If you market to humans then reviews matter. This presentation covers the current trends in online reviews showing increasing demand for reviews. Today people expect to find reviews about everything. Are you prepared for the Review Era?
3. @Thos003 #ReviewEra #StateofSearch
It is 2005, I am apartment hunting. Not just for 1 apartment but for 20
to 30 apartments. I had to house over 100 door to door salesman and
crew that summer. My boss suggested I pick up a phonebook and call
some local realtors or apartment finders to help. UGHHHH⊠Slow.
Difficult. Could I trust them since they were paid commissions?
ApartmentRatings.com saved my insanity. Close to $1 Million in rental
contracts signed that year all based on reviews from
ApartmentRatings.com. I used that site year after year. I handed that
task off and to this day we still use that website to find apartments.
6. Get ideas and recommendations
From others
@Thos003 #ReviewEra #StateofSearch
Reviews are others sharing their thoughts
and experiences on anything, verbally,
written, or by example.
8. #stateofsearch
Story of Duncan
Before YELP..
Travelling salesman becomes Pioneer Food Critic.
Writes book for friends.
Adventures in Good Eating (1935)
Lodging for a Night (1940)
Adventures in Good Eating at Home
(1950s US Newspaper Columns)
âŠSharing recipes he collected from restaurants.
Becomes Original Content Scraper
Duncan Hines Bread (1952)
1st Food Critic
11. Mass communication changed forever when an individual could freely
communicate with the masses.
@Thos003 #ReviewEra #StateofSearch
12. o he bought it on ebay from a seller with no
tings? It doesnât take spidey-sense to figure this
ut.
Thos003 â Pest control guy jokes often include
e amazing spiderman.
@Thos003 #ReviewEra #StateofSearch
13. A Bentley College researcher
found that sellers who have even a
few positive reports are more likely
than sellers who have no history to
receive bids and to have their
auctions result in a sale.
Positively rated sellers also
receive higher bids.
September 7, 2006
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/sep2006/sb20060907_223337_page_2.htm
#stateofsearch
14. Ebay Users with Higher
Ratings Sell More and
Sell for Higher.
#stateofsearch
15. No Matter your business or product,
human nature does not change.
@Thos003 #ReviewEra #StateofSearch
21. Bulwark Exterminating focused on local
earch back in 2007. Bulwark since
ocused heavily on reviews. Bulwark has
earned over 4000 online reviews in the
past 6 years.
Phoenix pest control trend compared to
Pest control reviews trend.
@Thos003 #ReviewEra #StateofSearch
26. @Thos003 #ReviewEra #StateofSearch
No MORE food?
No MORE travel?
A total of 39,727,022 people came
to Las Vegas in 2012, representing
an increase of 2.1 percent over
the number of visitors in 2011.
http://hmghotelsblog.com/2013/03/28/las-vegas-tourism-2013-
hotel-industry-statistic-new-attractions/
28. @Thos003 #ReviewEra #StateofSearch
Oct. 21, 2014
âŠreporting a 30 percent fall
in third-quarter net income
..and traffic declines in
every major region.
About 2 yearâs ago I
heard McDonaldâs after
a bad quarter telling
Wall Street they
planned to do an
advertising blitz to
improve earnings.
Annâs Snack Bar
1615 Memorial Dr SE, Atlanta, GA 30317
VS
Urbanspoon Rating: 91% - 334 votes
29. @Thos003 #ReviewEra #StateofSearch
Reviews are most influential
during the discovery phase.
Businesses that are not
well known stand to
benefit the most
from online reviews.
37. @Thos003 #ReviewEra #StateofSearch
Surprise
Attack 2
Your content sucks compared to reviews!
Consumer reviews are significantly more trusted
-- nearly 12 times more trusted --
than descriptions that come from manufacturers eMarketer, February, 2010
The infamous about me page. Why do we have an about me page? TO BUILD TRUST. As a presenter what I say will carry little weight if you donât trust me. Do you know what else builds trust? Common ground. Familiarity.
What color do you see?
Anyone color blind?
Anyone see a different color? Free tshirt?
