The Superpowers of Owner Responses

How do owner responses impact consumer behavior trends and review engagement?

Because many of the top local business review platforms enable businesses to respond directly to reviews, it’s important to understand the impact this form of communication can have on customer behavior and reputation. By investigating customers’ expectations surrounding owner response timeliness and tone, plus the degree to which this content can win back the good opinion and repeat business of negative reviewers, local brands will be empowered to determine how and where to invest in ensuring that reviews don’t go unanswered.

Would you seek out a business if the owner's response...

Maximize the impact of owner responses by knowing what customers like to see in them.

90%+ consumers are influenced to a moderate or extreme degree by owner responses to reviews

Getting the maximum return on the investment you make in handcrafting owner responses depends on understanding the components that win public favor. It’s worth noting that 58% of respondents would definitely seek out a business that fixes problems via owner responses and an additional 38% say they are likely to do so. Related to this, 54% would definitely seek out a business that takes responsibility for a problem cited by a customer and 42% would likely do so. Don’t leave out the apology during this resolution phase, because 56% of consumers might possibly seek out your business if you say those magic words, “I’m sorry”, and an additional 41% say they definitely would.

Be wary of automated or generic responses. Over half (51%) of customers say they will definitely seek out a business that writes customized owner responses, and another 43% say that they are likely to. Finally, a timely response makes 49% of respondents likely to give a business a try while an added 45% definitely will.

Taken altogether, More than 90% of customers are definitely or likely influenced to seek out a transaction with your business if your owner responses take responsibility for cited problems, apologize for them, and solve them in a personalized, timely manner. This is your checklist and blueprint for enjoying maximum benefits from the significant potentials of owner responses. Be sure to develop and implement a review response program that includes responding regularly and consistently.

How soon do you expect a business to respond to your review?

Meeting customers’ expectations for the timeliness of responses safeguards their effectiveness.

60% of consumers expect a response to their review within 2 days or less

Your replies to reviews can be excellent and can convince the general public of the responsiveness of your brand, but if they don’t meet the timeliness expectations of the customers actually writing them, those consumers may feel neglected. Of reviewers surveyed, 11% expect a response within 2 hours of writing a review - that’s a challengingly high bar for small businesses with minimal staff to meet, though success can be improved if your listings and review management software sends continual alerts of incoming reviews. Another 21% expect a response within 24 hours and 28% extend that time window to within 48 hours. These more modest hopes should be reasonable for most SMBs to fulfill.

The remainder of respondents include the 24% who expect a reply within a week, and the 5% who expect to hear back within 1 month. Unfortunately, a substantial 10% say they have given up waiting because no one ever replies to their reviews - a scenario that isn’t acceptable when you think of its potential impact on brand impressions, differentiation, and loyalty.

Would you avoid a business if you saw an owner's response that...

It’s basic to good customer service to avoid any activity which bothers the public.

Combative and unhelpful owner responses make the public avoid businesses

These numbers prove that the worst thing a business owner can do when responding to reviews is to fail in offering a solution to a cited problem. More than half (54%) of customers will definitely avoid a business taking this approach, and 39% will possibly avoid it. Only 7% are willing to let unhelpful responses slide.

Meanwhile, acrimonious responses that are lacking in humility put further sales at risk. When an owner response accuses a customer of lying, 56% of the public may possibly avoid the business and 33% would definitely avoid it. Additionally, 46% will definitely avoid a business with an owner who argues with customers in reviews, and 45% may possibly avoid it. Finally, when an owner response offers no apology for a customer’s poor experience, 47% of consumers will definitely avoid the business, while 43% will possibly avoid it.

Taken in sum, unprofessional owner responses can significantly imperil business outcomes. Given this, even when a particular customer is deceitful or unpleasant, the business owner should always strive to respond in a way that will not alienate other potential customers. Remember, too, that egregious negative reviews which violate Google’s content guidelines can be reported in hopes of removal. Happily, customer-centric businesses that focus on adeptly solving complaints can truly shine within the owner response medium.

Do you expect to receive a response from a business when you write a positive review?

When a local business understands customer expectations, it can plan to both meet and exceed them.

