Key Performance Indicators Google Reviews | Edmonton Business Consultant

It is staggering. 88% is the number of customers, uh, that will, uh, the percentage of customers that are actually going to look on Google and specifically look at those reviews and consider those reviews in their purchasing decision. Hmm.

Yeah, I can see why cause it’s mad.

Hi, thanks for tuning in for another episode of Aspro CPA. Today we’re talking about key performance indicators and specifically the number of Google reviews. I Have Tyson here, uh, with me against Tyson. Are you enjoying the, the, the spring that we finally have upon us here? No more winter skiing on a weekend. And it was gorgeous. So really you still in skiing? How long the call the hills be open you think? Till the middle of May? I think marmots. Okay. Right on. That’s a, I mean the best time. It’s still snow on the ground and it’s more, yeah. So, uh, the quote that we have here today is that Jim Collins quote we think is extremely important to this issue. Uh, the good to great companies did not focus primarily on what to do in the business that become great. They focus equally on what not to do and what to stop doing.

Um, the statistic that we have, and we’re always putting it in front of business owners, is 50% of all Canadian small businesses fail and 42% of those fail business owners will cite their inability to attract enough customers is one of the reasons for their failure. And the story that we have here is, you know, we help business owners assemble and analyze accurate financial statements and our financial statement analysis, it’ll identify that lack of revenue is the issue. And rather than focus on expense minimization, cause a lot of business owners and they know, you know, cash is tight and the natural thing to do is to revert back to the kind of the employee mindset where you have a fixed revenue. So there’s gotta be an expense minimization problem. Edmonton Business Consultant, they, we want to give them, you know, what metrics, you know, what actual numbers that they can shoot for to actually fix those, that revenue shortage.

Um, so Tyson, what are the questions that these business owners who want to fix a revenue shortage and they want to do it, uh, using key performance indicators that they can actually count? What are the questions would be the business it should be asking. Yeah. Oh, first one. Once the financial show week revenue, where’s the first place you should go? So, you know, once the, the financials show that you have, Edmonton Business Consultant, week revenue, uh, the first place you should look is, you know, generally you should look at their Google my business. That’s the first place that I would look a is it, you’re going to look at their, their Google my business. And you want to see, uh, when we go on Google, how many reviews does this person actually have? Do they even exist on Google altogether? Uh, and if so, you know, how many reviews did they actually have?

All right, uh, what does Google my places and Google my business and Google places, they’re, they’re the same thing. So Google places and Google my business and the same thing, those terms will be used interchangeably. And that’s like the map results that happen in Google. So when you pull up a Google search, normally you get advertisements at the top and then you get places listing your map, result listings in the middle, and then below it you get organic results. Edmonton Business Consultant, and, and so that’s a listing. It’s a, it’s a, it’s a, a listing that business owners can create and that’s kind of your, your presence, your, your spot in the phone book, if you will, on Google. Right? Does it cost money to create Google my business listings? No. And this is why we always look at it cause it’s 100% free. Uh, every business owner can do it for free.

So the, the, uh, you know, the Roi on it is, is infinity because there’s absolutely zero cost to this. Uh, so you can set up your business to show up in the map results in Google, uh, uh, for free. Um, you, you just, Edmonton Business Consultant, you know, you sign up with Google and Google will send you a, generally Google sending a postcard with a code on it and then you can enter it into the system. And there you are. A, you are, you are a business listed on Google, right? If you have one of these listings, can customers leave you reviews? And so once you have one of these listings, now your customers can leave you reviews, you know, been in the old days to use to get a customer’s, to write a reference letters for you and you’d keep them in a binder and you showed them to prospective customer.

Now customers, they’re never going to give you the opportunity to show you that binder because they’re just going to look on Google and go with someone who has the reviews listed on Google. What are the percentage of customers are looking at? Google is staggering. 88% is the number of customers, uh, that will, uh, the percentage of customers that are actually going to look on Google and specifically look at those reviews and consider those reviews in their purchasing decision. Uh, why should businesses who generate leads by referral also get Google reviews? Yeah. So sometimes the pushback is, you know, business owners say, well, I generate all of my, uh, business by referral. Well guess what, that number, that 88% number of businesses that you know, customers that we’ll look at Google reviews before they decide to purchase or a business that actually doesn’t change. If it’s a direct referral, they’re still going to go on to Google and check you out.

So they’ve heard, they’ve heard about you from a friend and you know, they’ve called you and they want an estimate or they want to console’s. Edmonton Business Consultant, there’s still going to go on Google, you know, either before they call you and before you give them that Esta and it’s still going to go into the buying decision. So it’s even if you’re getting the leads by referral, you’re going to close less of those referrals. If you, you don’t have Google reviews or Facebook, Yelp and other review sites to substitute for Google reviews, uh, they are not a substitute. It’s not that they don’t matter. You know, we get the Facebook, Yelp, the home pros. Edmonton Business Consultant, it’s not that they don’t matter, customers do consider them, but the math on them is just not as strong. Uh, the equivalent they use is there like pesos two American dollars.

