You may hear many people talking about how reviews are important. But how important are they and how often do consumers use reviews to help them decide what painting contractors to reach out to?
Thankfully we have data from BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2022 to help us better understand how often consumers look at reviews and some of the specific things they look for when they need a local service provider. This very well-done survey offers great insight. We’ll cover some of the key points and what you can do to best position your painting company for success.
98% of people at least ‘occasionally’ read online reviews for local businesses.
77% of consumers “always” or “regularly” read reviews when browsing for local businesses (up from 60% in 2020).
These two stats go hand in hand and help us understand how often consumers look for reviews for local businesses. With 77% of consumers “always” or “regularly” reading reviews, you should assume that everybody who is looking for a painting contractor is going to be looking at reviews. So if you don’t have good reviews for your business, now is the time to ask happy customers to post a review.
This response further solidifies the previous insight and makes it even more important for painting contractors to have good reviews. Consumers pay even more attention to the reviews for service-area businesses and tradespersons than they do care services or healthcare!
More consumers use Google to evaluate local businesses than ever before. In 2021 81% did, up from 63% in 2020.
Google plays a huge role as the main platform that consumers use to evaluate local businesses. Yelp (53%), Facebook (48%), Tripadvisor (36%) and the Better Business Bureau (31%) also are used fairly significantly by consumers. However, you can make the biggest impact by asking your customers to specifically leave reviews on Google.
Consumers care most that the review describes a positive experience. That’s because consumers like to see themselves in the reviews. They want to be able to picture themselves as a happy customer that is pleased with the job that was done. The more reviews you have that highlight a great experience, the more likely a potential customer is going to be to find one that fits their situation.
Also highly important are the star rating and that the business owner has responded to the review. The survey had additional questions on both those points that shed further light…
54% would want to see an average star rating of 4-star or more
When you read that 58% said that it’s important that the business has “a high star rating” you may have asked yourself what qualifies as a high star rating. For most consumers it would have to be an average star rating of 4 or more.
89% of consumers are ‘highly’ or ‘fairly’ likely to use a business that responds to all of its online reviews.
57% say they would be ‘not very’ or ‘not at all’ likely to use a business that doesn’t respond to reviews at all.
These numbers paint a clear case for the importance of responding to reviews. If you haven’t been doing that you should probably start today – 89% is a huge number and a great chance to win business.
48% say that a review must be left within the last month or more recently to impact their decision to use a business.
Recency matters. With all that has changed in the past two and a half years, many consumers feel that only the most recent reviews can give an adequate representation of the service the business provides. Consider restaurants, if you’ve gone out to eat you’ve probably experienced a number of ups and downs based on requirements, supply chain, staffing, etc.
The best way to ensure you have recent reviews is to consistently ask for reviews.
Much of the data from this recent survey echoes the information that we shared in our blog Online Reviews – 5 Key Factors. The main point remains this – reviews are one of the most important factors for who a consumer decides to call when they are looking for local services. To give your business the best chance to get that call, you want to consistently ask your happy customers for reviews.
Our Integrated Reviews platform helps our customers get more online reviews. To learn how we can help do that for your painting business, call us at 919-424-6121 or schedule a meeting with us at a time that’s convenient for you!