The most-reviewed tattoo listing among the businesses someone searching in Burlingame, CA is shown belongs to Salt & Straw, at 949 Google reviews. The next two carry 205 and 164. Those are the three largest listings among the 20 tattoo studios we read, and they sit well above the middle: the median tattoo studio we read carries 61 reviews, and the median rating is 4.9. Both of those are whole-listing figures, counted across each listing's entire history.
Replies are measured differently, on each business's most recent 10 reviews only. On that measure, Belmont Tattoo & Piercing answered 8 of its last 10, the highest reply figure among the studios named in this section. Salt & Straw answered 4 of its last 10, and Paw Tattoo answered 1 of 10. So this is not a trade where no one answers: named studios here are writing back to customers, each at its own figure.
Set those replies beside the listing sizes and the picture does not line up neatly. Belmont Tattoo & Piercing carries 140 reviews in total and posts the strongest recent reply figure of the three. Salt & Straw carries 949 and Paw Tattoo 164. The number of reviews a listing has gathered and the share of recent reviews its owner answers are two separate things, and we measure them separately. The three studios named here are the ones answering the most of their recent reviews; nothing in this data describes how the studios we did not name handle theirs.
For context, the benchmark measured here is 62%. That is the share of recent reviews a typical measured business answered, taken across 52 businesses and all trades together, not tattoo studios alone. It gives an owner a yardstick from the same catchment, measured the same way as the reply figures above.
What to do about it
Pull up your Google listing and count how many of your last 10 reviews have a reply from you. That is the same measure behind every reply figure above: Belmont Tattoo & Piercing is at 8 of 10, Salt & Straw at 4 of 10 and Paw Tattoo at 1 of 10, and the benchmark measured here across all trades is 62%.
If your count is 0, begin with the next review that comes in and answer each one after it. A reply is the one part of that exchange you write. Keep it short, refer to something the customer actually said about the piece or the session, and sign it from the studio. A glowing review deserves a line of thanks as much as a critical one deserves a calm, specific answer. Then count your last 10 again later and see where you stand against the figures on this page.
Tattoo studios
| # | Business | Answered | Reviews | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Belmont Tattoo & Piercing | 8 of 10 | 140 | 4.5 |
| 2 | Salt & Straw | 4 of 10 | 949 | 4.6 |
| 3 | Paw Tattoo | 1 of 10 | 164 | 4.9 |