Back in the day, before you hired a plumber, landscaper, babysitter, lawyer, or bought a car, or looked for a restaurant to dine in, asking others for their opinion mattered. Whether the person was a friend, family member, colleague, or acquaintance, what they said about a service provider or product usually sealed the deal in your decision-making process.

Turns out, these opinions or endorsements still matter. The only difference today being, these references are usually left on the reviews/testimonials section of a business’s website or their social media page. Still, both positive and negative reviews can add weight to your credibility.

While the former can help boost sales by getting more prospective clients interested in your brand, the latter works by driving those prospective clients away from your brand.

The trick is to get more of your customers to leave positive reviews for your business on review sites and your own business website and social media accounts.

So, “How do you get more reviews for your business?”

The easy and obvious answer would be to simply provide solutions that are of the highest quality, that’s unmatched by your competitors. While that’s sound advice, there are other ways in which businesses can encourage their clients to leave reviews on their service.

Timing is Everything

When asking customers to leave reviews on your business, timing is going to be everything. You need to identify the right moments during the customer’s journey to ask for a favorable review.

For instance, asking customers too soon could make you come across as being pushy and will automatically result in the customer leaving a negative review; on the other hand, wait too long, and your customer could just make the purchase and bounce without leaving a review.

Soliciting reviews from customers is an art form. In fact, many companies pay third-party services to solicit customer reviews on their behalf. It is a natural part of the customer’s journey to have ebbs and flows, as in, from the time the customer finds a product/service that provides them with a solution to their feeling of guilt or buyer’s remorse once they’ve made the purchase.

Asking customers to leave a review at the wrong moment and you are definitely going to get a less-than-stellar review, which others are going to read and turn away from your brand.

Some of the best times to ask customers to leave a review are:

• When they have demonstrated success with your service or product
• When they revisit your website and place another order.
• When they tag your business on social media.
• When they start spending more time on your website.

These are just some examples of when is a good time to ask customers to leave a review. If you’re looking to get more reviews on Google, you should read this article.

Offer Incentives

Who doesn’t love free stuff? Offering to give an incentive to those who leave a review will give customers that extra push they need to leave a review. On the other hand, offering an incentive only for positive reviews is considered a bribe and is something you want to avoid, or else things could get messy. Instead, offer an incentive for customers who leave “a” review.

The incentive could either be a free eBook, gift card, or a chance to enter a lucky draw, incentives work like a charm when it comes to getting people excited about actually winning something just by leaving a review.

Make it Dead Simple

If you want more customers to leave reviews, you need to make it simple for the customer to leave them. Think about it, everybody has an opinion, but not everybody feels like putting their opinions in words, either due to being shy or through modesty. But, your customers might also not want to leave a review simply because the process is either difficult or takes up too much time.

Forward-thinking businesses know all too well how important it is to make it as easy as possible for customers to leave reviews. This can be achieved by providing customers with several opportunities to leave a review, along with offering multiple platforms where your customers can get to voice their opinion on your brand. This can include making it easier for customers to leave reviews on your website and every social media outlet that your brand has a presence on.

Even small tweaks to the design of your website can result in an increase in customer reviews, such as minimizing the steps customers have to take in order to leave reviews on your website. You can also ask for a customer to leave a review when they visit your website or after they have made a purchase. It is also important to ask past customers to leave a review have they haven’t already, the more reviews from your customers the better. Read here why it’s important: https://turnkeyreputation.com/why-you-must-pay-attention-to-your-brands-online-reviews/

Don’t Forget to Add Buttons

Who said a review from a customer has to be in words. While it is great if your customers took the time to write down a few lines of how they feel about the level of service and the product you provide, not everybody has got the time to sit down and leave a lengthy review.  This is where review buttons come in.

There are some great online tools that allow you to add buttons to your website, social media outlets, and emails, which include three choices; a happy face, a “so-so” face, and a sad face. All the user has to do is simply click on the button that they feel best represents the way they feel about your company.

Celebrate Positive Customer Reviews

Getting your customers to leave a review is difficult as it is, so a positive review left by your customer is something to celebrate. Besides, since there’s nothing like positive reviews to lend you a solid online reputation by providing you with positive social proof, this is reason enough to show your appreciation for all those who were kind enough to leave a positive review on your website, social media account, or other review sites, such as Yelp, Amazon, BBB, etc.

