For insurance agencies, reputation precedes the services they offer. An agency with a good reputation means that customers can trust that their needs will be met. Most insurance agencies have relied on word-of-mouth to build their reputation and attract more customers. However, as more businesses established their online presence, word-of-mouth reputation shifted to online reviews. These days a quick Google search of your agency reveals not just your website but also reviews — or lack thereof.
Potential clients are attracted to good reviews because they symbolize customer satisfaction. A business without Google reviews tells prospects that there aren’t enough customers that trust its services.
It’s really that simple but here are 4 more compelling reasons why your insurance agency needs Google reviews.
4 Reasons Why Insurance Agencies Need Google Reviews
1. Builds Credibility
About 48% of consumers start their purchase with a simple Google search and that number goes up for younger demographics. During their search, they tend to focus more on what other customers say about a particular business before taking the next step. Positive Google reviews help build a good public image for a local insurance agency, making it easy to win potential customers’ trust.
We’ve been conditioned to check reviews before working with a company. It only takes seconds to filter out companies that have too few reviews or a bad rating.
2. Improves Local SEO
Like most search engines, Google strives to show the most relevant and helpful results to its users. When a potential client searches for insurance agencies, those within the user’s location appear top on the results page. Google ranking gives more priority to agencies with a lot of positive reviews since it’s an indication of superior services. In the same vein, the frequency of reviews also has an impact on your site’s ranking. An agency with 10 reviews that are spread over the last two months will rank higher than an agency with 100 reviews that are two years old.
To further improve your local SEO efforts, you must create a Google My Business (GMB) listing. This free tool is essentially a combination of an online directory and social media. It allows you to manage how your agency appears on Google search and maps. Most importantly, it helps Google’s algorithm know what your agency is about, improving its ranking on SERP while ensuring you’re connected to the right audience. Still need to create a listing, here’s how.
3. Prepares your agency for the future
Ranking top on the Google search results page and map pack will become more important as each year passes. Younger generations rely on peer reviews for pretty much everything. If your agency has one lead source or has simply relied on word-of-mouth, it’s time to consider what will need to change in the next 5 to 10 years. Every show we watch, every restaurant we eat at, every item we order online, and every business we choose to work with will need a solid online reputation.
If you start too late, you’ll be left behind.
4. Keeps You Connected With Customers
Google reviews offer insurance agencies an opportunity to interact with their customers and know their needs and pain points. They help you monitor the quality of services you provide as an insurance agent, allowing you to grow and evolve in ways that meet a customer’s needs.
Recently, Google encouraged businesses to respond to reviews as it shows that you value your customers’ feedback. Doing so will also build trust with Google, improving your agency’s online visibility by ranking your site top on the search results page (SERP). What’s even better is that with a GMB listing of your agency, you can respond to a customer’s review in real-time, ensuring that you don’t miss any of that critical client feedback.
Takeaway
Online reviews are replacing word-of-mouth recommendations, with prospects turning to these reviews before contacting a business. With Google incorporating reviews into the local search engine results, it’s clear that your insurance agency needs Google reviews to boost its reputation and increase online visibility for future growth. Learn how to BOOST your Google reviews with our free guide and beat the competition today.
