Review Requests Should Be Treated Like Customer Service [Data Study]

Monopolies lack the motivation to focus on customer care and often force the public to put up with unpleasant experiences like long hold times, long lines, or low-quality offerings.

Most small to medium local brands don’t have monopoly status. While some of the items on my bulleted list can be features of a great small brand, it’s only when they’re paired with exceptional customer experiences that these companies begin to achieve “household name” status.

Some of the traditional hallmarks of good customer service include:

Friendliness – the staff is welcoming and possesses good communication skills.
Adequate staffing – there are sufficient team members to prevent customers from having to wait to be helped.
Trustworthiness – all business practices and pricing are transparent.
Accountability – all staff are trained to resolve complaints with fairness.
Accessibility – the business is open during stated hours and offers some form of after-hours support.
Authoritativeness – the staff is well-versed in the offerings and policies of the business.

All of the above factors have mattered to the consumer public for centuries, but a bigger spotlight has been focused on them since the emergence of online local business reviews just a couple of decades ago.

Reviewers As The Authors Of Your Local Business Story

The quality of your customer service matters so much because it can strongly influence all of the following:

The average star rating of your Google Business Profile.
The individual star ratings customers leave on your Google Business Profile.
Your ratings on other review platforms like Yelp and TripAdvisor.
The sentiments customers share about your business in reviews across the web.
The offline word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendations you receive.
Your reputation in the local business community and potential B2B and cross-promotional relationships that may result from it.

Not only will each of these points impact your profitability, but your online reviews will also form a major component of both your local SEO and local search marketing strategies.

Whitespark conducts the longest-running annual local search ranking factors survey.

Review-related factors have historically ranked among the 20 greatest influences on your visibility within Google’s local search results.

The most recent survey placed all of the following factors in the top 20:

High numerical Google ratings.
Quantity of native Google reviews (with text).
Sustained influx of reviews over time.
Recency of reviews.

GatherUp’s study highlights the importance of actively asking for reviews. If you are getting customer service right at your place of business, you will get the most benefit from the ranking factors because the ratings and sentiment you receive will be largely positive.

In addition to conceptualizing ratings and reviews as major aids to your local SEO efforts, it turns out that user-generated content (UGC) is some of your most valuable local search marketing material.

A 2023 survey from Ipsos finds that consumers trust reviews from sites like Yelp more than they trust information published by brands.

In this context, it is the reviews that end up authoring the most influential narrative for your local business. Searchers trust online peers to tell them:

What a great experience feels like at your place of business.
How your business solves problems for customers when things go wrong.
What the best aspects are of your business.
Where your business needs to improve.

As SEM has matured, storytelling has emerged as a key differentiator between brands that harness its power and those who overlook it.

In the local business sector, requesting reviews is both the best and easiest way to turn customers into influential storytellers who are eager to contribute to the success of your business with their voluntary sentiments.

It can help to think of star ratings as a shorthand title for each customer review.

It’s a symbology that immediately signals a volume of information to the viewer, and in Google’s system, much of your UGC may consist only of ratings.

When you can inspire full reviews, however, a much more intriguing and interesting narrative will be at the disposal of every potential customer considering your business.

This dynamic brings us full circle back to the centrality of customer service.

I’ve been reading local business reviews for fun (and as part of my work) since their online debut, and have noticed a consistent phenomenon: Brands that go the extra mile to delight patrons get praised for it in review content.

It might be that part of your customer service policy includes offering random acts of kindness.

Your staff might be empowered to give away little perks like free desserts, really good coupons, or passes to an event.

You might have a pet watering station on your premises, dog treats at your counter, or free collar charms for the holidays.

Details like these regularly get mentioned in reviews, and are great storytelling for your local brand.

Summing Up

GatherUp’s formal report includes a wealth of industry-specific data and practical tips for pleasing potential reviewers.

The overall lesson I’ve learned from absorbing these valuable statistics should come as good tidings to local business owners in competitive markets: Your hard-earned skills at delivering exceptional customer service could be doing more to contribute to your brand’s success.

Demonstrating genuine care for the convenience and opinions of your patrons creates customer experiences that can dramatically impact reputation-oriented KPIs.

A separate large-scale review survey (which I conducted a few years ago at Moz) reached the same conclusion as the survey run by Ipsos: The public trusts what the public says about businesses more than what any business can say about itself.

Online local business reviews have become an incredibly influential sales force, and their value is an added reason to treat every customer with graciousness.

The concern you demonstrate for patrons’ preferences while asking for feedback can result in you achieving a competitive review volume, average star rating, and NPS.

It may require an expansion of your definition of customer service and some strategic planning to improve your review request processes, but your reputation is certainly worth the investment!

Read the full report from GatherUp: Maximizing Your Online Reputation.

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