Online review sites like Yelp have become key influencers for buyers, especially for local service providers.  In this episode I’ll share the 3-step approach we used to increase a client’s online 5-star reviews by 599%.

Click here to register for the CASE STUDY training where we share the step-by-step process we used to increase our online reviews by 6X.

In this video:

00:54 – Harvard and other smart people say so02:10 – Sneak peek on how we helped a client with this04:32 – The 3 steps we used and you can too07:30 – Our results after launch09:05 – Get more detail on this case study

Back in the day, even as recent as 5 years ago, if you wanted to find a good service, especially a local service provider, most people just asked their friends and family. Nowadays, they go to online review sites.

But don’t take my word for it. Here are some telling statistics:

• An increase of one-star on Yelp leads to a 5% to 9% increase in revenue (source: Michael Luca, Harvard Business School).
• 70% of global consumers trust online reviews, an increase of 15 percent in four years (source: Nielsen).
• 7 in 10 who read reviews share them with friends, family & colleagues thus amplifying their impact (Deloitte & Touche)
• 90 percent of people who recalled reading online reviews claimed that positive online reviews influenced their buying decisions (Dimensional Research/Zendesk)

Like it or not, online review sites are here to stay as key influencers for buyers. And local businesses like accountants, attorneys, dentists, chiropractors, beauty salons, and other local businesses should figure out how to better use Yelp and other review sites to their advantage.

In the end, the goal is to get more positive testimonials in general and make them more visible on online review sites.

One of our clients, a local healthcare provider has a separate system that automatically sent post-visit surveys to their clients. This process got them quite a bit of positive feedback, averaging around 5 positive testimonials per month.

Separately they had a good deal of positive Yelp reviews – double the number reviews for similar businesses in their area. All of their reviews came “organically”, averaging 1 positive review every other month even without a defined process, which showed that they were doing a good job in providing services.

So on the surface, it looked like things were working pretty well. But statistically, we saw that there was a lot of room for improvement, especially since reviews and testimonials can significantly affect a prospect’s buying decision.

So here were the questions we asked ourselves to create a new, and hopefully improved, process:

1. How can we integrate our complementary processes?

We had two separate processes that were related and complementary. As such there was some overlap/waste that could be eliminated. Plus we could leverage the success of process to improve the success of other.

For example, there was much more response to the automated surveys than “organic” Yelp reviews. If we could figure out a way to connect them as part of a single, integrated process rather than two separate processes, we could probably improve our results.

2. How can we segment respondents to increase our success?

Most systems put everyone into a one-size-fits-all process, treating all respondents in the same way. But for what we were trying to do, we needed a more refined process that changed based on the client’s responses and increased the likelihood that they would take action.

Specifically, we revamped our survey process so that it separated respondents into “green”, “red”, and “yellow” groups – people that loved us, liked us, and didn’t like us, respectively. Since we only wanted positive reviews, we used these groupings to determine who we’d ask for testimonials and online reviews.

3. How can we make the entire process easy and fun?

Finally, we had to make the entire process easy and, if possible, enjoyable. While having something is typically better than having nothing, the previous processes were very cumbersome for the client.

For example, the survey asked seven questions, most of which were not important, much less reviewed. Our new process needed to drop any unnecessary baggage and be as streamlined as possible.

After 2 weeks of whiteboarding, configuration, programming, and testing, we and launched our new and improved solution.

Happily, within the first day we got exactly what we wanted, a new 5-star Yelp review directly as a result of our new process.

Of course, while an immediate win is nice validation, only time would tell if our changes really worked. While we were certain of success, we let the new process run for 3 months to make sure the improvements weren’t just flash-in-the-pan.

After 3 months of consistent results, we declared the new process a success. Here are the results:– Overall client feedback increased by 497%– Testimonials increased by 209%– Monthly Yelp reviews increased nearly 600%

So to improve your own online review process, ask yourself the 3 questions above.

If you’d like to get more specifics be sure to register for our CASE STUDY training where I’ll share before/after statistics, what pieces we kept, what pieces we added, and what makes it all work.

Click here to register for the CASE STUDY training where we share the step-by-step process we used to increase our online reviews by 6X.

Well that’s it folks. Cheers to your success and I’ll see you on the training.