Stand out with stars in the local search

More and more consumers are searching locally on smartphones and tablets for stores and service providers nearby. If customer ratings then appear in star or text form next to the business entry, this can provide the decisive impetus to visit the store. Yext  gives retailers and service providers five tips on what they need to consider when writing local customer reviews.1. know the diversity: Brand, product and location reviews Companies should actively promote three different types of customer reviews to build a reputation, drive demand for products and influence consumer behavior. Brand reviews evaluate the brand itself and are usually found on the Facebook company page or review platforms such as Trustpilot. Product reviews are best presented on your own website or on e-commerce platforms. Location reviews are the most important type of reviews for companies that make their main sales in a brick-and-mortar store and have a lot of walk-in customers. They are displayed in search results, navigation apps or on local review platforms such as Yelp.2. stand out with stars in the local searchSearch engines want to present users with as much relevant information as possible in the search results. Google, for example, prominently includes the following types of star ratings in its search results: First-party reviews that customers leave on the company website, third-party reviews on external platforms such as Yelp and reviews from Google My Business, which are fed by Google Reviews. The visibility of reviews in organic search results is important for companies: More than a third of consumers (36 percent) begin a local search in a search engine, according to a study by IDC Research and YP. In order to be optimally represented with reviews in organic search, companies must ensure a balanced distribution of reviews on the platforms and websites that are relevant to them.3. topicality must be the premiseConsumers often complete local searches within a short time frame: 63 percent within an hour, 22 percent in less than a day, according to IDC and YP. If companies have only a few, rather negative or outdated customer reviews, they immediately fall off the grid. In addition, the topicality of the reviews plays a major role. Brightlocal found that 73 percent of consumers no longer pay attention to reviews that are more than three months old. Stores should therefore always ensure that their reviews are up to date.4. it pays to ask: customers are willing to evaluateOnce a consumer has bought something, there is a 50/50 chance that they will leave a review. However, only those customers who feel they have been treated exceptionally well or are very dissatisfied are often willing to leave a review. This is why companies should actively ask every customer for feedback, especially those who have left the store happy. Employees, posters, on-site voting terminals or online campaigns via email can help to elicit customers' opinions. It pays to ask: seven out of ten customers will give a rating if they are actively asked to do so, according to Brightlocal.5. negative feedback can be turned into positive feedback Negative reviews happen to every company. They should be seen as an opportunity to win the customer over after all or to optimize things in the company. According to a calculation by Proserpio and Zervas, companies that respond to customer reviews in a moderating manner can improve their star rating by half a star within six months. In the case of negative reviews in particular, it is important to respond to the person as quickly as possible while the customer experience is still fresh.