4.9 is the new 4.5

In 2020 a Google score of 4.5 was OK, in fact it was more than just OK. That is no longer the case - for service businesses and the professions anyway. For our reasoning please read on...

The way consumers use reviews is constantly evolving. Over the last ten years the major shift has been away from Facebook (now less than 1% of online reviews) and the review sites (altogether then likes of Yelp, Trustpilot, Feefo, Yell, and Reviews.io make up less than 20%) towards Google (at 79%).

In doing so, consumers have refined their shorthand to shortlist potential businesses. In the early days, any score over 4.0 would do. Then consumers began to realise that reviews broke down into two distinct categories: those for products and those for services.

Product reviews

Few of us bother to read product reviews, as long at we see four stars 

These are increasingly used by consumers to validate that the product they are about to buy 'does what it says on the tin'. Savvy consumers are more likely to read professional reviews of products and just use online reviews - Google or otherwise - to check out delivery and after-sales reliability. The fact that someone occasionally gives a camera, a washing machine or a pair of trousers a 1* review is neither here nor there.

Service and professional reviews

Reviews of services on the other hand - here a womens' health clinic - are increasingly relied on by consumers. If you read the review above, which appears on the client's website and on Google, you will see what we mean 

Now we get serious. Reviews - Google reviews - of services and professions - from medical, to financial, legal and so on, are approached with far more scrutiny by consumers than those of products. For two very good reasons: the businesses we are speaking of here offer potentially life-saving benefits on the upside and the flip side - of choosing the wrong solution - can be equally life-changing. So many consumers slow the process right down from 'Nice shoes, score 4 out of five, click and buy.' to 'Let's make a shortlist based on the business's headline Google score and then take time to mine down into the individual reviews themsleves.'

We are sure you are with us thus far. If fact we are sure most readers will recognise this behaviour because they will have conformed to it to a greater or lesser extent. So - back to our headline: if your business's competitors are scoring 4.5 - 4.8 (maybe up from 4.1 - 4.4 a few years ago) yours had better be scoring 4.9. In fact, just to be sure, best score 4.9 whatever the competition is scoring.

If ever there was any doubt as to whether or not Google reviews of professional services are read then this screenshot will dispel that, once and for all. Last week Google added the clickable ❤️ and 🙏 emojis under each review (mobile only for the time being) - and just look how many the latest review for this client has garnered already - in just two days!

So - action to take

Take a long hard look at your business's approach to reviews. Make use of our experience - after all we have been advising clients - and learning their, as well as our, secrets of success for well over a decade. The easiest way is to speak to us, we can examine exactly where your business is on the learning curve and advise accordingly. Reading one or more of the following articles will also help...

• Moderation - the golden key to protecting your business from factually inaccurate, potentially misleading or just plain unfair reviews

• Compliance - comes under the heading of 'boring but important'; the CMA is on the warpath against businesses playing fast-and-loose where reviews are concerned

• Results - once a business has review management cracked the impact on both enquiries and the quality of the individual pieces of business transacted will rise, as these comparisons conclusively demonstrate (one of our clients in this example has recently opened a new office to service demand in the same area)

...but the ultimate test is to put our advice into action, inviting reviews to your own website and then on to Google (that is the only way to benefit from the safety net of moderation, with inaccurate or misleading reviews being and get the stars in search you see here...

...so look at our fees (remembering there is no contract period) and our guarantee of success. Then call us.