Very few things are more powerful than social proof. When people see other people doing something, especially if lots of people are doing it, they are also very likely to do it. Humans are designed to follow the pack, and as a business this can be extremely beneficial if you are on the receiving end of the social proof.
This is why reviews are very important – they are social proof through text. Reviews allow people to tell everyone else how great your firm is, so that they also want to come to you and get the same result.
When people need someone for a particular job or service (let’s say a lawyer), the first thing they do is they ask people they trust, such as friends or family, for recommendations. That’s social proof from their most trusted sources. Often it only takes one of these people to recommend someone and they’ll go straight to them. Because they trust the source.
However, if their immediate circle can’t recommend anyone, the next step is to go to a local information source (Google) and see what a large group of people they don’t know have to say. However, in this case, a very large number of positive reviews are required to equal the level of trust of one person that they already trust.
This is why getting as many good reviews as possible is crucial. If you see one 5 star review, it’s not going to mean much. But if you see 500, odds are there’s a reason for it and you are more likely to trust that you will get good service from that business.
On top of that, Google looks at reviews when it decides which businesses to show in the local results – the little box at the top of page 1 search results that shows 3 to 5 businesses with reviews, address etc. If you have poor reviews or a very small number of reviews, your chances of showing up there are slim.
This is important because of all the clicks from keyword searches looking for local businesses, around 45% of people click on one of the businesses in the local results box (known as the “Google Local Pack”). That’s almost half of the people searching! So if you are not there, or if you are showing up with a poor star rating, you’re missing out on a huge chunk of traffic.
So How Do You Get Good Google Reviews?
Ask!
Ask every client you service, especially if you got them a good result or know they are happy with your service, to leave you a review on Google.
Send them a quick email saying something like “Thanks for using [YOUR BUSINESS NAME], it’s been a pleasure working with you. If you were happy with our service we’d really appreciate an honest review.” and send them the link to your Google business listing.
You can also have “Leave a review” in your email signature with a link to your Google business profile, as well as a link on your website.
The more you can remind people, the more reviews you will get.