Famous brands such as Verizon and the Dollar Shave Club have turned just a positive review into entire marketing campaigns to generate buzz around a particular product. You can also spread the positivity by sharing a snippet of said customer’s review along with their name on social media or your website, along with a “thank you” to show you appreciate the effort.

The goal here is to show your customers that you take notice and care about their opinion. Apart from that, being proactive with your responses to positive reviews will also encourage other customers to leave a review on your business as well if they haven’t already.

Fast Track the Process

According to a study, getting 50 or more positive reviews on a single product on your website could result in a 4.65 bump in conversion rates. The point is, the more customers leave reviews about your product/service, the more social proof you get that will encourage others to trust your brand as well. To really turbo-charge your review-seeking process, it is best to train every member of your team on the best ways to ask customers for reviews. You can also do the following to add a little oomph to your review seeking strategy:

• Make getting reviews part of your email marketing strategy by sharing a link where customers can leave a quick review.
• Make it part of the new employee on-boarding process.
• Identify your most loyal customers or those who tend to promote your brand via word-of-mouth on social media.
• Add review links to the checkout process, making it easier for customers to leave a review.
• Add a review link to the thank-you page whenever a customer purchases a product or service.

Turn that Frown Upside Down

We’ve already talked about dealing with positive reviews, but what about the not-so-stellar ones. No matter what you do, the truth is, there’s always going to be that disgruntled customer who leaves a seething review to give you a piece of their mind. Whether it’s a startup or established company, businesses are often saddled with negative reviews from disgruntled customers and even spammers, which end up not only hurting the business’s reputation but puts a dent in their social proof.

In a worst-case scenario, too many negative reviews could hurt your Google search ranking, knocking you a few rungs down for local search results. But, worse of all, the damage to a business’s reputation because of negative reviews is irreversible and can have a damning impact on the future of your business.

This is why you should not leave any negative review/feedback unanswered or unresolved. After all, we are human, and mistakes happen. However, assuming your customer will think that way will be a mistake. You need to take the extra step and address the disgruntled customer by telling them your side of the story. It could be a misunderstanding, mishap, or a lapse in judgment that led to the customer not getting the product or service they desired.

As a business owner, it is up to you to address the complaints of your customers that are left in their reviews, rather than ignoring them. It’s not unheard of for even the most disgruntled customers to see it your way and give you another chance. That wouldn’t be possible if you assumed the unhappy customer was a mind reader. In this way, a little effort can turn a negative review into a positive one.

That being said, you can’t expect to get all glowing, five-star reviews on your product page, social media accounts, or review sites. The truth is, amongst the legions of fans, there’s always going to be the one that got away. By answering negative reviews left by your customers, you can easily weed out the legit customers from spammers.

Deliver a Stellar Product / Service

You can do all of the above, and it wouldn’t matter one bit if you deliver a stinker of a product or service. At the end of the day, the most important tip to get more reviews for your business is by striving to deliver quality that’s nothing less than exceptional every time. To do that, businesses need to keep their finger on the pulse on the latest market trends to keep their brand fresh and appealing to their target demographic.

Remember, people want to recommend products and services to their friends on social media. This basically makes up for a big chunk of social media activity, as in, you tried a product you like, and you want to share your experience with others via social media outlets. Strive to deliver a high level of quality with your products or services, and your customers are sure to leave positive reviews in return.

Ending Note on Getting Reviews for Your Business:

From Google reviews to Facebook, Amazon to Yelp, and let’s not forget the BBB, there are plenty of platforms online where customers can leave your business a good or bad review. Since social proof and word-of-mouth can do wonders for your business, not focusing on ways in which you can make your customers leave reviews on your business simply means leaving money on the table.

Besides, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the reviews left by your customers, whether they are positive or negative in nature, is the single most important source of information on the likes and dislikes of your target demographic.

So, the more customers leave reviews, the better it will be for both prospective customers looking if they can trust your brand, including business owners who can tweak the product/service to make it more appealing to their customers.

At the end of the day, getting reviews for your business is a win-win situation for both your company and your customers.