Reviews are important for both consumers and business owners alike. They help consumers make more informed buying decisions and help businesses get better and make their customers happier. But how many reviews does your business need?
When it comes to reviews, there’s no magic number.
The number of reviews you’ll need for your business to show up and stand out on review sites depends on the sites themselves. For example, for a local business, you only need a few reviews on Google in order for your star rating to be displayed in local searches. However, if you have an online store and you want your star rating to show up in Adwords campaigns, you’ll need to have at least 150 reviews. Every review platform has its own requirements and suggestions, and it’s up to you, as the business owner, to determine where your priorities lie.
How many reviews will prospective customers actually read?
When determining how many reviews you’ll need to stand out on review platforms and ensure that prospective customers choose you, it’s important to know exactly how many reviews customers might read.
Research has found that most people — 90 percent of consumers in fact — will read 10 reviews or fewer in order to make a buying decision, and 68 percent of consumers will read between one and six reviews before making a decision.
Because most consumers only read 10 reviews, it might lead you to believe that, once you have 10 reviews, you can be done with it. But that’s not the case, and when it comes to reviews, the more you can get, the better off you’ll be.
Why getting more reviews should always be high on your priority list.
#1. Consumers often look at the number of reviews a business has.
When people are reading your business’ reviews, they aren’t just reading the individual reviews; they are looking at how many reviews you’ve gotten. According to a study from BrightLocal, when judging a business, 44 percent of consumers said that they looked at the quantity of a business’ reviews rather than just the quality.
So even if you have a perfect average star rating of five-stars, it means very little to consumers if you only have a handful of reviews. The more reviews you have, the more impressive a high average star rating will be and the more forgivable a lower average rating will be.
#2. Newer reviews are more trustworthy than older reviews.
Even if you have thousands of reviews, they won’t help you much if you got them years or even months ago. Consumers aren’t just looking at your average star rating or the number of reviews you have; they want to know that you’ve gotten reviews recently. The longer you’ve had a review, the less relevant it is to consumers. In fact, according to a study conducted by Trustpilot, 65 percent of consumers believe a review is too old after one year, 36 percent after six months, and 16 percent after just three months.
In order to keep your reviews relevant, you need to constantly get new ones, which means that your focus on getting reviews should never waver.
#3. Bad reviews don’t hurt as much when you have a lot of reviews.
The first things people look at when they’re learning about your business is the total number of reviews you have and your overall average star rating. What your reviews actually say and how recent they were posted are also important, but if your rating score is too low, people aren’t likely to take the time to actually dive into your review to see what they say.
While a perfective five-star average may not be within your grasp, it’s important to ensure that your rating score is as high as possible, and when you have a greater number of reviews, one bad review won’t hurt your score as much as it would if you only had a few reviews.
#4. More reviews will make your business more visible online.
In addition to the impression it makes on prospective customers, having a lot of reviews is also important for your business’ online visibility in general. The more reviews your business has, the better your website will rank for relevant local searches. According to a study from Local SEO Guide, reviews that include keywords were the second-highest factor when determining a business’ performance in ranking among the map results in local searches.
If your business doesn’t rank on Google, it may as well not exist at all, as most people doing local searches don’t look past the first page of search results. And while there are many things that are factored in when determining your business’ ranking, getting more reviews is one of the most effective and easiest things you can do to improve your business’ organic rankings.
#5. The more reviews you get, the better your business can be.
Successful businesses aren’t out just to serve a few people; they’re out to serve as many people and as wide an audience as possible. That means that, when it comes to customer feedback, the more feedback you can get from the most people, the more information you’ll have to make your business better for everyone.
Reviews aren’t just a tool to help consumers find you online, or to help consumers learn more about what kind of service you have to offer; if you pay attention to what they say, they’re a great tool for gaining valuable insight into your business.
Manage your online reputation like a pro with Top Rated Local.
Reviews are important, and although there’s no magic number of reviews you should shoot for, the more you have, the better off you’ll be, and getting reviews should be your consistent focus. Luckily, no matter how many reviews you get, Top Rated Local® is here to help you manage your reviews and your online reputation like a professional.
Top Rated Local was designed to help consumers get down to the bottom of what working with a company is really like by capturing the overall customer experience based on five main pillars, while giving businesses the ability to overcome everyday issues that can hurt their online reputation, like fake reviews and competitor reviews. With Top Rated Local, businesses and consumers are both empowered, and you won’t find anything else like it out there. The best part is that it’s absolutely free to get your business listed, and you have nothing to lose!
What are you waiting for? Get your business listed today to become the Top Rated Local experts in your area!
