Have you ever driven into the parking lot of a restaurant? Could be a pizza place, Chinese restaurant, Italian restaurant, doesn't matter any kind of restaurant, and there were only three cars there? So I was looking for a place to eat and I kind of had this epiphany, this light bulb moment? People often ask, "Why do online reviews matter?" and I thought to myself, this is a good example of the 1 reason Google local reviews work so well.
Have you ever driven into the parking lot of a restaurant and there were only three cars there right away? You knew that those three cars belong to the cook, the manager, and one of the servers on staff or the bartender. So really it was the three people working there and there was no one else there. No diners whatsoever. That is basically the simplest form of social proof.
When I drove into that empty parking lot, there's social proof that this restaurant is not good. What happens is you're not seeing any social proof that people are dining there, that they enjoy the experience, the ambiance, or the food.
Social proof is what drives online reviews.
In your gut, you get this feeling that this isn't a good choice, I'm going to turn around and go somewhere else. So social proof is also what really drives this power of online reviews. When we're looking online and we're researching a business, we want to see social proof. We want to see how other customers, like us, have experienced the business. We want to know what they thought of the products and services, and ultimately how the overall experience was because that's what they're giving a rating or review on.
So if I'm seeing a bunch of four and five-star reviews on a business, then I know that this is a good business.
I have social proof, whereas, when I'm seeing one and two stars, I'm a little apprehensive.
Nearly 90 percent of consumers are apprehensive to do business if they see negative reviews. Again, that's social proof. So what I want you to take away from this is the idea that social proof is what drives online reviews, and that's the reason Google reviews work.