Do You Know Your Online Trust Factor?
In a very enlightening TED presentation, Rachel Botsman stated that “The currency of the new economy is trust”, and I could not agree with her more. The online transparency of your business’s reputation is now easily visible. Therefore it is more important than ever to not only minimize the occurrence of poor customer service, but also consistently strive to deliver a first-class customer experience and actively solicit reviews from those customers, clients, and/or patients to enhance your online credibility and reputation.
Why Reputation Marketing Is So Vital Now
A study done by Nielsen Media (Global Trust and Advertising Survey) revealed that 70% of the people polled trusted consumer opinions posted online. This is the 2nd highest level of trust just under recommendations from people they know, at 92%. ALL other forms of advertising such as editorial content in newspapers, branded websites, ads on TV, and others fall way below that. This means your prospects are likely to check your online reputation before they even consider doing business with you. In fact, a recent study done by Real Strategic Inc. found that 87% of the respondents searched online to find information about a company EVEN if they were referred to it by a friend or family member. With Google now including your reviews and reputation score right along with the organic listings, your online reputation is naked for the world to see.
One of our newest clients shared an experience with me that he recently had, which reinforces the statistics shown above. He had just run a 60-second TV spot that aired during the 12 o’clock news segment. This was obviously not a cheap commercial and it produced a moderate number of phone calls. One particular viewer called and scheduled an appointment upon seeing the commercial, and the very next day called back to cancel that appointment because she found an unfavorable review online. Even though there were other positive reviews, the negative one is what she read, which prompted her to cancel her appointment and visit a competitor for the service she was seeking. This client is in the medical field and his patient value is over $2000 so you can see how critical reputation is.
I can virtually guarantee there were other potential patients who viewed that same commercial and also researched the business online. They may also have seen that unfavorable review and decided to not even pick up the phone in the first place. These scenarios could obviously determine whether that particular campaign even produced a positive return and the client was not even aware of it.
Even a Small Change Can Make a Big Difference
Researchers at University of California, Berkeley published their results of a study conducted to analyze how a restaurant’s Yelp rating would affect the nightly reservations. It was determined that just a slight improvement of one half star could increase the amount of business a restaurant does during peak hours by 19%. How would you like to increase your bottom line by 19% by doing nothing other than increasing your online reputation?
Reviews Are Everywhere
Unless you have been off the grid for the past year or more, you have probably noticed the explosive growth of online reviews and reputation scores. Google now includes the company’s reviews and/or ratings right along with the organic search results. They also appear in the maps listings as well as any pay per click ads. If that wasn’t obvious enough, you have probably noticed that the coveted first page of Google now contains numerous results from third-party review sites like Yelp, Trip Advisor, Insider Pages, Yahoo Local, and many others. One of Google’s core philosophies is to deliver the best possible end-user experience and there’s no better way to do that than making it easy and obvious for consumers to see which companies will most likely provide that level of service.
Barry Craft is the founder and CEO of Your Marketing Crew, LLC and has been providing graphic design, web design and Internet marketing services to clients since 1998. To get access to your FREE Reputation Analysis Report, please visit www.YourReputationReporter.com or call us at 727-210-5046.
