We recently set out to better understand where customers choose to leave reviews online by conducting a survey of over 2,000 consumers. With the emergence of Reviews from the web on Google and updated schema review guidelines, a business’s own website is a valuable review destination now too. It can show in both search results, Reviews from the web and of course on their own website.
Insight 1: 36% of consumers prefer to leave a review when asked on the business website, 32% would leave a review on Google
This first result shows a a few key points to note, besides the fact that consumers prefer to review a business on their own website.
- Google comes a close second, just 4% behind the business website
- Yelp was chosen at just 12.5%, no surprise but reinforces the small community you need to activate to get Yelp reviews
- Facebook’s low percentage of 17% was surprising, close to 1/2 of Google
Insight 2: Age had a huge impact on if consumers selected the website or Google to leave reviews
Older consumers gravitated towards using a business’s website for leaving a review. In my opinion, this exposes the difference in generations and comfort levels and behaviors with social and online content creation.
Now let’s take a look at who selected Google as the place they would leave a review. Things reverse and you can see that 18-34 year olds prefer Google.
In looking at the results of these two age groups (18-24 and 25-34) we see how they heavily favor Google, with the business website coming in second. Again, Yelp trails all.
Insight 3: Yelp is hard, and depending on where your customers are located, it’s even harder
While it’s well known that Yelp reviews are harder to earn and activate, this outlines how location of your customers has an impact as well. Yelp’s strength on the West Coast is twice that of other areas of the United States. And you can see that it’s use and selection as a review site in the Midwest is the lowest.
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