Among the tattoo studios someone searching in San Leandro, CA is shown, we read 20. Of those, Simms Ink is the studio this section can credit for replying: it answered 2 of its last 10 reviews, on a listing that carries 259 reviews in total. That is a figure for one named business, not a tally of the trade. We could not measure replies for every studio we read, and we can't say how many answered, so nothing here describes the studios left unnamed.
The listing figures cover a different window from the reply figure. The median tattoo studio we read carries 50 Google reviews and a median rating of 4.7 stars. The three most-reviewed studios among the 20 we read carry 259, 203 and 107 reviews. Those are totals across each listing's whole history, while the reply figure above covers only the most recent 10 reviews. A median is a single number: it marks where the middle studio sits, and it says nothing about how the other listings are spread around it.
For a wider reference point, the benchmark measured here puts the share of recent reviews a typical measured business answered at 55 percent, across 29 businesses. That figure is measured across all trades together, not tattoo studios alone, so it is a yardstick from the same search catchment rather than a standard set inside this trade.
What we record is whether a reply exists on each review. We do not record who reads a reply, why an owner did or did not write one, or what a reply changes. On a Google listing the review and the stars belong to the customer. A reply is the one part of that exchange you write, and it appears under the customer's words on your own listing.
What to do about it
Open your Google listing and look at your last 10 reviews. See how many of them you have answered. That is the same measure behind every reply figure above, so you can set your own count beside Simms Ink's 2 of 10 and beside the benchmark measured here of 55 percent, which covers all trades together.
If your count is low, answer the next new review, then work back through the rest of your recent 10. Keep each reply short and specific to what the customer wrote: the piece, the artist, the placement, the aftercare. Thank people for the work they describe, and answer a critical review calmly with what you will do about it. The median studio we read carries 50 reviews, so this is a list you can read in full and answer one review at a time.
Tattoo studios
| # | Business | Answered | Reviews | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simms Ink | 2 of 10 | 259 | 4.4 |