As a business owner and operator you work hard on hiring the right people, ensuring your wash is performing properly and you feel you are doing everything right. But what happens when one customer has a less than perfect experience and they post a negative review for all to see? All of your hard work can be instantly diminished by one bad review.

So what can you do when this happens? No one is perfect, there will be mistakes no matter what you do. The best advice we can offer is pay attention to your digital presence.  Watch your reviews and respond to both the positive and the negative. Responding in the public forum helps you combat less than perfect experiences and boosts your brand image by showing customers you care.

Going beyond your most popular social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn), there are multiple platforms customers can use to leave company reviews. Today we will focus on two platforms – customer reviews on Yelp and Google.

YELP. You may think of Yelp for restaurants and retail store fronts, but it is one of the top review sites for all types of industries. Yelp is a free review site that lets consumers rate businesses on a one to five-star scale. Any business can set up a profile on Yelp and users can set up their own free profiles to review these businesses. Yelp makes it easy to respond and interact with your reviews as well.

  • Yelp has approximately 184 million monthly users.
  • Yelp users often provide detailed feedback on businesses.
  • According to a recent study, an increase of one-star in your Yelp can increase your revenue by 5-9%.
  • 85% of viewers claimed that positive online reviews influenced their buying decisions.
  • The quantity and quality of your Yelp reviews could influence Google’s page rankings for your company website.
  • When you search “Best Car Washes near me” – Yelp is often the default search engine.

Need a Yelp Account? It only takes a few minutes.

  • Visit Yelp and claim your business. Add contact information, locations, operating hours and a picture or two. Yelpers love pictures.
    • Request Reviews
    • Track Reviews
    • Use your reviews to improve your brand image

 

GOOGLE. When you search for a business online one of the first things you may see is a Google review. According to a study, Google reviews are used to influence purchase decisions 64% of the time.  Google is set up much like Yelp, any business can set up a free business profile and individuals with a Google account can log in to leave a review. As a business, replying and interacting with your Google reviews can help you build your brand image and gain customer trust. A mix of positive and negative reviews makes Google users feel they can trust the posted information. Can you really trust that 5-Star perfect rating? Again, it is important to interact with your reviews and respond to both the positive and the negative.

Setting up a Google Business Profile:

  • Visit www.business.google.com
  • Enter your business name and location
  • Tell Google what areas you serve
  • Choose a business category
  • Add account details, business hours and some photos
  • Finish and verify your business

Now that we know Yelp and Google are great ways to build your brand image and generate new business – how do you go about getting reviews?

  • You can create links to both Yelp and Google platforms
  • These links can be shared with customers through email, social media channels, text messaging and on printed material such as receipts.

For local businesses, market research shows that many people will continue to look to reviews for their buying decisions. Whether you choose to use Google, Yelp or one of the many other platforms for reviews, ensure your company information is up to date, include a few current photos and most importantly, interact with your reviews. Make 2022 great with a 5-Star rate!

Angie Elam | Marketing Specialist, Ver-tech Labs | aelam@ver-techlabs.com