Web analytics: customer reviews and engagement

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear “web analytics”? You may think organic traffic and customer engagement on your business’s website. However, you don’t want to overlook off-site metrics, such as the number of visitors and the number of customer reviews on your Google and Yelp pages. These metrics are extremely important in the world of local businesses.

Here are three reasons to play close attention:

To find out what you’re doing right

What do your customers like best about your business? In what areas have you excelled in the past?

By staying current with Google and Yelp reviews, you’ll gain an understanding of what your customers like best. Subsequently, you can focus on providing more of the same.

To find out where you can improve

No matter how hard you try to satisfy your customers, it’s likely that someday you’ll receive a bad online review. This isn’t the end of the world. Instead, consider this an opportunity to learn something.

Ask yourself:

• Why did the customer leave a less-than-stellar review?
• Could you or your team have done anything differently in this situation?
• Which steps can you take to prevent similar reviews in the future?

A bad review never feels good, but it can work in your favor if you turn the situation into a positive.

To improve the customer experience

You know that your customers are leaving online reviews via websites such as Google and Yelp… but what are you doing to interact with them?

It’s a good start to review each and every piece of feedback, so that you can learn what you are doing well and see where you can improve (see above). However, you can take this one step further by interacting with your customers.

When customers write good reviews for your business, thank them and encourage them to return. Conversely, if you come across negative reviews, reach out to the customers in an attempt to make things right.

Conclusion

There is more to web analytics than the number of visitors to your website, top pages, and referral sources. Local businesses can learn a lot and gain organic traffic by staying in touch with online reviews and customer engagement on their Google and Yelp pages.

Tip: Publishing online reviews on your website is a great way to share content with your audience and improve your search engine ranking. Learn how Broadly can help you generate more positive reviews and attract more new customers.