How Incorrect Online Listings are Losing You Customers

Congratulations!  You’ve opened a brand-new business. You did the market research, planned a grand-opening campaign and even created a website and a social media page for the customers you want to reach. Now, it’s time to sit back and wait for your clients to find you. Or, perhaps, you’re a seasoned veteran of your business and you’ve just opened your tenth location in a new city. People know your name, know your products, your brand, and you already have a faithful following on the social media page you created as well as your business website. Regardless of your position along this spectrum, there’s a startling statistic all business owners and operators should know. With the introduction of the internet as a place for customers/clients to search and seek out new businesses, there is an added incidence of misinformation (or incorrect information) and therefore missed opportunities for businesses.

A recent survey of digital marketing professionals revealed that over 95% of respondents reported having found incorrect business information when searching online. 95%. Let that sink in for a quick moment. That is a lot of missed opportunities to grow one’s business. Of those respondents, 62% reported that they found misinformation “many times.”

It’s important for any company no matter the size, industry, or duration of being in business to be aware of their digital presence and the information offered. Location information, business contacts, and operating hours are just a few of the pieces of often misrepresented information found on various searches for a single business. This outdated or misinformation can lead to frustration and therefore a missed opportunity for a new customer to become a regular customer.

Keeping digital data consistent in the marketing world for businesses can be an overwhelming and daunting task. Add to it, the need to ensure search engine optimization for a wide reach to attract and grow your business and it is easy to see why businesses choose to outsource these tasks to digital marketing professionals. However, with the revelation of how frequent consumer searches are resulting in incorrect or outdated information, the disjointed approach many digital marketers take to try to achieve consistency is failing businesses.

According to a recent survey released by Placeable, 73% or respondents said they lost trust in a local business when their online listing showed incorrect information. While 67% said they got lost enroute to the business due to faulty location information. This survey also found that 31% of the respondents blamed the brand when their business listing is incorrect in online directories like Yelp. 71% of all surveyed say the go online to look up and confirm the location before going the first time. Imagine that if 67% of those people got lost on their way to your business and turned around and went home or instead went elsewhere. That is a significant number of missed opportunities.

Also, with the added advantage of voice searching, Google says that 20% of their mobile app on both apple and android devices are voice searches. Utilizing voice searches challenges old-school marketing techniques. For businesses to show up as the result of a voice search, they need to have accurate and up-to-date information available on the internet and voice search databases. This allows voice-powered services recognize them as relevant and therefore an appropriate response to consumers.

If you’re concerned your business isn’t well-equipped for the age of digital marketing and voice search implementation and you’re missing the mark for expanding your business in this digital day-and-age, contact Evolve Impact Group, your source for impactful digital management solutions. We offer digital listings management solutions for all types of business to ensure that your business listings are up-to-date and available wherever and however your customers are searching for you. Stop missing out on business and contact Evolve Impact Group today to make your business make an impact.