Photography Studios Make Up Over Half of Top-Rated US Women-Owned Businesses
More than half of the top-rated women-owned businesses in the U.S. are photography studios, according to a new study.
Online lender OnDeck analyzed Yelp ratings for over 12,000 women-owned small businesses across the U.S. to create a ranking of the top-rated ones. The results show that the top three businesses on the list are all photography studios, and six of the ten highest-rated businesses are also photography studios.
For the study, OnDeck looked at women-owned businesses in 431 U.S. cities listed on Yelp with at least 50 reviews and a rating of four stars or higher. The team then checked each business’s website to confirm it was a small business. Rankings were based on Yelp’s five-star ratings, with businesses that had more reviews placed higher in the event of a tie.
OnDeck’s top ten list (seen in the infographic above) highlights the highest-rated women-owned small businesses in the U.S., regardless of category or location on Yelp. All ten businesses have perfect five-star ratings, but the one with the most reviews is A Tale Ahead Photography in Pacifica, California. Run by a husband-and-wife wedding photography team, the studio has 391 perfect five-star reviews.
“The most common feedback we get is that working with us is fun and easy,” Annie Zou of A Tale Ahead Photography tells OnDeck. “I don’t like to take on a lot of clients because I want to give each couple individual care, and people do feel that. Quick, thorough communication is often cited as an important point.”
OnDeck notes that women-owned businesses in the U.S. employ 11.4 million people and generate more than $2.1 trillion in annual revenue. However, women still own only 22.3% of employer businesses, and women-owned businesses account for just 4.84% of total business revenue. Zou says being underestimated as a woman remains a challenge for her.
“As a young woman, I had to learn to lead with clarity,” she tells OnDeck. “I reminded myself to project an image of a confident, experienced photographer so that I could earn that level of trust in my clients. These days, I’m actually a lot more relaxed and casual — word-of-mouth and reviews do that part of the hard work for me now.”
The full study by OnDeck can be found here.
Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
