The Dark Truth Behind Reviews

Online reviews of a product or service is the lifeblood of small businesses today. Reviews can make or break a small business and are a powerful tool consumers have for leveraging positive experiences from businesses.

Studies prove that when a customer is unhappy with a product or service, they are more likely to voice their frustrations online in the form of a negative review.

 But if a customer is happy with a product or service they are less likely to share that positive experience by leaving a positive review.

This is an ongoing struggle for all small businesses regardless of industry. There are paid services, companies can employ to gain more reviews, which can range from inexpensive to not cheap.

Often a potential client or customer is more likely to go with the company with the most reviews yet they themselves won't leave a review.

In our business we have noticed a 20% follow through with our clients. Meaning 8 out of 10 clients who love our work, for whatever reason will not leave a review. Upon further research into this, it seems to be a common threshold across the board.

The other side to this coin are paid reviews. Some small businesses choose to buy reviews in order to gain larger market share. For instance, in order to get into what is called the Map Pack on Google, a business needs 15 reviews. For a small business just starting out, that can be an impossible pill to swallow. So to increase their marketability many small businesses will buy reviews instead of gaining them organically.

Of course it's against Google's rules but it's a chance some business owners are willing to take. It's become a big industry for those selling reviews as many are willing to buy their reviews.

At Carrigan Painting, all of our reviews are organic. After 14+ years we have worked very hard for the reviews we have and feel it discredits our company to fraudulently gain more reviews.

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