How Review Sites Are Key for Any New Startup

The stats are plain for all to see, nine in ten startup businesses fail – with 60% closing inside their first three years of operation. Whilst that provides a grim outlook for any new businesses, there are a range of powerful online tools available for startups to provide themselves with the best chance of survival. Arguably the biggest influence on startups – and their products – is online reviews. A recent survey found that 90% of consumers read one online review as a minimum before making the decision to visit a business – or purchase one of their products. And perhaps even more notably, 94% of consumers claimed that they avoided a business after reading a negative online review. So, looking further into this, how do review sites influence consumer habits? And what can you do as a startup to fully maximise online reviews?

Popular Review Platforms & Trends

Google remains the most popular review site – with almost two-thirds of consumers claiming to have checked online reviews on Google before visiting a business, making them by far the most popular review site visited online. Google uses star ratings as a method of reviewing businesses, and this system has proved a successful method across a range of similar online review platforms. Bonusfinder – a site used to successfully rate and review the best UK online casinos – uses star ratings to rate the quality of online casino sites. With 80% of consumers saying that their most-trusted star ratings are 4, 4.5 and 5 stars – getting a high rating on Bonusfinder is key to the success of any new online casino site.

Consumer Habits Changing

Previously, word of mouth was key to the success of any startup business. This evolved into marketing via media platforms such as television, radio and print – but, now, consumer habits are changing. Over half of the world’s population is active on social media, and this has provided businesses with a huge potential customer base. As of December 2020, Facebook had 1.84 billion daily active users. Videos drive the most ads clicks on Facebook, so it’s perhaps no surprise that over 80% of businesses see videos as their favoured form of marketing on the platform. Interestingly, in terms of online reviews, review lengths by characters have traditionally been getting shorter, yet for those doing reviews on Facebook, they have been increasing. This more in-depth review style gives consumers an overall better understanding of a business before they visit or purchase from it, and this has led to Google and Facebook becoming two of the leading online review platforms.

The stats above show the importance of online reviews in any business, be it a startup or an existing one. For the former, however, online reviews provide an opportunity to expand their customer base and showcase their product. Google and Facebook are rapidly becoming two of the crucial platforms for gaining good reviews. And be it via star ratings, comments, or marketing, obtaining positive and insightful analysis can help any startup become the minority that survives their initial tricky three-year opening period.