Reviews can make or break your business. According to Vendasta, 88% of customers trust reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations, and 43% of people will visit a business directly after reading positive reviews.
Having reviews on multiple platforms is important, but today, we’re going to focus on getting more Google reviews. Here are nine ways to get real Google reviews for your business.
1. Tell Customers How to Leave Reviews
Customers won’t go out of their way to figure out how to leave a review. Give them direction. Offer printouts at your front desk, or write a blog post that explains how to leave a review on Google.
Google also offers a tool that you can use to create a link for customers to write reviews.
If you make it easy for customers to leave feedback, you’ll see a jump in the number of reviews for your business.
2. Ask for Reviews
Don’t assume that customers will leave reviews – ask for them. Customers will feel more obliged to leave a rating and review if they are asked to do it.
Post printouts on your shop’s walls, or ask customers directly to leave a review. This simple strategy is surprisingly effective, and it will immediately help you grow your number of Google reviews.
3. Make it Easy to Leave Feedback
Don’t make it a chore to leave a review. Make it as easy as possible by offering links, buttons and calls to action on your site that lead the customer in the right direction.
You can find a good example of this concept at jcplumbingsewer.com. On the left side bar, you can see a large button that says “Review Us On Google.” Visitors simply click on the button, and they are taken directly to the page where they can rate and review the business.
Having review buttons and links on your website will make it easy for customers to leave their feedback.
4. Use Multiple Channels to Ask for Reviews
Take advantage of every available channel to ask for reviews. Ask for them on Facebook, in-person, through email, or even over the phone. Don’t bombard customers, but use multiple channels to contact your customers.
5. Make Use of Third-Party Tools
If you have several locations or you run a franchise model business, it can be tedious and time-consuming to manage reviews.
Third-party tools, like Talkwalker and Go Fish, can be useful in managing your reviews.
6. Respond to Reviews
According to Vendasta’s research that we discussed earlier, 26% of customers say it’s important for local businesses to respond to its reviews. More than a quarter of your customers expect you to leave some kind of a response to reviews. That’s a large percentage.
Take the time to respond to reviews. Don’t just focus on the positive reviews; focus on the negative reviews, too. In fact, it’s even more important to leave a response to negative reviews. Reassure customers that you’ll make it right, and listen to their concerns.
7. Add a Call to Action to Emails
If you regularly send emails to clients and customers, add a link to your review page in your signature and ask for reviews.
Each time you send an email, you’re asking for reviews. If you send dozens of emails each month, that’s a large number of potential reviews you can obtain.
8. Provide Great Service
Provide your customers with great service, and you’ll see a jump in your reviews. If you go out of your way to make a customer happy, they’ll be far more likely to leave feedback.
Still, even with great service, you have to make sure that you ask for reviews and make it easy to leave feedback.
9. Use Email
If a customer has just made a purchase online or has signed up for your newsletter, you can include reminders to leave feedback in your email messages.
Dentists and doctors use this strategy wisely. They send reminders for appointments, and after the appointment is through, they send an email asking for feedback on the patient’s experience.
If you run an online store, you can ask for feedback when sending a confirmation email or after the product has been delivered. These are the ideal moments to ask for reviews because your product and brand is still fresh in the customer’s mind.
