RatePoint: First impressions formed online, before visiting in-store

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Merchants, listen up. If you’re hoping to make a great first impression by having great curb appeal or friendly in-store staff, you’re not going far enough. Data from RatePoint finds that first impressions are now served up online – through review sites – rather than through your front door.

RatePoint’s research shows:

  • 68% of consumers look for consumer reviews
  • 77% still rely on friends’ recommendations
  • 76% visit online review sites for research prior to visiting local stores
  • “Our data clearly shows online reviews are the new way consumers validate a local business before they will set foot inside,” said Keith Cooper, CEO of RatePoint. “Local businesses need to proactively collect and showcase feedback from their satisfied customers. Those who do will be in a much stronger position to gain new business and future revenue directly from online reviews.”

    RatePoint’s new Review Report may help local businesses make that good first impression. The platform gathers online ratings and reviews about businesses, allowing them to ‘see’ how they’re doing. Clients can also compare their ratings with local competitors. From there, it is easy enough to create a strategy for improvement.

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    ABOUT THE AUTHOR

    Kristina Knight-1
    Kristina Knight, Journalist , BA
    Content Writer & Editor
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    Kristina Knight is a freelance writer with more than 15 years of experience writing on varied topics. Kristina’s focus for the past 10 years has been the small business, online marketing, and banking sectors, however, she keeps things interesting by writing about her experiences as an adoptive mom, parenting, and education issues. Kristina’s work has appeared with BizReport.com, NBC News, Soaps.com, DisasterNewsNetwork, and many more publications.