Yodle Survey: Small Businesses Underestimate the Importance of Online Reviews

NEW YORK, Feb. 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Yodle, a leader in local online marketing, today announced results from its first ever "Small Business and Online Reviews Survey."  The study, which was conducted in December 2013 through a third party research firm, polled 300 small business owners nationwide across a large array of service industries to get their perspective on online reviews.  The survey covers topics such as whether small business owners think online reviews are important, the extent that they ask for and get reviews, if they monitor for and respond to reviews, and whether they think reviews are fair.  

"We commissioned this survey to examine how small business owners are adjusting to 90% of consumers putting considerable stock into online reviews," said Court Cunningham, CEO at Yodle. "Our study has found a significant disconnect between small business owners and consumers.  A large number of small business owners don't see positive online reviews as important and are not receiving them, and are also inactive in a number of other areas where they would benefit from doing more."

The most significant findings from Yodle's Small Business and Online Reviews Survey include:

1. Only half of small business owners think positive online reviews are important.  Many small business owners are not recognizing the importance of online reviews despite the buying decisions of 90% of customers being influenced by seeing positive online testimonials  (source: 2013 Dimensional Research Survey).  Only 50% of survey respondents think that it's important for their business to receive positive online reviews and almost one in four (23%) believe that it's unimportant.
2. Most small business owners aren't receiving or asking for online reviews. More than half of SMB owners (55%) don't receive any online reviews, while one in five (19%) get an average of only one to five reviews per month.  Almost 1 in 4 SMB owners (24%) don't know if they receive online reviews.  Despite the low number of reviews that small businesses are receiving, only 13% of owners are approaching their customers about posting reviews.  The biggest reason cited for not approaching customers is "I haven't thought about it" (43%).
3. A significant number of small business owners aren't responding to or monitoring for online reviews. Although seven in 10 consumers have a more positive view of a company if they see them responding to an online review (source: Bazaarvoice Conversation Index), less than half of our survey respondents (43%) who receive reviews actually do this.  More than two in three SMB owners (68%) also don't even spend any time monitoring for online reviews and all but a handful of the remainder spend just one to five hours per month on this activity.
4. Small business owners don't effectively leverage customers' online reviews. Only 14% of survey respondents post customers' reviews to their websites. The remaining SMB owners that have received reviews and have a website (37%) do not post this content.  
5. Many small business owners believe that the online reviews system is unfair.  More than six in 10 SMB owners (61%) think that review sites favor businesses that pay to advertise with them, while only 10% don't believe that to be the case.  Half of SMB owners (50%) also opined that small businesses are unfairly impacted by negative reviews compared to larger business; only 20% of the survey respondents contradicted that opinion.  Additionally, more than four in 10 survey respondents (43%) stated that online reviews are unfair because they do not verify that people who leave reviews are actual customers, with a similar number (41%) "not sure" if they're unfair.

Go to http://www.yodle.net/files/2014/02/smb-online-reviews-survey.pdf for more findings from the survey including the importance of online reviews for small business owners compared to other marketing activities, whether they worry about negative online reviews, and if they have been impacted by fake online reviews.

About Yodle
Yodle empowers local businesses to find and keep their customers simply and profitably.  Yodle offers all the online marketing essentials that local businesses need through one easy to use, affordable and automated platform, fully supported by a live customer service team.  Today, Yodle simplifies success for 40,000+ local businesses with a comprehensive desktop and mobile web presence, social media automation, reviews management, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), listings distribution to 50+ directories, photos syndication, plus proprietary and optimized paid search technology – transparently reporting results in a performance dashboard.  Also offered by Yodle is Lighthouse 360™, an award winning automated patient communications system that improves medical office efficiencies and reduces missed appointments.  Additionally, Yodle for Brand Networks™ (YBN™), a division of Yodle, delivers Centermark™, a distributed marketing automation platform that helps network businesses unify, scale, and optimize their local and national marketing strategies.  

Yodle is ranked #9 on the 2014 Forbes list of America's most promising companies and has won multiple awards for its business growth, job creation, technology innovation, and workplace and culture. For more information, visit www.yodle.com, www.lh360.com, www.yodlebrandnetworks.com or www.yodlecareers.com.  

Contact:
Radley Moss
Director of Corporate Communications
Yodle, 212-542-5449
[email protected]

SOURCE Yodle