Three pet boarding listings in this catchment carry 590, 536 and 410 Google reviews. The median across the 20 we read in that trade is 68. So the biggest files are nothing like the middle of the set, and the businesses holding them are not handling them the same way. Camp Bow Wow Burnsville answered 10 of its last 10 reviews and carries 536. Puppy Play and Stay answered 8 of its last 10 and carries 590. Woof Dah! answered 8 of its last 10, with 410.
Among veterinarians, depth is closer to normal. The median review count across the 20 we read is 265, against 81 for pet grooming and 68 for pet boarding. Gentle Doctor Veterinary Clinic answered 10 of its last 10 and holds 378 reviews. Southfork Animal Hospital also answered 10 of its last 10, with 316. South Metro Animal Emergency Care answered 7 of its last 10, with 452.
In pet grooming, the three businesses answering the most each answered every one of their ten most recent reviews: River Valley Veterinary Service with 312 reviews, Barks & Bubbles with 248, Dr Poolittle with 222. The three most-reviewed listings in that trade hold 390, 330 and 312, while the trade median is 81.
Median ratings are 4.75 for pet grooming and 4.8 for both pet boarding and veterinarians. A trade median is one figure for a whole set; it says nothing about which listing is which, and nothing on this page is ordered by stars. The reply counts are what this page ranks on, and they are drawn from each business's most recent reviews, while the review counts above are the whole listing. We measured 47 of the businesses someone searching in Prior Lake is shown; a typical one answered 79% of its recent reviews.
What to do about it
The two windows on this page are worth separating before you do anything. A file of 265 reviews is the whole listing; the reply counts are only the most recent ones. Nobody named here answered hundreds of reviews. Gentle Doctor Veterinary Clinic's 10 of 10 is ten replies, sitting under a file of 378.
That makes the work smaller than it looks. Open your reviews, sort by newest, and work down from the top until you reach ones you have already answered. Include the good ones; a five-star review with nothing under it is as blank as any other. Write each one differently enough that someone reading three in a row can tell a person wrote them, which means naming what the visit actually was.
Then the second half, which is the harder one: catching up once is a single sitting, and keeping up is a habit. Decide now how often you will go back in.
Pet grooming
| # | Business | Answered | Reviews | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | River Valley Veterinary Service | 10 of 10 | 312 | 4.8 |
| 2 | Barks & Bubbles | 10 of 10 | 248 | 4.3 |
| 3 | Dr Poolittle | 10 of 10 | 222 | 5 |
Pet boarding
| # | Business | Answered | Reviews | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Camp Bow Wow Burnsville | 10 of 10 | 536 | 4.8 |
| 2 | Puppy Play and Stay | 8 of 10 | 590 | 4.9 |
| 3 | Woof Dah! | 8 of 10 | 410 | 4.8 |
Veterinarians
| # | Business | Answered | Reviews | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gentle Doctor Veterinary Clinic | 10 of 10 | 378 | 4.7 |
| 2 | Southfork Animal Hospital | 10 of 10 | 316 | 4.6 |
| 3 | South Metro Animal Emergency Care | 7 of 10 | 452 | 3.9 |