In today’s digital world, reviews are the new word of mouth. People seek them out, learn from them, and often base their purchasing decisions on them.
Positive reviews about a company’s products or services can spread quickly and lead to explosive sales, while negative reviews can stifle sales and cause a company to take a step back.
Fortunately, getting good reviews isn’t just about putting your products and services out there and hoping for the best. There are specific practices you can use to ensure that customers are satisfied and willing to leave a positive review.
Why are reviews important?
Reviews are important, as what users say about your business often carries more weight with potential sales than what you can promote.
They are a useful tool for both consumers and businesses. Consumers gain information from previous buyers that helps them form opinions about a product. For businesses, positive reviews boost reputation, while negative reviews provide feedback on areas that need improvement.
5 practices to achieve good customer reviews
1. Choose platforms that are comfortable for your clients
The first step to earning good online reviews is to make it as easy as possible for people to leave them. The more effort it takes, the less likely someone is to put in the time to do so. Social media and third-party review sites are great platforms to help spread the word about your company, products, and services.
Some of the most effective include:
- LinkedIn Recommendations
- Facebook Business Page
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- YouTube: Create videos and request reviews below
- Google: Using the Google My Business Feature
- Yelp: Add your business to start receiving reviews
- Yellowpages: Similar to Yelp, this is the digital counterpart to the iconic listings book
- Four Square: for hospitality brands.
There are also many different niche review sites depending on the industry you are in that can be effective in getting great user reviews. An example would be Trip Advisor in the travel niche or, as mentioned, Four Square for those in hospitality.
2. Make the most of your website
Your own website is a great tool for getting positive reviews. Your web pages and blog posts should be optimized to allow visitors to leave their comments quickly and easily. You should also provide a clear path to all your social media channels and make sure the website is optimized for mobile devices.
If you have an e-commerce site, consider adding a live chat option to get instant feedback from shoppers. This will satisfy people’s “I want everything right now” mentality and provide value by reducing response times and improving your customer service.
3. Request reviews via email
If inbound marketing is part of your process, you’ll have a great platform to ask for positive reviews. As part of your campaign, send a short email after a purchase has been made asking for a review.
You’ll get the most honest feedback possible because people feel like they’re communicating with you one-on-one. That will help you boost sales or make necessary adjustments if you notice a negative pattern in responses.
If you don’t want to ask for a review directly, consider adding a link to an online survey. Surveys or polls are easy to set up and the data can be analyzed efficiently. With a survey, you can dictate the information that is collected so you can also take advantage of the opportunity to learn more about your customers.
4. Offer incentives for reviews
If you’re not getting the number of reviews you’d like, consider adding incentives to the process. Everyone believes their time is valuable, so give them a reason to leave a review. Incentives like discounts, coupons, gift cards, or entering contests should motivate people and may even increase your sales when they come back and buy again.
5. Wait for the right moment
Asking for reviews at the right time will help you get more out of the process and improve your customer service at the same time. Whether it’s on social media, your own website, or in an email, timing is always important. The last thing you want is to ask someone for something at the wrong time and end up with a negative review for others to see.
Some good times to ask for a review include: after a customer has interacted positively with the brand, after they reorder a product, if they tag your company or your products on social media, if they spend a certain amount of time browsing your website, or if they refer new customers to you. The idea is to approach them when they are feeling satisfied or fulfilled so they can convey that feeling in the review.
Benefits of requesting a review
Asking buyers for a review provides several benefits, including:
- Reputation: Positive customer reviews create powerful social proof that inspires trust and helps boost reputation.
Increased ratings: Asking your satisfied customers for reviews tends to yield higher ratings than if reviews are left unsolicited. - Stronger customer relationships: Proactively requesting reviews strengthens relationships and turns your satisfied customers into effective brand advocates.
- Opportunities for improvement: Negative reviews provide insight into areas that need improvement to optimize the user experience.
- Higher Search Engine Ranking: The number of reviews, ratings, and review text all influence online search rankings.
- Improved conversion rates: Positive customer reviews are seen as trustworthy and can increase sales conversion rates. Proof that others have been satisfied with your product or service often inspires people to complete their purchase and spend more.
- Social Media Marketing Assets: Positive reviews can be incorporated into a marketing strategy and are particularly effective when used with social media.
Don’t buy Google reviews
Another growing trend to watch out for in the online review space is companies trying to buy Google reviews. This is an attempt to game the system.
In today’s market, service providers offer “5-star review services,” promising “quality work” with “complete Google profiles and realistic accounts with attached photos.” These providers also say that the “review accounts and profiles are always from the US, UK, CA, or Australia.”
While it sounds like a quick and cost-effective solution to boost your brand to the top of relevant search results, buying Google reviews will likely do more harm than good to your business.
The practice goes against Google’s review guidelines. The FTC and regulators will surely come after you, too. Companies that were caught have received hefty fines and penalties for trying to buy reviews; the same goes for vendors who sell these services as part of their “reputation-enhancing” offering.
Conclusion
There really is no perfect formula for getting good customer reviews, but if you follow the practices listed above, you will be successful more often than not.
If you want to prioritize reviews as a strategy, make sure you assign the job to certain members of your team and allow them enough time to make it doable. Once the strategy is in place, execute it and keep moving forward until you have a multifaceted process for getting reviews across different platforms.
