The Power of Online Reviews for Wedding Businesses | 3 Top Factors Engaged Couples Look for

95% of engaged couples rely on online reviews when making decisions for their wedding suppliers, according to WeddingWire, one of the nation's leaders in wedding business advertising and marketing.  Therefore, to have a great Website , advertising and marketing campaign alone is no longer enough.  Having an active presence in online reviews is mission critical to your advertising and marketing campaign and must be a part of your sales cycle.  That is, upon completion of every wedding and event, you must make asking the client for their feedback on  online sites such as WeddingWire, Yelp and more a priority and part of your sales plan.  It can help make the difference between a booking or not.

Afraid of one or two bad reviews?  We will talk about how to handle those in another post.  Research shows that most of today's couples are savvy when reading reviews.  Bride Brett M. says, "I just look to see if they are all bad or if all the customers are making the same negative comment.  If it's just one or two bad reviews in the middle of 100 good ones, I know that I have to take the bad ones with a grain of salt."  

There are four important factors couples look for when considering a wedding business online review:

1.  Quality Reviews: Did the author take time to articulate in a non-emotional way - and objectively- the wedding supplier's service?  Or is it a review that is so off-balance, it may have been written by an angry competitor of the wedding supplier or a client who may have issues that have nothing to do with the true nature of what actually happened? 

2.  Quantity:  Are there many reviews or just one or two?  The more reviews, the more credibility of the business, in the couple's eyes.

3.  Recency & Consistency:  Are the reviews current  and constant or were they from years ago?  Being current also builds trust in the consumer's eyes as it means you are open for business.

Continually check your wedding reviews to make sure that they meet the above criteria. Don't be afraid to ask clients for reviews.  This request can be a part of your standard post-event thank you and evaluation you send out, it need not be intimidating or create more work for you.  Include links to the sites on which you are asking for reviews to make it even easier for clients.


Don't worry so much about what they're saying at this point as much as that you are building your volume of reviews that are quality -focused , recent and consistent. 

If you think about it, this is a highly cost-effective way to market without spending a lot of - if any - money . But it does take time.  And time that is well -invested if the end result is more bookings.
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Engaging Inspiration provides sparkling social media, marketing and training for the wedding professional and venue