Only 40% of customers have come to expect thanks for positive reviews

There are genuinely some individuals who don’t enjoy being thanked for their good deeds, but it’s a broader social norm to express appreciation when someone does you a good turn. Right now, only 40% of consumers expect to receive a response from the business when they write a positive review. The majority (60%) expect nothing, and this figure is deserved of further consideration.

Why do 6 in 10 customers anticipate being ignored, even though they are volunteering as the free sales force for a local business? What opportunities are being left on the table for forming meaningful relationships with fellow members of the community when one party is saying “I love you” while the other one walks away? There is an excellent chance here to raise the bar on both sides by embracing the full potential of reviews and owner responses as a two-way conversation, which engenders shared identity, loyalty and mutual respect.

Do you expect to receive a response from a business when you write a negative review?

Recognizing when a customer complaint is a call for help can be the first step towards both resolution and an improved business reputation.

64% of customers expect a response to negative reviews

Here we see the near-obverse of the positive review scenario: only 40% expect thanks for positive reviews, but 64% expect a reply when their review is negative. With only 36% of your customers anticipating being ignored when they complain online in the form of reviews, there is too much at stake in neglecting cited problems. Fortunately, for brands that build review complaint resolution into their processes, there is great news ahead!

Has a business owner's response to a negative review ever improved your opinion of the company?

To justify devoting substantial time to writing owner responses, local businesses need only look at their noteworthy impact.

67% of negative reviewers had an improved opinion of a brand when the owner responded well

A negative review is not the end of the story. It’s actually the beginning, when the owner is committed to professional complaint resolution. An amazing 67% of respondents say that, after having written a negative review, the way the owner responded improved their opinion of the company. However, 33% tellingly state that this has never happened for them. Opportunity is knocking here!

If an owner's response resolved a problem you experienced, would you give the company a second chance?

Gain confidence in local business power to improve reputation via adept owner responses.

62% of negative reviewers would give a local brand a second chance after an owner response solves their problem

Review complaint resolution is all about winning back the trust of the customer (and the review-reading public) by fixing a cited complaint. It’s truly hopeful to think that 62% of formerly-unhappy customers are ready to forgive mistakes if resolution happens in the form of a great owner response. An additional 28% say they might try the business again after their troubles are addressed. Only 10% consider themselves gone for good when a first experience was bad.

Would you update your low star rating or negative review if a business did a great job resolving your complaint?

Discover how willing customers are to amend reviews when their problems are addressed.

63% of consumers will update their negative review or low-star rating once an owner response resolves their complaint

Not only can the right owner response win back a dissatisfied customer and significantly influence public opinion of your brand, but 63% of customers who have negatively reviewed you will update their review or increase the star rating they initially gave you if you resolve their complaint. An additional 27% might do so, and only 10% say they won’t.

Given all these statistics about the power of owner responses to right wrongs, earn loyalty, and improve reputation, remember the next time you receive a negative review that the odds of an excellent outcome are all strongly in your favor.

In Conclusion

From the process of surveying US consumers and analyzing their responses, a picture emerges of local business reviews being one of the widest roads on the Internet, with 96% of adults relying on them to some degree along their journeys towards transactions. Both reviews and owner responses are mediums that run on trust, and trust can be both won or lost on the basis of business behaviors.

Reviewers are chiefly motivated by a desire to share their experiences, are commonly willing to leave feedback when asked via their preferred methods, and are notably forgiving when an initial negative experience is improved by a timely owner response which resolves stated problems. Negative sentiment should be viewed as a vital source of business intelligence, signaling issues that can be fixed to directly improve consumer satisfaction. Owner responses are an incredibly powerful customer service vehicle when charged with a determination to win back customers who take the time to voice their complaints.

While third-party review platforms exist outside the direct control of local businesses, brands do have considerable control over both the customer experiences that underpin positive reviews and the next steps review readers take, the majority of which land them back into company-owned territory like websites, physical premises, and contact options. Good reputations are built on taking care to serve the customer at each stage of their journey. When the wide highway of online reviews and responses is carefully tended, it creates local business narratives that are highly trusted and highly influential. With reputation and revenue riding on the review road, the case for dedicated stewardship of and strategic investment in ongoing review management is clear and bright.

Written by Miriam Ellis, Moz Local SEO Subject Matter Expert and Moz staff.