10 Reasons Why Google Reviews are So Important to a Local Business in Malaysia
Have you ever heard the number one rule for a successful restaurant? ‘locations’ are the new rules added to neighbourhoods, Small Businesses & restaurants.
Just as opening a restaurant in a terrible neighbourhood puts a retailer at a big disadvantage from day one, so does a small local retailer that has just gained online awareness. take profit. We’ve seen firsthand how commercial companies can be overwhelmed by the weight of terrible opinions.
This is why online opinion (especially Google Business Profile) is so important to the conduct of commercial business in your neighbourhood. (Especially at smaller neighbourhood retailers who can operate on smaller budgets.)
Reviews are increasingly influential in consumers’ shopping choices. The number of people checking opinions before visiting a site has skyrocketed in the last three to four years.
Just as they believe recommendations from close friends and family, so too do the number of consumers who believe online opinions to be true.
Let me say it again…
97% of Malaysians trust online reviews as much as they trust a referral from a friend.
I’ve watched this game many times over the past few years when running with clients. And all other new fads are included in the list of nearby Google reviews.
A growing percentage of neighbourhood shoppers don’t visit the website before contacting them. Instead, more and more nearby customers are now calling directly to get the information they need from Google Maps, largely based on what they find on nearby lists.
This is very important and should be understood and incorporated as part of your advertising and marketing strategy if you have a business near you.
If your Google Business Profile is not consistently optimized and maintained as normal (i.e. regularly adding new images, adding new posts, adding reviews and replying to reviews), you are definitely losing out on one of the most efficient and effective promotional and marketing tools available for businesses near you.
Here are some other reasons why you should actively use Google Business Profile:
Gone are the days when a small business ranks top of Google even if they have a good process in place with search engine marketing and have the best reputation in their local area.
This is because Google has placed Google Business Profile above the organic search results, just below Google Ads.
How will this affect your business rankings on Google?
This way, even if you rank #1 organic, you won’t see until the 7th or 8th feature of the page in your environment.
As I mentioned earlier, this is because the top 3-4 places are actually reserved for Google ads, and his next 3 places go to adjacent listings. Now you can see why these listings and the reviews based on them are important for businesses near you.
For brevity, we won’t go into the details of installing the Google Maps page.
A quick Google search will show other authors who have already done a great job creating these instructions.
With that said, here are 10 reasons why Google reviews are so important for businesses near you:
1. Trust and first impressions
To paraphrase Seth Godin, “People will not do commercial business with you until they know you are you and consider you.” Opinions matter to people. I need it before doing business with you.
Reviews speak about the quality of your products or services and the way people are treated when doing business with you. Online reviews have become the number one influencer when it comes to thinking about potential customers and making an accurate first impression.
2. Your reputation is on the line
Your online reputation is an extension of your online awareness.
If you don’t provide good customer service, you may expect potential customers to perceive your business to provide bad service compared to your peers.
Not all bad reviews are correct, you might say. The problem is that customers who want to do business with you have no way of distinguishing between legitimate and fake reviews.
If you receive a bad review instead, please do your best to ‘fill in’ it with new, quality feedback before moving on.
This is another reason why it is important to frequently upload quality reviews to your business.
Here is the hard truth. If you won’t be at the top, your competitors might, period.
I’ve been doing this for a long time and have monitored the results of my clients, and every day I can say that a horrible review from your customers may actually be beneficial for your business.
Not having an opinion now is the most effective and barely higher than having a bad opinion.
Without any reviews, people will assume your business isn’t operating now when they see your business on Google.
3. Good reviews help you achieve higher organic rankings
Google uses online reviews when placing local organic rankings. please think about it.
Google’s mission is to provide people with the best results for their search queries. Online reviews are a very strong indicator (to Google) of whether people like your business.
Many studies have been conducted and the conclusion is that companies with good online reviews are prioritized over those with poor or underrated reviews.
If Google wants to give its customers a great experience, it makes sense to consider Google reviews.
The number of reviews is also different.
Recent statistics show that many people looking for local services and products want to see shops with 40 or more reviews. (57% of buyers only need to see 11 or more reviews.)
If his company has 5 reviews and his competitor has 36 reviews, who will be the first to get a call?
4. Customer Feedback - Honest Opinions in the Mirror
Want to know what people really think about your product or service?
Take reviews as an opportunity to learn as a business. Pay attention to what people are saying and try to keep an open mind even if you receive not-so-great reviews.
A short-sighted business owner who takes a “these people are wrong” attitude whenever he receives a bad review.
A smarter approach is to pay attention to what the reviews are really telling you and do your best to see your business through their eyes. often requires someone outside.
