“Chris, our customers constantly tell us how much they love us … but they won’t share it with Google. It shouldn’t be this hard to get online reviews!”
This sentiment has been shared with me dozens of times by our own clients. Their frustration is understandable. Positive reviews from a third party demonstrate your authority in a more credible way than you could yourself. This breaks down buyer resistance, which can be the difference between a prospect clicking through to your website or continuing their search without you.
Consider these findings from BrightLocal’s 2016 Local Consumer Review Survey:
• 84 percent of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.
• 74 percent of consumers say that positive reviews make them trust a local business more.
Referrals will always be valuable, but the evidence suggests your local lawn and landscape company needs additional third-party assurance to establish trust with prospects.
Read the full story from the December issue here.
