Online reviews are one of the most powerful marketing tools that local businesses can use. As opposed to spending hundreds (thousands?) of dollars a month on Facebook Ads, Google Adwords, and referral programs, online reviews give your buyers what they they need: reasons to know, like and trust you.

Just as Powerful as a Personal Recommendation

The reason why reviews are so effective for local businesses is that 84% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Think about that for a moment. Almost 9 out of 10 of your potential buyers see no difference between a great review online and their best friend recommending a place.

That means local online reviews are just as powerful as word-of-mouth marketing. The difference? You have no way to know who talks about you and how they talk about you. In a way, word of mouth marketing is like offline reviews, except that you cannot measure them. On the other hand, online reviews are simple to get, and are 100% measurable.

Online local reviews have proven time and time again to be worth your time. More reviews means more website traffic, more phone calls, more appointments, more people at your door, you name it. They just work.

Bulletproof your Business

One of the biggest objections businesses have against online reviews is how one bad review can wreck your average. The good news is that consumers are not naive. They know a bad review could be coming from a toxic person who is overreacting. When asked, 87% of your potential customers said that they are willing to purchase from you if your rating is 3 to 5 stars. That means that consumers are not looking for perfection. They are looking for reasons to trust you.

Strength in Numbers

The more reviews you have, the stronger your reputation will be. Here’s why:

• The more reviews you have the more stable your average review score becomes. If you only have two or three reviews, any review will move your average. More reviews protects your brand from toxic people who overreact against your business.

• The more reviews you have, the more robust your brand looks. Potential customers will see that a lot of people are reviewing, providing you with social validation in their eyes.

Keep it Simple and Go With Google Reviews, and Facebook

Any quick search about local business reviews will show you dozens of places where your customers can review your business. Places like Angie’s List, Better Business Review, OpenTable, Foursquare, to name a few, have robust reviewing systems, and are great tools. However, you can’t go wrong with Google Reviews, and Facebook. Both show up first in all local search results. They generate massive web traffic and lead conversions. And that’s where Real Time Reviews can help.

With our platform, you can send your customers a text message asking for a review. 98% of them will open the message, and 70% are likely to leave the valuable review you need. From your Real Time Reviews account dashboard you can see reports, talk with your personal review specialist, and figure out strategies to reach even more customers.

Check out what one of our customers has said about us:

“Before Real Time Reviews it was difficult to get customer testimonials even though our customers were satisfied. Since then we have had nearly a dozen in under a few months that we wouldn’t have captured without it.”

You can see a full demo of the platform. Just sign up here and we’ll get in touch with you right away.

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