Which Industries are Online Reviews Most Prominent in?

Now that we’ve covered who within a business should be paying attention to online reviews, it’s time to talk about industries.

It’s true that some businesses are in industries where reviews are more visible than others. However, even if your industry isn’t one that’s highly reviewed today, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be leveraging them.

Instead, it’s a great opportunity to distinguish yourself in a market where other business owners probably aren’t paying attention; yet. You can set yourself apart, and build a sizeable lead over those who follow you.

And this is true for all industries: online reviews are a great way to differentiate your business and set yourself apart from competitors.

The Most Popularly Reviewed Industries

Some businesses have more of a stake in online review management due to their industry. As we mentioned, some industries are more reliant on customer reviews than others – and it’s these businesses that (literally) cannot afford to avoid managing their online reviews.

Here are some of the most popularly reviewed industries out there:

Hospitality

The hospitality industry is infamous for being reliant on online reviews. And it makes sense.

Consumers want to make sure that the hotel they’re booking for their dream vacation isn’t a roach motel. And, the truth is, even bad hotels can have great pictures, professional websites, and attractive prices. That’s where online reviews come into play: businesses cannot hide the truth when it is being posted on an unbiased review website by a real customer of theirs.

Businesses in the hospitality industry must be mindful that they should consistently ask customers to leave reviews to keep up with the competition and to protect their brand image.

Retail

If you’re a small business owner working in the retail industry, you likely already understand that reputation is everything. It’s what keeps customers coming to you, and potentially paying a higher price, over chain stores in the area. It’s what attracts clients from the web and pushes them to come to your brick-and-mortar location or make a purchase online.

Online reviews help shape the success of retail companies on a large scale. This is especially true since many retail businesses also operate online shops, which drives users to do a bit more research to find out whether or not an online retail store is legitimate and trustworthy.

Restaurants

If there’s one phrase every restaurant owner could go without hearing ever again, it’s probably “Yelp is going to hear about this!!” or “I’m going to leave you a bad review!”

You see, customers are aware that online reviews could harm a business and prevent them from attracting new clients.

In the restaurant industry, it is imperative that an online review management strategy is in place to continually ask for reviews to keep their restaurant’s online reputation aligned with their offline reality of great food and excellent service.

Healthcare

Finding the right doctor, surgeon, or hospital can be a life or death situation in some cases. And that’s why patients across the world are taking to the internet to do more research about potential providers than they ever have.

Specialty review websites, aimed at giving patients a space to leave feedback about doctors, nurses, PA-Cs, hospitals, and any other medical entity, are just as important to manage as major platforms like Google, Yelp, and Facebook.

It’s imperative for doctors and practice managers as a whole to invest in their online reputation by first managing their online reviews. Otherwise, their reputation can’t be held up by personal referrals when their online reviews are actively dissuading potential patients from making that first appointment.

Service Trades

When someone calls a specialist in a specific trade, like a plumber or mechanic, it’s often for a fundamental reason. Maybe their car stopped running. Maybe their roof is leaking. Maybe their toilets aren’t flushing.

No matter the reason, people understand that they should be working with good companies when it comes to getting repairs or having something installed in their home or personal business.

Online review platforms, like Angie’s List and Yelp, were created to give users a place to rate and review service-oriented businesses. For many, these sites are the first place they stop when they’re looking for a business to contact.