How do you evaluate the products and services you considerbuying? Do you ask family members or your friends for theirexperiences or do you read reviews on Yelp or Amazon?

According to a study by BrightLocal.com, 88 percent of people read onlinereviews before making a purchase. Nearly 7 out of 10 people read upto six reviews and 85 percent read up to 10 reviews.

Quality online reviews are important to the success of yourbusiness. But it's not enough to just have good reviews; they mustbe considered reliable and of reasonable number.

According to Harvard Business School's Michael Luca, a boostedYelp rating of just one star can increase a company's revenuesanywhere from 5 percent to 9 percent. In addition, when a companyhas a 4-star review or higher, 92 percent of customers are willingto do business with it.

It isn't just Yelp reviews: When someone shares an online postor “likes” a business page on socialmedia, it has the greatestinfluence on Google search rankings in the United States followedby backlinks.

But getting customers to take the time to write and post apositive review is the hardest part. It's not just the customer'stime; it requires the business owner's time to ensure theexperience is one in which a positive review is the outcome. Plus,you have to expect some not-so-positive reviews and how you handlethose will determine the true measure of the positive results.

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As independent agents, your goal should be to garner moreFacebook fans and activity, more Twitter followers and activity,grow your five-star Yelp reviews and increase your mailinglist.

There are several software applications and platforms thatsupport businesses getting reviews like “Get Five Stars”which puts the request in front of a customer at the right time andmakes sure the business knows if a less-than five-star rating comesout.

How do you stack up?

First, identify which competitor you want to go up against. Graba piece of paper and divide it into four sections: Facebook,Twitter, Yelp and mobile. You're going to gather specificinformation from each of those criteria. You might want tosubstitute or add in another platform.

Let's start with Facebook. Record the following: Number oflikes, date of last post and average number of posts per month. ForTwitter, record: how many followers, date of last tweet, averagenumber of tweets per month. For Yelp, record: the company's rating,number of reviews, number of years on help, average number ofreviews per year. For mobile, determine whether the website ismobile friendly and whether there is a mobile app downloadable fromthe Apple store or Google Play.

Then do the same thing for your own agency. How do you stack up;more posts or fewer? Above four stars or under? More reviews orless? Determine how your agency stands up overall, then plan outhow to improve your ranking. Don't minimize the value of thisexercise and the difference a one-star increase can have on yourbottom line.

Come up with a strategy that's easy to implement, engages yourcustomers and gives them incentives to provide the positivefeedback that can make a huge difference. One method isimplementing a mobile app that provides your customers withconvenience, value and a way to stay connected with them.

My independent agent through whom I buy Homeowners', Auto andumbrella coverage doesn't have an app. I wish he did. I'm notengaged with him at all and rarely do I receive any kind ofcorrespondence. What does that matter? It means that although Ihave a long history with this agent, I don't feel any connection tohim and if someone offers me coverage that's comparable, I havenothing keeping me to him.

Remember, it often doesn't take a lot to lock in thatrelationship, just a commitment, a quality experience and theeffort to engage your clients.

Rick Gilman, APR, CMP, is president of South Orange,N.J.-based APPsolute Marketing. Email him at[email protected]. Opinionsexpressed in this article are the author's own.

Related: Survey measures use of digital technology byindependent insurance agents