The Top 5 Industries Most Impacted by Online Reviews Today
The almighty online review. The medium where an average Joe suddenly has the power to transform into the Roger Ebert of HVAC services, taking the time to elegantly craft every term and phrase of slander regarding your company!
While it’s easy to get anxious over the perception of power that online reviews can have over your company’s online presence and reputation, the fact of the matter is that online reviews aren’t going away anytime soon. In that case, you might as well not only embrace them but adapt to professional online review management strategies.
If you want to know just how powerful online reviews can be in regards to your business, take a look at these statistics:
- 93% of consumers report that online reviews impact their purchasing decisions
- A 3.3-star rating is the bare minimum the average customer would consider doing business with
- 58% of online shoppers monitor online reviews on a weekly basis
- 81% of consumers use Google reviews to conduct research on local businesses
- 77% of consumers report that they would leave a review if prompted by the company they did business with
As you can see, the vast majority of consumers don’t just utilize online reviews when evaluating the services or products of a company – they practically require a sound reputation before even thinking of doing business with one.
While some industries aren’t as impacted by online reviews as others, more and more industries are utilizing online review management strategies to better enhance their virtual presence.
Let’s take a look at the top five industries most impacted by online reviews today, as well as a few of the ways these industries can address, manage, and take advantage of all the potential benefits of online reviews.
1. Bar & Restaurant Industry
It’s only fitting that the industry most affected by online reviews deals with the most customers who tend to believe they’re the most credible critics on the planet.
The bar and restaurant industry is a field dedicated to pleasing customers in every way they can, so it only makes sense that those customers feel the need to share their analysis of that service with the world. While restaurants and bars of all sizes and quality can quickly rack up hundreds – if not thousands – of online reviews, the one thing they all have in common is the need to effectively manage and respond to them.
Nearly 60% of customers take online reviews into consideration when choosing which restaurant or bar they want to attend. That means when negative reviews start to accumulate and go unaccounted for, that virtual word of mouth will cast an unfavorable cloud over a bar or restaurant’s reputation.
Effective online review management can make the difference between boom or bust for your bar or restaurant In such a competitive industry.
2. Retail & eCommerce Industries
Whether it’s recounting the experience of an in-store visit or detailing an online shopping occurrence, there’s no denying how prevalent online reviews are associated with both the retail and eCommerce industries.
While customers are more likely willing to take a chance on a lower-rated bar and restaurant due to sheer convenience, the same can not really be said for retail departments and eCommerce sites, especially when those customers are more than likely spending significantly more money than dinner and drinks.
For starters, there’s the first impression trust factor.
When a customer is conducting a side-by-side comparison of two eCommerce sites that sell the same product, it’s all but guaranteed they’ll gravitate toward the site with the highest quantity of positive reviews. In fact, customers on average spend 31% more with a business that has generally higher reviews than a competitor.
But it’s not just positive reviews that make or break the success of a retail store or eCommerce site.
A company with a vastly higher quantity of overall reviews will install a sense of credibility in a consumer when assessing whether to conduct business with them. This is why managing online reviews and responding to them in a timely manner is so crucial for this industry, as purchase probability can be significantly higher or lower depending on both the quality and the quantity of online reviews.
3. Hospitality Industry
Look, when you’re staying at a hotel, resort, or even a private room in the back of a recreational vehicle Airbnb listing, there’s always going to be a subtle sense of entitlement when evaluating the quality of your stay.
The hospitality industry is an entire field devoted to trying to pamper its customers as much as possible, so when exceptional service is experienced or inevitable mistakes happen, those customers are always quick to turn to online reviews to share their experience – for better or worse – with the world.
People get very picky when choosing where they want to stay when they’re away from their homes. Some reports indicate that just one negative review written about a hotel or motel can cost around an average of 30 reservations!
This is where swiftly and accommodatingly responding to all reviews, negative or positive, is crucial to maintain and enhance a hotel or resort of any pedigree’s reputation. Failure to do so may cause concern for a customer evaluating not only their investment and satisfaction but also their safety and security.
4. Healthcare & Medical Industries
While online reviews significantly impact all the previously mentioned industries, perhaps there’s no other field that compels customers to conduct their own thorough research with online reviews as the healthcare and medical industries do.
Obviously, the significance of online reviews becomes exceptionally more important when regarding one’s personal health rather than the quality of their Friday night fish fry dinner. Reports estimate that 90% of patients use online reviews when evaluating physicians or medical institutions.
It’s difficult for healthcare and medical industries to manage their online reviews because most of them are anonymous due to a previous patient’s hesitation to share their information or the nature of their visit in public.
Review management is so crucial for these industries. It helps assure potential patients of their credibility and integrity and keep track of previous patients, ensuring their overall health and well-being weren’t affected by their experience.
5. Home Services Industry
Location is one thing the above industries have in common – they’re all performed somewhere other than a customer’s place of residence. The same cannot be said for the home services industry, which generally has the pleasure of providing high-level customer service and satisfaction while working on the customer’s home turf.
From HVAC contractors to roof repair companies to landscapers, workers in the home services industry are tasked with more than enhancing the homes of the clients they serve. Homeowners and property managers also expect your business to do so in a timely, cost-friendly, and accommodating manner.
Or else? You might be exposed to the wrath of negative online reviews!
And when you’re a small, locally owned and operated home services business that needs all the online reputation help it can get, you can’t afford to sit back and watch as negative reviews accumulate or go unaccounted for.
This is an industry that truly benefits from professional online review management services to establish credibility amongst competitors, weed out negative reviews, and expand brand awareness on a regional level.
Contact Triton Commerce for Professional Online Review Management
Every industry needs to make managing online reviews a priority. It’s just as serious as your pursuit to provide your clients with complete customer satisfaction!
Whether you’re looking to generate more positive reviews or respond to negative reviews in a more timely manner (or prevent them altogether), every business can benefit from effective online review management to ensure your reputation and sales stay intact.
If your company is interested in learning more about all the advantages professional online review management can provide, Triton Commerce has you covered! We specialize in expert review management services that generate more positive reviews, limit negative reviews, and increase your web traffic and Google My Business rankings.
Contact us today to receive a free Digital Marketing Plan that details how review management services can benefit your specific business!