Among the 20 gyms we read that someone searching in Mill Valley, CA is shown, the median rating is 5 stars. That is the rating of the middle gym in the set, taken over its whole listing, and it is the top of Google's scale. A median says nothing about how the other gyms spread around it, but it does mean the middle of this set sits at the ceiling.
The review counts sit much lower. The median gym we read carries 27.5 reviews across its whole listing. The three most-reviewed carry 287, 222 and 203. Those are lifetime totals, with no date attached, so they describe how much has been written about each gym, not how fast.
Replies are a separate measure, and a narrower one: they count only the most recent handful of reviews on each listing. Club Evexia answered 10 of its last 10 reviews. TJ's Gym answered 1 of its last 10. Not every gym we read could be measured, and we do not report how many were, so these names are not a count of how many gyms reply; they are the ones we can credit by name. For scale, Club Evexia's listing holds 114 reviews in total and TJ's Gym's holds 131.
The benchmark measured here gives a wider frame. A typical measured business around Mill Valley answered 77 percent of its recent reviews. That figure is measured across 35 businesses from all trades together, not gyms alone, and a trade can be read without contributing to it. It is the reply standard for the catchment as a whole, and it is the number a gym owner can hold their own last 10 reviews against.
What to do about it
Start with your own Google listing: count how many of your last 10 reviews have your reply under them. The reply figures above were counted exactly that way. Club Evexia's count is 10. Whatever yours is, the next step is the same: answer each new review as it arrives, in a sentence or two that responds to what that member actually said, whether the review is glowing or critical.
Keep the replies short and specific. Thank the person by what they mentioned, a class, a trainer, the hours, rather than with a line you paste under every review. For a critical review, acknowledge the point and say what you will look at, without arguing the details in public. A reply is the one part of that exchange you write, and the count of your last 10 is something you can check again at any time.
Gyms
| # | Business | Answered | Reviews | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Club Evexia | 10 of 10 | 114 | 4.7 |
| 2 | TJ's Gym | 1 of 10 | 131 | 5 |