We have ALL heard the famous saying “just the facts ma’am” from the 1950’s show Dragnet. Joe Friday (detective) in the Los Angeles Police Department played by Jack Webb was well known for his interview style of women of his investigations. BUT what you might not know was that this was NOT the correct phrase of what he said. The correct phrase actually was “All we want are the facts ma’am.” Friday didn’t want embellishments, he just wanted the cold hard facts.
The FACTS About Online Reviews
To Whom It May Concern: Mr.& Mrs. Business owner, hereinafter will be referred to as Mr&Mrs. Biz. You have a business and you obviously need customers to come spend their money SO that you can keep your businesses open. So how do you go about getting consumers to your business? Well let me tell you one very CRUCIAL way of driving consumers to you, that is with REVIEWS. Folks the cold hard facts are just this, we are living in the age of the consumer. Consumers can and DO make or break our businesses.
Here are The Stats
Online reviews are a crucial part of your business
- 90% of consumers used the internet to find a local business in the last year
- 33% of consumers look at local businesses online every day – up from 27% last year
- 75% of 18-55-year-olds search for businesses online each week – compared to 35% of people aged 55+
- 82% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses
- A growing number of consumers ‘always’ read reviews for local businesses
- 52% of 18-54-year-olds ‘always’ read local business reviews, though 18-34s are less likely to read them than in 2018
DID you see that? Those are some serious numbers!! What do you think Mr&Mrs Biz owner? So about now you are probably scratching your head and wondering how do I go about getting reviews from my customers? But the first question you are MOST likely asking yourself is WHY are reviews so important? Why not rely on good old fashion WORD OF MOUTH? I mean John and Jane are good friends of ours and they tell everyone they know to come to visit our business. We have seen many folks come through our doors and say that John and Jane sent them to us, HIGHLY recommended us!!
The FACTS are people do not want to see 3rd party information, not from you as the owner of the business or maybe a close friend or family member. Nowadays most businesses make the assumption that word of mouth in their particular community is what is making their business thrive. What some fail to see is that online reviews are 80% just as good as word of mouth. One other important thing to consider is there are thousands of cars that are traveling through or past your town or city, having good reviews is the best way to drive that traffic to your business. Those consumers don’t know the locals in your community in order to hear the “word of mouth.”
TO BE CONTINUED….
