Summary of Main Discussion Points:
● 76% of the study’s participants plan to devote more time to their online reputation management efforts in the next year.
● The average marketer devotes approximately 17% of their time on online reputation management.
● A positive online reputation effectively inspires customers to trust local businesses, convert site visitors into valuable leads, and invigorate local search rankings.
● The most complicated aspect of online reputation management is identifying and eliminating fraudulent reviews. Over 50% of businesses have received fake positive or negative reviews.
● Oftentimes, businesses fail to properly monitor their online reputation due to budget and time constraints.
● 44% of the study’s participants revealed that they utilize online reputation software to generate, monitor, or respond to reviews.
In the broadest sense, customer reviews are the fulcrum of online consumerism. Prospective customers regularly consult online reviews to make any significant online purchase from clothes to technology. Not only do 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business, online reviews are also proven to impact 67.7% of major purchasing decisions.
In order to build credibility with consumers and increase industry reputation, businesses must devote their time and resources into managing their online reputation. Thanks to a study featuring the attendees of the Local Business Marketing Summit, comprehensive analytic data has been feasibly acquired to answer popular questions associated with online reputation management.
Read on to learn more about how you can improve your online reputation from insights obtained by real SMBs, enterprise employees, and marketers.
1. How important is a positive online reputation to the success of a business?
- 87% of participants believe that a positive reputation is essential to the success of a business.
- A positive reputation is paramount to every respondent.
A positive online reputation is important to promote business integrity, so it makes sense that the participants of this study would react in this manner. A positive perception attracts customers. This is fundamentally true due to the fact that millions of business operate in identical spheres. For this reason, consumers are steadily trying to find businesses that will give them the best return on their investment.
To answer this question, a positive online reputation is critical to the success of a businesses, helping it to stand out amongst its competitors and achieve a competitive edge in their market.
2. How much is your time devoted to online reputation management?
- 69% of the study’s participants claimed that they devote 1-20% of their time to their online reputation management.
- The average weekly ratio of time spent on online reputation management among enterprise businesses is 17%.
Although a majority of the study’s participants selected the smallest segment, the average weekly time spent on online reputation management is 17%. This average almost estimates to a complete day!
Of course, online reputation management is crucial to the success of your business, but it shouldn’t consume all of your time. There are a wide variety of online reputation management software that you assist you in automating these tasks to make them less time-consuming for your business, while also placing an emphasis on the areas that matter most.
3. What are the most crucial benefits of a positive online reputation?
Positive Online Reputation Benefits:
- Allows customers to trust a business more
- Seamlessly converts site visitors into valuable leads
- Invigorates local search rankings
- Makes businesses stand out from competitors
- Generates more calls and clicks from new customers
According to the Local Consumer Review study, 68% of online consumers stated that positive reviews strongly compelled them try a local business. However, the benefits of a positive online reputation that are related to trust are more lucrative compared to financial benefits.
By simply managing your online reputation, you can cash in on a wide array of benefits that can help your business thrive in the field of online consumerism.
4. What are the most difficult aspects of online reputation management?
Managing your online reputation can be difficult, especially if you have visible budget and time constraints. Here are the most cited difficulties in online reputation management according to this study.
Identifying and eliminating fake reviews
Nearly 80% of customers have claimed that they have read a fake online review at least once. It can be complicating finding fake reviews and even more challenging to remove them. If you need some help in doing so, refer to this bit of information on how to eliminate your fake reviews.
Encouraging customers to leave reviews
Oftentimes, getting your customers to leave an online review can be a struggle. However, you may actually be overthinking your strategy. 68% of customers who are asked to leave a review go on to eventually do so. Of course, you’ll still have to be persistent in your approach. Try following up with your customers to highlight their experience through emails, and even on receipts.
Educating staff about the significance of online reviews
If you receive a legitimate review about how your team poorly conducted customer service, what would you do? In an age where online reviews encourage sales, a single negative review could make or break your business. That’s why you need to educate your staff about the significance of online reviews to create transparency and ensure that everyone is onboard to delivering top-notch service.
5. What’s preventing you from putting more effort into your online reputation management?
- Time is the biggest factor that prevents businesses from working on their online reputation management.
- A limited budget is the secondary reason.
To no surprise, a lack of time is the primary reason why businesses do not devote more effort into their online reputation management.
For all of the reasons listed above, is this a legitimate excuse? Could you risk losing out on customers because of this lack of effort?
Responsible businesses always invest their resources into activities that yield substantial returns. Why is online reputation management any different?
We Are Here to Help!
All businesses should prioritize their online reputation management. This study indicates that this concept is extremely important for businesses desiring to capitalize and take advantage of new opportunities in the business world.
Regardless of the difficulties that may lie ahead, investing in managing your online reputation is a prudent decision that can net substantial gain both now and in the long-term.
If you would like to inquire about BlueMatrix Media’s online reputation management services, please click here to contact us!