In this 4-minute read:
- Why you should claim your online business listings
- Claiming more online listings correlates with more revenue
- Responding to reviews requires claiming your listings
- Businesses that regularly respond to reviews earn more
You think you’re busy? Try running a small business. Between dealing with customers, managing inventory, stocking shelves, keeping the lights on, and a thousand other time-consuming, yet vital tasks, it’s a wonder they can find time to sit down and take a breath. However, there are two simple, free actions most successful small business owners take the time to do, because the payoff is potentially huge. Here they are!
Attract more customers and keep them loyal with reputation marketing software. Learn more, plus get free reputation monitoring and customer insights when you sign up for Womply Free!
1. Claim all your online business listings and keep them current
Claiming your listings on all the popular online review sites (like Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, OpenTable for restaurants, etc.) is the first step in every effective small business marketing plan. Today’s customers leave online reviews for local businesses—whether you’ve claimed your listings or not. It just makes sense to claim yours.
But there’s a very compelling reason why you should claim as many of these online listings as possible, and it starts with “M” and ends with “oney.”
Womply’s scientists recently examined review and transaction data for over 200,000 American small businesses for a new report on the impact of reviews on small business revenue. The study shows that claiming 3 or more online listings correlates with a 78% jump in revenue.
Businesses in the study that didn’t claim any of their online business listings earned 24% less in annual revenue than the average business.
However, businesses that claimed 3 or more of their online listings earned 36% more annual revenue than the average business, and a whopping 78% more revenue than businesses that claimed none of their listings.
So if you haven’t claimed all of your online listings, do it TODAY.
Learn how in our free step-by-step guides:
- How to claim your Google Business listing
- How to claim your Yelp business listing
- How to claim your business listing on TripAdvisor
2. Businesses that regularly respond to reviews earn up to 49% more revenue
As noted above, your business is getting online reviews, whether you want them or not (and whether or not you’ve claimed your listings).
Here’s another reason why you need to claim your listings today: you can’t respond to reviews until you claim your listings.
Why should you reply to reviews? Again, MONEY.
Womply’s study shows that businesses that reply to reviews at least 25% of the time earn 35% more annual revenue than average. And they bring in 49% more revenue than businesses that don’t respond to any reviews.
Despite this strong correlation between online engagement and revenue, among businesses in Womply’s study, an astonishing 75% don’t respond to any online reviews. Don’t be “that guy.”
You might also like:
- How to respond to reviews
- 25 free listing sites every small business should be on
- 25 free local advertising ideas for small business
Reputation management software can save time and produce better results
As we pointed out in the intro above, although online review management is vital for all local businesses in today’s increasingly digital marketspace, it can take a lot of time—time that most small business owners simply don’t have.
Womply’s reputation management software can be a lifesaver for busy small businesses. Womply’s software collates all your online reviews from all the top sites in one place with one login.
You can read and reply to your reviews (even set up auto replies if you desire), and send customers reminders, promotions, and other timely messages to build loyalty and keep them coming back to your store.
Learn more, plus get free reputation monitoring and customer insights when you sign up for Womply Free!