How do you start getting your customers to review your business?
You are not alone, this is a question that many business owners have. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be complicated.
Start with these 3 tips to ask customers for online reviews properly:
Ask your customers to leave a review
Ask for a review when they are happiest
Explain How Reviews Are Beneficial
You Have To Ask For The Review!
It turns out that seven out of ten customers will leave a review if you just ask them! As long as you are tactful and they don’t feel pressure, asking for a review shouldn’t cause an issue. Let them know that their opinion is important to you so that they feel valued.
Ask Them When They Are Happiest
Customers are usually happiest as soon as the service you provided is complete. This is one of those situations where it’s best to “strike when the iron is hot.” As time passes, your customers forget about your service and become less excited to leave a review.
Before requesting a customer to leave a review be sure to check with them to see how their experience was.
If they had a negative experience follow up with them immediately to see if you can resolve the issue, and turn the negative sentiment into a positive review.
Once you know they had a good experience, ask them to leave a review on review sites like Zillow, Realtor, Google, Yelp or Facebook.
Phone Call Review Requests
You should ask for a review, especially when you have a satisfied customer. Each call can end with an ask like, “I hope you enjoyed your experience with me and my company. If you’d like to leave feedback, please leave a review! I will email and text you the links to the places you can share your experience so that others know they are in good hands.
THE DO NOT’S!
Do Not Offer Incentives For Online Reviews!
While things like loyalty programs and punch cards are nice incentives for your customers, do not use things like this to bribe customers into leaving positive reviews.
An example of how this can go wrong is in the case of AmeriFreight, a company that offered their reviewers a $50 discount for positive reviews.
The Federal Trade Commission came down pretty hard on this company and didn’t say exactly how much they fined AmeriFreight, but your business can be fined up to $16,000 per a violation!
In addition to this, sites such as Google, Yelp, and TripAdvisor discover that reviews are incentivized, each company has a penalty for those reviews and your company.
Don’t Buy Reviews!
If you should not incentivize real customers for reviews than it should be obvious that you should not buy fake reviews!
Review sites like Google are pretty advanced and have ways of detecting fraudulent behavior when it comes to online reviews. We weary – you can be penalized or even kicked off the site for this behavior!
Google, for instance, will notice if you a specific group of people reviewing your business, and it has algorithms in place that can quickly detect if a review has been paid for. When these paid reviews are detected it can actually hurt the business who purchased them.
Yelp was at the center of a major review-buying scandal, and as a result, they have adopted a very hard-nosed approach to any purchased reviews. When it’s detected, Yelp actually employs pop-ups that’ll outline the shady behavior and quickly drives potential customers away from your business.
Don’t Spam Customers for Reviews!
Lastly, nothing will annoy your customers more than spamming them with too many requests to review your business. As a general rule, if they want to review your company, they will when you ask them after the service is completed or after you prompt them to.
Repeatedly asking customers for reviews will only make them more prone to leaving your business with negative or inappropriate reviews. It can take a happy customer and turn them into a sour one if you annoy them.
You can check in to see if they received the links and maybe check in another time or 2 but do not spam them or they will not leave a review.
Final Thoughts
Online reviews are a great way to bring in new customers, establish brand loyalty, and encourage repeat business.
While bad reviews are inevitable, having a plan to consistently gain positive reviews will help you build your business a strong online reputation. Think before you respond and always respond in a positive way. Remember, people will see your response and judge you on how you handle a negative review.