Too often, local businesses see their reputation as a passive thing. They try to provide their customers with great customer service and take customer feedback seriously, and then they hope for the best.

However, your reputation is far too important to leave up to chance. It’s what separates you from your competition — the reason to choose you over the many other businesses in your area.

When your reputation speaks for itself, it builds trust in your business and amplifies your marketing efforts. But, that kind of reputation won’t happen on its own.

A strong reputation can be an incredibly powerful thing for a local business, and it takes time and consistency to build.

Some stats you should know:

• 87% of consumers read reviews online for local businesses (Status Labs)
• 52% of consumers won’t patronize a business that has fewer than four stars (BrightLocal)
• It can take up to 40 good customer experiences to reverse the damage caused by a single negative review (Inc.)
• Companies that boast an above-average number of reviews on all review sites earn 54% more annual revenue (Womply)

Local business fuels success with a strong reputation

One local business, with the help of their Marketing Success Manager and Marketing 360®’s reputation management software, learned just how impactful having a strong reputation can be.

With a focus on reputation management, this local business saw their most profitable quarter ever in the first quarter of 2021 — a time when many local businesses were still reeling from the pandemic.

Compared to the first quarter of 2020, this local business saw a 143% increase in their conversion rate, a $74 drop in their cost per conversion — a 25% decrease in cost — and almost double the number of conversions.

They also saw a jump in their organic performance, with a 165% increase in impressions, a 130% increase in clicks and a 171% increase in organic conversions compared to Q1 of 2020.

How did they do it?

The foundation of a local business’s online reputation is its reviews, and in order to ensure that they were getting plenty of reviews, this local business made it a point to simply ask their customers for feedback.

They started requesting reviews from every customer who came through the door by sending a follow-up email after their visit. If the recipient had a Gmail address, they asked them to leave a review on Google.

If the recipient did not have a Gmail address, they asked them to leave a review on Top Rated Local®. This made it easy for customers to leave reviews because Top Rated Local does not require an account.

This push for reviews led to a 94.51 Rating Score on Top Rated Local and a 4.85 average star rating on Google.

Conclusion

From building trust with prospective customers to organic visibility and conversions, there are so many reasons to make reputation management a priority. But, a strong reputation won’t happen on its own.

Building an impactful reputation for your business takes time and consistency, but when you stick with it, it can really pay off.

Build, manage and grow your small business with Marketing 360®

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Account M26627
Screenshots taken on 4/27/21

*Results are based on past client performance. Individual account performance may vary. Results are not guaranteed.

Originally published on 4/27/21