Consumer review website, WOMOW.com.au has released its latest list of Australia's best personal care businesses – as voted entirely by everyday people.
The WOMOW (Word Of Mouth on the Web) Best Business Awards are awarded to the businesses with the best reviews in the most popular categories (based on the number of reviews and searches for these types of businesses). To be eligible, businesses must have a minimum of 3 reviews and a minimum overall rating of 4 or more (out of 5). Up to 5 businesses from each of the popular categories in each major city have been awarded.
WOMOW.com.au's co-founder, Fiona Adler said: “When it comes to personal care services like hairdressing, waxing, tanning, beauty treatments, and even tattoos, customers want confidence that they can trust the businesses they're using… and the way they get that is by checking out other people's experiences."
So, to help people find the very best businesses, and help the best businesses stand out from the crowd, WOMOW has put together the Top 5 Personal Services businesses in each city.
With consumers now posting reviews on WOMOW.com.au, small businesses are able to promote themselves based on merit and compete on a more equal playing field against large companies with huge marketing budgets. Adler said reviews are a great leveler because “all customers care about is the service they experience and often the best service can be found at the smaller, lesser known businesses.”
The response from the beauty industry, she said, has been extremely good. “We're doing these awards for all kinds of businesses but have released the ‘Personal Care’ industries first as these are the most influenced by word-of-mouth feedback, based on the numbers of searches for people looking for these types of businesses and the feedback we get from the businesses themselves,. More than any other industry, when customers are choosing a business for their beauty services, they tend to base their decision on recommendations – either personal or those they find on the web. And once they find a business they're happy with, they're generally very loyal clients. Lots of the beauty businesses on WOMOW tell us they get a great response from it.”
Other categories to be released soon include:
• The best restaurants, cafes & bars in Australia
• The best tradespeople in Australia (builders, electricians, plumbers, etc)
• The best professional services in Australia (accountants, financial services, computer services, printers, real-estate agents, and telecommunications services)
• The best Health & Medical services in Australia (doctors, dentists, gymnasiums, massage therapists, optometrists, and physiotherapists).
To see the winners of the 2010 Word-of-Mouth Best Business Awards, visit www.womow.com.au