You know that online reviews influence consumers as they determine who to do business with and what they’ll buy. Now you also have exact numbers to share with your prospects about the impact on ROI when their ratings stars rise. The information comes from Uberall’s Reputation Management Revolution report.

Consumers are in the habit of searching for everything online before they make a purchase or visit a store. The good news is your small business clients can influence consumer decision-​making by managing their online reputations or hiring you to do it for them. 

To begin, they should have an online presence that speaks to what consumers want:

• Quality products and services
• Convenient locations
• Good prices
• No waiting

How to Generate More Reviews

Once businesses entice consumers to buy from them, it’s time to encourage online reviews. It may take giving a discount or small gift to get the ball rolling. But once the reviews start coming in, your clients must respond. Uberall research shows “when enterprise locations reply to at least 32% of reviews, they achieve 80% higher conversion rates than businesses that only reply to 10% of reviews.” Currently, SMBs only reply to 25% of their reviews. Your clients need to improve that rate.

The Impact on ROI

Your clients probably know all about the five-​star rating system. It’s not easy to earn a perfect score. Uberall analysts found that the highest conversion rates happen for businesses that average a 4.9 score. Most businesses will have trouble reaching that score as well.

Instead, they should focus on improving their score. “A star rating increase of just 0.1 could increase the conversion rates of a business location by 25%.” Think of it. Your clients could dramatically grow sales by slightly improving their rating. 

In the Uberall study, local SMBs had the following ratings by industry vertical:

• Automotive 4.3 (88)
• Financial services 4.5 (44)
• Food and beverage 4.0 (83)
• Retail 4.2 (42)
• Service and B2B 4.0 (49)
• Travel, tourism, leisure 4.4 (151)

While these scores, on a scale of 0 to 5, are impressive, there’s always room for improvement.

You can start to help your clients by running a Digital Audit on their sites. The tool is available at AdMall from SalesFuel and lists review scores. You can also check out AudienceSCAN profiles on consumers who want to see at least 15 current reviews before they make a purchase with a company. These days, reviews are as important as personal recommendations for businesses that want to increase revenue. Position yourself as an expert in this area and sell them marketing services to manage their reviews.