Reading reviews has become a key part of researching a local business.
When you’re doing a local business search online, say for an HVAC company or a plumber, you need a way to sort through all of the results. Depending on where you live, there might be hundreds of options to choose from. And, the only way to differentiate one local business from another is to read its online reviews.
Now, more than ever, it’s critical that you hire the right local business for your needs. With coronavirus, you want to know that you can trust whoever you hire to take your health and safety seriously, as well as that of their employees.
Reading reviews is a great way to determine whether or not you can trust a local business; however, it’s not always as straightforward as it sounds. Reviews can actually be incredibly misleading, especially if you always take them at face value.
Knowing how to read reviews is an important step toward getting the most out of them.
6 Tips for Reading and Learning From Online Reviews
#1. Read more than one review.
A single experience might sometimes be reflective of the overall experience you can expect from a local business, but that won’t always be the case. Whether the review is one-star or five, it’s not easy to learn much about a business from a single review. In order to get a true understanding of what kind of business it is, you need to read about more than one customer experience.
I would suggest reading between five and 10 reviews for a business you’re considering working with. And, make sure that you read reviews with a range of star ratings. Reading only five-star reviews will skew your view of a local business just as much as reading only one-star reviews. You need to read about good, bad, and neutral experiences to get the best idea of what working with a business is really like.
#2. Read the most recent reviews.
A lot can change for a small business in a matter of months, or even weeks. Employees come and go; management can change; suppliers and equipment can change. Someone’s experience eight months ago may not be relevant to the current customer experience a business offers. That’s why it’s important to always read the latest reviews.
Some businesses experience change faster than others. Restaurants, for example, tend to see high turnover rates and frequently change up their menus — both of which can affect the customer experience. An architecture firm, on the other hand, is much more likely to have the same team of architects as they did six months ago and probably provide the same kind of experience.
#3. Read reviews from multiple sources.
A business that has a 5.0 average star rating on Google won’t necessarily have that same stellar rating on Yelp or Angie’s List. Reading a business’ reviews on one source gives you only part of the picture. To truly understand what working with a business will be like, you need to gain an understanding of their online reputation, overall, and you do that by reading reviews from multiple review sources and local business directories.
Instead of visiting five different review sites to read up on a business, visit Top Rated Local®! Top Rated Local is your all-in-one source to all of a business’ reviews across every verified review site it’s listed on. Best of all, a business Rating Score™ — which is out of 100.00 and calculated based on the number of review sites a business is listed on, the number of reviews a business has, the rating of those reviews, and more — will give you a good idea of what their online reputation looks like, overall.
#4. Read the responses to any negative reviews.
Local businesses are run by human beings, and part of being a human being means making mistakes from time to time. But, when, for example, a plumber makes a mistake fixing the pipes in your home or a roofer makes a mistake while repairing your roof, it doesn’t exactly make for a positive experience.
Reading negative reviews is important because it helps you understand what kind of mistakes a business has made in the past and how often it’s made those same mistakes. But, it’s also very important to read the business’ response to those negative reviews. While reading the response, look for a business that’s willing to learn from its mistakes and do whatever it takes to make the situation right.
#5. Look for themes.
It’s sometimes difficult to separate an individual reviewer’s experience from the overall customer experience a business offers. This is especially true if the reviewer in question has made their review specific to their individual experience, which isn’t always reflective of the typical experience. For example, using a specific employee’s name, or talking about a specific experience.
The best way to get a real idea of what working with a local business is like, look for common themes while reading reviews. Have multiple people praised the timeliness of their service or complained about the attitudes of their employees? If one or two customers have commented on something, you can probably chalk it up to individual experience, but if five or six have, it’s worth paying attention to.
#6. Watch out for nasty personal attacks.
A few months ago, I was looking for an accounting firm near me. As I was reading one firm’s reviews, I noticed a single one-star review that was bringing its average star rating down. When I read it, I was surprised to learn that the complaint had very little to do with the business at all. In fact, this woman was upset about the way the accounting firm’s branded vehicle had been parked at the grocery store and wanted the world to know.
While I appreciate how frustrating it is when someone doesn’t stay in the lines when parking, I don’t think it has much bearing on their accounting services. Personal attacks like these just aren’t helpful to anyone who is truly interested in learning about a business’ customer experience, so take them with a grain of salt.
Reviews are great, but it’s important to know how to read them. Write reviews for the local businesses you love and use our local business directory to find the best local businesses near you! Get started today!
