Here's why you can't ignore Google Reviews in local marketing

As upMention, we work for several chains which sell the offer locally via a dealer network or our own stores. So Local marketing for national players. And a regularity in that local online marketing is that positive, credible reviews are an incentive for potential and current customers.

However, in the context of collecting those recommendations, we mainly see the following review platforms:

• Trustpilot
• Feedback Company
• Customers Tell
• Kiyoh
• Trusted Shops
• eKomi

And so, in our opinion, the most important is often not, or insufficiently in the picture: Google Reviews. This is part of Google My Business. And for your local online marketing, offers enormous opportunities if you collect (at least part of) your reviews via this platform.

Why Google Reviews?

There are three reasons to prioritize Google Reviews over the other review platforms described above:

1. Because you are therefore not dependent on paid review platforms. Saying goodbye to a paid review platform is equivalent to destroying a meticulously constructed reputation. A common complaint is that the rates of these platforms are rising and that there is little or no further development. By the way, did you know that 90% of marketing agencies get a hefty commission if they bring you as a customer to a review platform?
2. Your current and potential customers also tend to search Google for your business name. Then they see the Google operating result with a limited number of reviews, while the review platforms sometimes have as many as 10K+ ratings. It is of course a waste for your local marketing if those reviews are not or hardly visible to those who are actively working with your brand. And yes, those people use Google.
3. However, our main reason for using Google Reviews also concerns an aspect of Google's secret. Because, as our experience shows: not the noisy announcements from Google, but the silent adjustments of the algorithm have the greatest impact on your findability. And so there has been a significant shift toward the content of your reviews in recent years. The text from the reviews is simply used to make your company score on a search term in your local online marketing.

This is how it works in practice

Suppose you are a chain that sells bicycles. And someone buys a bicycle at the delft branch. Then that person posts the following review on Google: "I will buy my next bike here again." A day later, another resident of Delft searches for 'buy a bike'. The result below is shown, where the reason for showing these results is the posted review. Bike shops without a relevant review are not to be seen here!

How to do this

First: ask for reviews from your customers as actively as possible and ask for them. As soon as someone says 'tonight' you are 10 steps further than ‘’I'm going to look at it soon’’. So dare to make it concrete, because the moment you discuss it, there is often really an intrinsic motivation to write that review.

Then you can share a direct link for Google Reviews. You can give customers suggestions for texts when writing accompaniment. In the case of a chain with bike shops: "Leave a review in which you describe which bike you bought and why! That's how you help others."

Another option is to test with a template that can easily be copied. This also ties in with the need for customers to leave a correct review with little effort. So, "Did you enjoy it? Use the text below as a review or adjust it where necessary! Thank you."

The goal is to describe in as much detail as possible what the offer was. Or that you get your top list of important search terms mentioned in reviews so that Google knows your relevance. It takes some effort, but the good thing is that that also applies to your competitors and that the holder wins this game. So, choose again for the long term!

And let's face it...

Collecting reviews + scoring better locally on Google is a win-win!