Allocating resources to managing & improving your online review pages will lead to an improved reputation and under the right conditions, will lead to new business. Recency & consistency matters as customers consider both of these factors when making a purchase and there are 4 reasons why obtaining online reviews, over time is important:
1.Trust
Having a steady stream of reviews will make your profile seem more trustworthy. Even though it might be tempting to send review requests to all your current customers and call it a day, it’s crucial for your reviews to come in gradually (daily/weekly). Consumers might discard, and view as unreliable, reviews that seem to come from a “blitz”. Reviews coming in waves, i.e once a month, might be suspicious. For positive reviews to have their maximum positive effect, the effort needs to be consistent over time.
2. Relevance
As you would expect, when looking at reviews, potential customers look at the overall rating, number of reviews and the time frame. Consumers know that businesses change over time which is why they want to judge a business based on recent customer experiences. In fact, a study shows that 73% of consumers think that reviews older than 3 months are no longer relevant*. This means your reviews need to be both positive and recent for them to be influence potential customers.
3. Access
When visiting review sites, consumers typically do a quick scan of a review page. They want to see the most relevant reviews and quickly form an opinion. In fact, 90% of consumers read less than 10 reviews before forming an opinion about a business*.
Your top reviews constantly need to be positive and relevant. By having good recent reviews, potential customers are able to quickly see a positive overview of your reputation and make a judgment.
4. Impact on SEO & Rankings
Review sites have become more sophisticated when determining which reviews are relevant for the Consumers. Along with ratings & comments by the Consumers, recency & consistency are two additional metrics which factor into the algorithms that impact your reputation. In addition, sites like Google let consumers filter reviews by “Most Recent” which shows the importance they place on this factor.
CONCLUSION
Maintaining a consistent online profile with respect to reviews will yield rewards for your business. A consistent influx of positive reviews will allow your online page to be more trustworthy & relevant. Take a look at our Best ways to get online reviews article, to see how to ask for reviews and keep a stellar review profile.
If you have a ReviewEdge account, make sure to get the most out of your positive reviews and send review requests regularly!
* Source: Local Consumer Review Survey 2016 – BrightLocal