I had a client who refused to face the truth of terrible reviews online for a relatively short period of time.
I mean, they were bad. I did my best to convince him that his reviews were costing him his business.
He did not take feedback with an open-mind, so I had to let this client go.
Because a business that refuses to believe that bad reviews can hurt a business, there’s not much he can do to help the owner.
Business owners who did take in bad reviews are able to improve their sales by providing better services and retraining any staff that gives a bad service.
5. More and more consumers read reviews before they buy
You already know that more and more consumers read reviews before shopping with local businesses.
In fact, these numbers are increasing significantly each year. And more and more people are searching for businesses using mobile rather than desktop.
Your reviews are the first thing I read, especially in the local area.
Also, your website being mobile friendly is another crucial factor in showing on Google when people search with their phones.
6. More and more people are calling businesses directly from Google Business Profile
Well, to be honest, I was a little surprised at this point.
About 8-10 months ago, we started seeing new trends in our customer analytics.
We’ve found that clients are more likely to receive calls directly from your Google Business Profile than from your own website.
I’m not saying the website doesn’t matter — in fact, it’s crucial for your Google Business Profile listing.
This change in the way people do business with local businesses underscores the importance of those local listings and reviews.
Some customers, especially local customers, prefer phone calls to actual websites.
I am getting more visits and calls from his Google Business Profile. In many cases, these buyers have not even visited your website before deciding to call or visit.
We see this change as a great opportunity for local customers to outperform our competitors with solid reviews and streamlined listings.
We recently added this service to our SEO services to ensure that our clients’ Google Business Profile is optimised, updated regularly, and filled with great reviews.
7. Users search for “business name + reviews”
As local business reviews have become an integral part of the online search process.
We see a trend of users now searching for terms such as “business name + reviews” and “service + location”.
For example, if someone wants to go to a local Mamak named Steven’s, they are likely searching for something like “Steven’s Mamak Reviews.”
If you have a theme to your restaurant or service, people may search for ‘Mamak stalls near me’ or ‘Mamak stalls in [city]’.
And at the front, Google displays your average rating score (stars) for everyone to see. This is the result of all evaluations.
This means your reviews will improve if you plan to continue growing your business through online searches.
Searches like the one I just described mean that reviews are a very important customer.
And if they don’t see good reviews, they probably won’t contact the company at all.
Again, imagine today I’m getting a haircut. What did I start with? Of course, with reviews from local saloons.
It only took me a few minutes to decide not only which salon to go to, but who to book with.
Needless to say, this barber wouldn’t have looked in my shop without the many positive reviews on Google.
8. 78% of buyers trust online reviews as much as they trust their friends
How trustworthy are local reviews?
The latest stats show that up to 78% of shoppers trust online reviews as much as their friends’ reviews, a figure that jumps to a staggering 91% for his 18-34-year-old group.
Online reviews are on the rise, proving once again that they are going from strength to strength.
9. If Your Competitors Have Good Reviews, You're Losing Business
As we mentioned earlier, if you don’t get good reviews online, you’re losing business.
And most prospects won’t even contact you if you’re not getting 4 or more stars out of 5. (Some people want to see 4.5 out of 5.)
I know I said it before, but I have to repeat it. There are two ways to lose an online review game.
First, bad reviews don’t get contacted as often as good reviews.
Second, if you don’t have enough reviews, your competitors may get the call instead, especially if they have more reviews.
So make sure you make your business show in the top 3 whenever people search for services like yours!
10. Good reviews make customers feel that they get a better service
In other words: Your online reviews make buyers feel like they’re getting the same level of service as the person who wrote the review.
That’s the power of reviews.
People aren’t just looking for goods and services. You want a great experience at your company.
This is why people read and trust reviews. Because reviews represent not only the quality of a product or service, but also the experience.
A positive review is like a brightly lit billboard for a 24/7 business that broadcasts the message, ‘Do business with us and you’ll love it!’
In conclusion
Now is the perfect time to take advantage of this free tool offered by Google through Local Listings.
Sometimes referred to as Google Maps listings, Local Business listings, or Google My Business listings.
Even if your business is listed there and packed with great reviews, we can guarantee it will lead to more business.
Of course, it’s a long-term game you’re in and not a “let’s go viral” type of advertisement. If you’re in for the game, we’re happy to hop on a call with you and see how we can help!
Google Maps Ranking (or Local SEO) and Online Reputation is an integral part of business strategy for every brick-and-mortar business. Local SEO will help your audience find you when they search online if you have a storefront or business area. We hope you found this article helpful in your quest to gain recognition and credibility for your brand online.
If your business is serving local and you don’t have the skillset and expertise to optimise for this, we’re more than happy to help you out!