Blessing for some, calamity for others, the opinions written by Internet users after visiting an establishment or a professional are unavoidable. But what should we watch out for?
Whether you are dealing with a restaurant, a garage, a ready-to-wear or DIY store, in short, any business, ensure the quality of the reviews submitted online by customers is no longer an option. Do you doubt it? A study by the online visibility specialist for establishments Partooof which the JDN is pleased to unveil certain excerpts exclusively, will a priori convince you.
First point, almost everyone looks at online reviews. Specifically, 70% of respondents to the Partoo* survey say they consult them. And the younger the clientele, the more they do it: 25% of 18-25 year olds “always” read reviews. Young people who are also strong contributors, since 14% of them have submitted more than 10 reviews online, compared to 7% for the population as a whole.
Establishments targeting a young clientele are not the only ones to have to be particularly vigilant. Partoo asked respondents about the type of professionals they inquire about the most through online reviews. Top three: bars & restaurants, hotels and, perhaps more surprisingly, health. The graph below can be understood as follows: in yellow, share having ranked the sector in first position, in blue, share of total citation.
One of the most interesting lessons of the study: if your establishment is decked out with a rating of less than 3.5 stars out of 5, you have a problem, because 3 Internet users out of 5 will go to see the competition. And a score of 4 out of 5 will not even ensure that 65% of them will come. Note that young people have a hard tooth: 20% will not make the trip if your rating is displayed below 4.5 stars out of 5.
We will have understood that the notes are particularly decisive, but it does not stop there. Reviews are also scrutinized. But not all as much as the others. In priority, Internet users consult the most recent opinions, followed by opinions classified as “relevant” then “negative” opinions.
On reading the previous graph, establishment owners could be tempted to dispense with responding to online reviews. They would be wrong. According to the study, an appropriate response from the owner is able to change their opinion in more than two thirds of respondents. On good terms.
*15 questions. Responses collected from 03/09/22 to 03/15/22. 1,134 respondents, representative in gender and age of the French population.