1) Better understand your customers & improve customer service - Analyzing reviews left to you by customers helps keep your feet on the ground in respect to overall customer satisfaction, as they can provide your business with feedback regarding what your customers truly want. By using this information as input, you will be able to improve customer service by quickly and efficiently resolve the issues that consumers faced, thereby creating a positive experience for the consumer and keeping your focus on their needs.

2) Credibility & social proof - No doubt, we are social creatures since the moment we come to this world and we are interested in knowing what other say before we make our buying decisions. Much like we would ask friends and family for recommendations, review sites allow us to do this online with just some clicks.

3) Fight with experience to save margins - Reviews enable new businesses to stand shoulder to shoulder with more established competition, and potentially gain a positive niche in people’s estimation and expectations. Look at it this way…which company would you rather buy from: one with 50 3-star reviews or one with 5 5-star reviews? Voila! You just took the discussion away from the discount and price!

4) Allow customers to have a voice and create customer loyalty - Consumers that take the time to leave an online review for your business are far more likely to feel a certain loyalty to you and keep coming back. Through the act of leaving a review and establishing a relationship with your business, it allows consumers to feel like they have a voice even behind a desktop and/or mobile and/ or tablet screen and are able to provide feedback in a positive and meaningful way.

5) Improve rankings - Reviews appear to be the most prominent ranking factor in local search. It helps businesses rank well even if they have low quality link profiles.

According to Google, “pages with reviews which mention a keyword and/or the name of a city, were found to have higher rankings in Google’s local pack. At a high level, having a keyword you are trying to rank for, and a mention of a city you are working to rank in, in reviews has a high correlation with high ranking Google My Business results”.

6) Consumers are doing your marketing for you - Positive online business reviews are worth a great deal and can offer your business benefits that a simple marketing campaign can’ t. In a nutshell, they are like micro – marketing campaigns that keep working long after the online review has been posted, providing, thus, a constant positive image to potential customers and creating a continual brand awareness that benefits the business for both the short and the long term.

7) Reviews generate more reviews - When a business has already received online reviews, it encourages other visitors to leave their own feedback. Just the appearance of several reviews seems to be enough to give new customers the incentive and confidence to submit their own opinion on a particular product or service.

Start Getting "MORE" Google Reviews With Your Own Online Customer Satisfaction Survey!