As a business, how likely is it that potential customers will come through your door?
The whole point of an online presence is to entice customers into your store, office or showroom so you can convert them to paying customers rather than just browsers online.
Further, nothing is more frustrating as a customer than finding out that you have been given the wrong information about where a business is located. As a customer, how likely are you to give this company your business? Not very. In fact, according to Placeable, 73% of consumers stated that they lose trust in a brand when the online business listing shows incorrect information.
- Missing hours of operation information can be a dealbreaker
There are many things that people look for in business listings, whether they are looking at that search engine on a PC or on a mobile device. The piece of information most customers look for when perusing a businesses listing, is opening hours. If they’ve already made the decision to look up your store, chances are, the clincher will be whether you’re open or not.
In fact, in a study conducted by local data aggregator Localeze, hours of operation were noted as the most helpful feature in selecting a business during local search. 76% of respondents reported that they expect this information when searching and 61% believe that it is a feature that helps them to select a business.
Even if people are new to a business, it doesn’t give a good impression if the business hours are not listed. You may only be open from 10 am – 5 pm Tuesday-Sunday but imagine that a potential customer who is ready to spend their money in store shows up on Monday at 5.30pm only to find you closed. That customer is likely going to do another search on their mobile to find a different shop and spend their money elsewhere.
- Local searchers are mobile creatures
According to Localeze, mobile-phone-based searches drive in-store purchases with more than 75% of searches ending in a purchase—if a business has their listing details correct. Now if half of the people searching for a business listing on a local search engine, such as Google Local/Maps, can’t find the store’s business listing details, then the business is going to lose 100% of their business.
For ease of use for potential customers, some of those details need to be as readily available as possible in a mobile-friendly manner. This can be accomplished with a responsive website that supports mobile and tablet-specific versions.
- Updated, accurate websites still serve as a first impression
At the same time, more than 60% of searches on PC platforms such as website portals, Internet Yellow Page directories and local sites have a similar chance of ending in a purchase. While mobile searches are becoming more of a standard in where a customer searches, a business owner should not discount the power of a fulsome, consistent and accurate listing that is reflective of the business website.
Any listing should be linked to the business’s website and feature exactly the same information, but more of it. While a website should be enough to entice a customer to visit or buy, if those inconsistencies exist, then trust issues may arise in a business’s practices before a customer ever crosses their threshold.
- Local searchers mix it up across multiple devices, situations and times
People who search for listings are doing it in many more ways than when the Internet first coalesced into existence about two decades ago. In that time, we went from working on desktops to laptops to PDAs to Blackberries to Apples to tablets—and in each iteration, the methods of search have changed.
However, that has slowed over the last few years as web developers realise that they need to be smarter. Rather than designing three different sites for three different platforms, they have created websites that are scalable to the search device. And that has been helped along by the proliferation of types of devices in use everyday.
According to Finder, in 2019 smartphone ownership in the UK was at 79%. Statista says that 60% of Brits use their smartphone the most for accessing the internet and local searches, with the other 40% split between computers (24%) and tablets (8%). According to Localeze, like the types of devices used, what we are searching for varies by the time of day and device. Entertainment is searched for during work hours on computers, restaurants during evening using phones and health/fitness evening using tablets.
The most important part of those mobile searches is accuracy. If someone cannot find your business in a local search or find inaccurate results whilst out and about, then your business has lost the chance for that browser to become a customer. So having those listings correct in all of the device formats is a must as we, and our technology, continue to evolve in the way we interact with local businesses.
- Local search results are trusted sources of information
Last but certainly not least is the fact that local search results are considered the most trustworthy. In a study by Neustar, it was determined that these searches, such as “used games Wimbledon”, are what people do the most since they put that trust in local business more than big box, big website shops.
Think about it, would you rather find a local shop where you can get that latest handbag right now? Or you can wait a week for delivery, which is four days past the event that you want it for! Local searches lend themselves to instant gratification and that interaction between browser and salesperson will convert that browser from someone who might get just the minimum to a loyal customer who feels like a million having spent a little more, but getting what they consider to be gold!
Those interactions are what lead people to local searches and the absolute necessity of getting your listings correct. Trust leads to loyalty, which leads to more business, which leads to happy customers and business owners.
And it all starts with that correct listing in that customer’s local search.
Would you like to standardise and sync your listing to 39 popular listing sites – including Google – at the touch of a button? Contact us via the form below or visit redquokka.com and ask for a free trial of our Listing Builder app!