The Worth of Online Reviews

As a business owner, it is vital that you know the value of your activities, investments, and marketing. This is particularly true when it comes to assets that help drive profitability and grow your customer base. So, what value can you place on a single positive review? How much might a negative review cost your business? Let’s look at the value of an online review and the impact on your business.

Stats and Figures about Online Reviews

Did you know that 97% of consumers regularly read reviews before choosing to work with a business? Did you further know that almost all of those consumers trust online reviews and give them as much weight as a personal recommendation from someone they actually know? Only 36% of small business owners choose to invest in review marketing or the process of using those assets to build your business’ success while mitigating the impact of negative reviews.

Reviews have tremendous power and potential (and worth). They can drive things like search engine optimization, brand recognition, authority, and visibility. They also provide social proof. 29% of consumers make a purchase the same day as they visit a review site, but a staggering 89% make a purchase the same week. 82% of consumers actually report going to a review site for the specific purpose of finding information about products, services or businesses themselves. (don’t worry, scroll down to see a great infographic with more stats)

Understanding the Worth of Online Reviews

You likely know the worth of most of your assets. How much would you say your website is worth? What about your Facebook business page? How much is your accounting software worth? Even if you don’t have a specific dollar value in mind already, chances are good that you could hazard a guess. Now, what would you say the worth was of an asset that could:

• Increase the amount spent by a customer by 31%
• Allow you to raise your prices by 11% per one-point increase
• Improve the level of trust with 92% of consumers who research your business

Online reviews can have quite the impact but not all online reviews are created equal. There are quite a few driving factors behind the value of each review location as well. Let’s look at the main sites:

Google Reviews

Google Reviews is perhaps the single most important platform to understand. That’s because these reviews show up front and center when a customer searches for a specific business type within their area. Consumers don’t even have to search for reviews – they’re right there. All they need to do is click. As such, reviews on Google reviews make customers 38% more likely to visit your location, and 29% more likely to consider buying from you. 56% of consumers will click through to your full listing based strictly on your star rating.

Yelp Reviews

Yelp is home to more than 127 million individual reviews. A single star improvement in your rating on Yelp can translate to up to 9% increase in your revenue, and 98% of Yelp users report making a purchase from a business they found on the platform.

Facebook Reviews

Finally, we have Facebook reviews. 74% of consumers report using Facebook to find more information about businesses, and that includes reading reviews. 80% of consumers report being more likely to trust a business if they have positive reviews on the social network giant.

It may not be simple to calculate the worth of online reviews for your business, but they have incredible value.

Infographic by- Invesp