Why Google Reviews are so important to us...

There are many different types of review providers - Trustpilot, Feefo, Turnto and of course Google Reviews. So what are the advantages of picking Google over the others? What benefits do Google Reviews offer that the others don’t? And why should you provide an opportunity for clients or customers to leave reviews in the first place?

You’re at work and need to find a Solicitor in Plymouth to do some work for you. Unless you have an existing relationship with someone, who do you pick? How do you pick? 

If you’re going on holiday or visiting a restaurant, you probably wouldn’t hesitate to use Tripadvisor to get a more accurate impression of the service and facilities available. So why not use the same principle to decide on which product or service provider to use?

Knowing that a huge number of people use review sites to aid their decisions, service providers are faced with a myriad of review providers, so which do you go with? Each of them have undoubted benefits - but at the core, they all encourage clients or customers to review the service they received. 

Here at Nash & Co Solicitors, we decided a while ago to go with Google Reviews. For us, the benefits of using them far outweigh the benefits of using others. So, why did we make that decision? 

• In July 2018, Google had the highest market share of the search engine market with 82.85%. That’s a lot of people and searches to ignore. 
• If you’re already searching for a provider on Google, doesn’t it make sense to see their average review score and how many people have reviewed them at the same time? Right away, you get a pretty accurate picture of how good a company is from their Google listing. You don’t get that with other review providers. 
• The quality and quantity of reviews on Google is one of the most important ranking factors for SEO - the listings that include Google Reviews present greater credibility and naturally, they will receive more clicks. 
• Google reviews help level the playing field - if you don’t have a big marketing budget, but you offer genuine quality in terms of service or products, your reviews are going to tell the true story.
• Google Reviews are free - so why would you pay to use one of the other review providers?  
• What if you get a bad review? This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Reply to it quickly however, and try and resolve the situation - if you can show that you honestly mean it, potential customers will see that you genuinely care about the service you offer. In these cases, rather than a bad review negatively affecting the business, one report showed that bad reviews dealt with properly, can actually increase conversion by some 67%!

We have plenty of anecdotal evidence from clients that a lot of them come to us because of our Google Reviews. Essentially, it comes down to the whole client experience - at all stages of the experience, we pride ourselves on being approachable, friendly, efficient, fair, and doing the very best job we can.

We also make a point of always responding to our reviews, as quickly as possible, thanking them for their time and for leaving us a review. We should already have a good and open relationship with our clients, so we see this as a continuation of our client service.

Does your business have a review provider? And do you write reviews for experiences you've had?