.=B) Platinum Rule – Always follow up.<\/strong><\/p>\n

People might not leave you the review on the first try, so always remember to send a follow up a week later.\u00a0You’ll get 32.7% more reviews if you send a follow up. Where does that 32.7% number come from? My brain – I made it up – but seriously, you will definitely get more reviews when you follow up, so just do it, ok?<\/p>\n

C) Get a link to leave a Google review.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you’re going to ask someone to leave you a review, it’s a good idea to make it easy on them and include a link to your Google listing. But… what is the link? Fortunately for you we have created a free tool to generate a link to leave a review on Google<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Got the link? Great. Now use this link everywhere:<\/p>\n