My goal is that by the end of my presentation I will have given you a new perspective. A new way of looking at something so common.
It is 2005, I am apartment hunting. Not just for 1 apartment but for 20 to 30 apartments. I had to house over 100 door to door salesman and crew that summer. My boss suggested I pick up a phonebook and call some local realtors or apartment finders to help. UGHHHH⊠Slow. Difficult. Could I trust them since they were paid commissions? Trust issues.
ApartmentRatings.com saved my insanity. Close to $100,000 in rental contracts signed that year all based on reviews from ApartmentRatings.com. I used that site year after year. I handed that task off and to this day we still use that website to find apartments. Over 1million dollars has now been spent on apartments based on reviews.
First time I used online reviews in bulk.
Online reviews changed my world.
Internet changed our world.
Letâs focus on the get ideas & recommendations.
Click = I call these reviews.
Reviews are others sharing their thoughts and experiences on anything. Verbally, written, or by example.
How did reviews begin?
This is where reviews began. With the need to eat. We watched and learned from others.
A few millennia later⊠we were not just eating to survive anymore but eating for pleasure. His friends trusted him.
Skip forward a few more years⊠Today we review everything. We add our input into the common knowledge bucket by thumbs up, down, tweets, comments, and even just our viewing habits. If 10 million other people viewed it then it must be worth watching. Herd mentality. We trust the herd to keep us safe.
Because of our herd mentality and our innate learning model to observe, evaluate, and experiment. This latest and newest review and learn process slipped in virtually unnoticed.
Ebay was the first online shopping experience for most of us. Back when ebay started most of the world didnât even feel comfortable with entering their credit card online. We had trust issues. Not just with credit cards but other users. How could I purchase something from someone I donât know and without seeing that something first? Ebayâs solution was user ratings.
Pest Control Guy likes spidey jokes. Spiderman⊠pest control. ⊠Bad experiences are also learning experiences. If you arenât going to learn from your mistakes then why make them?
But it goes beyond just the negative side of this. We learned to trust users with high ratings. We trust them so much in fact, that we would pay them more money then a guy with no ratings.
You earn a userâs trust and you get MORE money.
This does not just apply to selling things on ebay. Human nature does not change. If you are selling to humans then you must earn their trust. If you earn their trust then you too can sell more and sell for higher. Getting individuals to review your service or product will earn the trust of the masses.
Do basic human needs get reviews? Can you get people to review you? Why would humans review basic needs? Who would ever take a picture of their food and share it with others?
Yes. In fact I will show you a few other needs that have just begun getting online reviews.
Per Google trends in 2005 searches for dentist reviews hit critical mass. There were enough searches at that time to show up on their trend scale. What do you notice about these searches? How do they compare to local dentist searches?
Lawyers, canât live with them, canât live without them. I am sure a few of know a lawyer joke or two, perhaps I should have
Are you saying the concept of reviewing businesses is new?
IS IT THE NEXT GAME CHANGER?
No and Yes.
Word of mouth has always existed. But it now has a new form as digital word of mouth. Permeant digital ink.
Todayâs digital word of mouth not only has the potential to gain greater audience, but its reach spans more time.
Are you saying the concept of reviewing businesses is new?
IS IT THE NEXT GAME CHANGER?
No and Yes.
Word of mouth has always existed. But it now has a new form as digital word of mouth. Permeant digital ink.
Todayâs digital word of mouth not only has the potential to gain greater audience, but its reach spans more time.
This could happen in any industry. And it doesnât have to be turning to Yelp. âŠDentistRatings.com.. Maybe. ApartmentRatings.com has cornered itâs market. Be aware of other review sites.
Advertising isnât working anymore. Why? Advertising is losing to reviews.
This is a huge opportunity for small local businesses!!!
Does this mean that McDonalds should ignore their reviews?
Okay I get it, most of your sales come from referrals⊠So what do they see when they search for you?
Sorry Steve Floyd
What color do you see?
Anyone color blind?
Anyone see a different color? Free tshirt?
My goal is that by the end of my presentation I will have given you a new perspective.