As a multi-location business, have you ever stopped to see what other companies in your industry are doing? Tracking your competitors can give your business insight into what you’re up against when it comes to localized marketing and beyond. If your business has a good idea of what competitors are doing, you will better understand how you can make your business stand out.
Throughout this blog, we’ll cover ways your multi-location business should be tracking competitors, and how you can utilize this information to better position your business.
1. Tracking Review Performance
One of the first things your business can do when comparing your business to competitors is to look at the differences in your ratings and reviews How many reviews does your business have compared to competitors? Do competitors have a higher star-rating than your business or are you currently leading the pack? Data from our 2020 Localized Marketing Benchmark Report found that reviews are the number one factor influencing a consumer’s purchasing decisions, so it’s clear that ratings and reviews hold a lot of value.
When it comes to reviews, you may be asking yourself what is the standard when it comes to ratings and reviews for multi-location businesses? Our Q2 2020 State of the Market Report found that, on average, multi-location businesses received a 4.16 star rating across Facebook, Yelp, and Google My Business (GMB). Additional data found that multi-location businesses received an average of 94 percent of reviews that were four stars or above, and the businesses responded to an average of 49 percent of those reviews. Does your multi-location business fall above or below these averages?
While looking at overall averages is essential, you must also keep in mind that the norms may vary depending on your industry. This is why it’s necessary to keep track of your competitors. If the majority of your industry competitors have a 4.5 star rating or higher, your business should strive to attain this rating.
Having an idea of where your business stands against the competition when it comes to ratings and reviews will hold you accountable in the long run – considering ratings and reviews have become not only a top-ranking factor, but the #1 factor in determining which company a consumer chooses for business.
If your business is struggling to manage your ratings and reviews across all of your business locations, SOCi can help! SOCi pulls every review for all your business locations into one centralized platform — accessible by both corporate and local teams. Give local marketing teams the power to respond to reviews, and your corporate team the ability to maintain oversight through SOCi’s platform.