Um, if you have enough of them, I suppose they could be worth one Google review. Uh, but you’re going to need an awful lot of Facebook reviews, Edmonton Business Consultant, before the grant and equate to a one Google review. You know, there’s the placement than the way it looks when you search a company, uh, the Google or you search it on Google. So Google puts their reviews in the prime placement. Um, and there’s, uh, you know, the reviews themselves, uh, help in other ways as well too, if they’re on Google. Edmonton Business Consultant, but yeah, they’re, they’re, they’re like pesos to American dollars. So Google reviews first. What is the minimum threshold of Google reviews to be relevant? I believe that minimum threshold is, uh, to be about 40. Uh, and there’s some math behind this too, but unfortunately, Google doesn’t publish their algorithms, but they start to give a little more waiting to Google reviews.

Not at like one or two, like one or two. They know. It could have been your mom and your sister, uh, who were viewed you and there’s no one else who review you. Uh, so I use 40 as a metric. There’s a point where it were Google will start to recognize that this is, these are people out, you know, so and so’s immediate network and they’re definitely, you know, reaching the marketplace. Uh, and a lot of the people in the know, you know, put that around 40. So 40 is the point. And I think customers psychologically see that too. You know, one or two reviews. It could be misleading either way. Edmonton Business Consultant, but you know, you start to get, you know, 40 or more reviews. Now it’s relevant in terms of a psychological aspect that the customer puts some weight into it, but it also has a, from a mathematical aspect, you know, Google is, is, is going to give you a higher rankings and more preferential treatment if you have more than 40 Google reviews.

Okay. Uh, would you spend any money on creating or updating your website before 40 reviews? No, I wouldn’t spend a single dollar on creating or updating a website. If you’re most small businesses are, there can be some exceptions, but for most small businesses, if you’re an electrician or plumber and general contractor and dentist or a Chiropractor, I would probably not see spending a single dollar on creating or updating a website, uh, until I have 40 Google reviews a eight, because it’s going to be harder to get that website to rank and B, uh, because even if it does rank, the customer’s not lying. If they do convert just simply on a pretty website, they want that social proof behind it. All right? Once you get 40 interviews, why do you have to continue to get rid of it? So you have to continue to get the reviews because Google looks at the number of reviews and what they call the velocity of the reviews.

So are they continuing to come in? So it’s not just getting to 40, but it’s beginning to 40 and name getting continual reviews thereafter. And I would recommend for most businesses that minimum threshold is you need to get to 40, you need to just have blinders on and get to 40, uh, as soon as humanly possible. And then after that, be at a minimum threshold, getting one Google review per month there after. All right. What do you feel is the minimum number of reviews to give on an ongoing basis? Yes. Yeah. So that, that, that, that one per month is probably, you know, you know what I would recommend on an ongoing basis and you get 40 upfront and then you want to get one per month on an ongoing basis thereafter. Right. Would you recommend spending money on online ads before 40 reviews? No, I would not.

And there’s a lot of people who want to speak, who want to charge you money and they’re either getting a, uh, like a flat fee, uh, to be your, your, your Google ad guy or you know, they’re getting up or even worse, they’re getting a percentage of your Google ad spend. Um, but the, the math on it is very definitive that these, these leads that are going to come in, they’re less likely to convert or even even to turn into leads, nevermind just convert until you have 40 Google reviews. Edmonton Business Consultant, so, uh, also the ads themselves costs more. If you’re not viewed as a reputable site, it to be viewed as a rapido site by Google, you have to have more reviews. So you’re going to pay more for ads that are less likely to work if you don’t have the reviews. So that’s why as you know, blinders on and get the reviews, um, you know, and a lot of clients don’t like to hear that because it can be difficult to get you more reviews.

It’s, it’s easier just to write the check. People like writing checks surprisingly enough. Uh, but when it comes to, you know, getting reviews and well that’s real work that you’ve got to roll up your sleeves and all right, what are some suggestions I’m getting through? So the suggestions for the clients on getting your reviews is to ask clients, ask them again, ask them another time. It has some, another time after that. Um, you know, it’s, it’s really just to recognize that if you ask once, you’re not likely to get it. If you use some sort of automated software, you have to recognize that that automated software is a supplement to asking, not a, um, you know, that it doesn’t replace asking. And I’ve seen a lot of clients get software to ask for Google reviews and it doesn’t work as well as the clients who just simply ask him.

They asked consistently and we have follow up on that ass. Um, also, you know, they can consider if you’re a new business, you can consider, um, you know, if you’re really struggling to get reviews, you can consider doing work in a pro bono or reduced rate. Uh, those clients that are tend to be a little bit more, uh, you know, grateful that they feel like they owe you have type of thing. Um, so they’ll, they’re more likely to give a, uh, review. Uh, so it’s, it’s, unfortunately, there’s no, not a lot of shortcuts to this issue. It’s not a, you know, not a problem that you can write a check to solve or, or, you know, blow cash to solve it. You have to, you have to do a good job first of all. Of course. Uh, and then you have to ask and you have to follow up because if you don’t do a good job and you’re not going to want to ask, you probably are not going to like the answer.

If you don’t do a good job and you’re going to have to fall off, you won’t be able to get it on the first ass. Most of the Times you’ll have to ask again. And then you may need to supplement with doing some, you know, pro bono or reduced rate work stuff too. Um, especially if you’re small and starting up. So I think that’s what we have here today. Thanks so much for tuning in. As always, please hit the like and subscribe buttons so we can continue to deliver you tips on how to beat the odds at business. And we look forward to reading. Any of your comments are queries blow so we know you know what to address in future videos. Thanks very much.