How To Get More Reviews for Your Business

 

Say you need a plumber, and someone tells you that the plumber they hired fixed all their issues quickly and at a great price. Rather than sorting through a bunch of other options, you’ll probably give that plumber a call. Online reviews work in the same way.

Reviews are a crucial piece of a small business’ online marketing efforts—but how do you go about getting them? Let the digital marketing professionals at LinkNow guide you through the importance of online reviews, as well as ways to get more for your business.

Why Are Customer Reviews Important?

Reviews are crucial to your online credibility. Users are accustomed to companies touting their services and products, but positive reviews from past customers speak volumes about your business’ true value.

Small businesses especially stand to benefit from reviews. Users searching for plumbers, general contractors, landscapers, roofers, and so on tend to be searching in response to an immediate or closely anticipated need. If someone needs a roofer, they need a roofer, and they’re not likely to be browsing for other reasons.

For these immediate searches, users are likely to go straight to reviews. If they find a handful of good reviews or a high average score across a significant number of them, a user is likely to stop their search then and there and give you a call.

Additionally, reviews provide a sense of security for a potential customer. A lack of reviews can signal that your company is either inexperienced, no longer operating, or not a legitimate business.

It’s not just potential customers who find a lack of reviews distrustful. Search engines also look at your reviews to determine your credibility. A high number of good reviews signals to search engines like Google that your community values your business. As a result, your site will be displayed higher on local searches.

How Do You Get More Customer Reviews?

It’s all well and good knowing the importance of reviews, but how do you get them? How do you turn quality service into a positive review?

Well, you can ask for them when you finish your service. It’s the simplest approach, and many people are willing to give a review if asked, even if they wouldn’t normally think of doing so on their own. Asking for reviews, however, is just a starting point.

Let’s take a look at some other ways to increase your number of reviews.

Set up a Google Business Profile

The first step in getting more reviews for your business should be setting up your Google Business Profile (GBP). This is one of the first things we do for our clients at LinkNow. A GBP is essentially your business listing on Google. You need one to show up on Google Maps and in the results for local searches. Crucially, you also need a GBP to receive reviews on Google.

Google is the dominant search engine, and the majority of online reviews are given and viewed on Google. If you want to get reviews and you want people to see them, having a GBP is a great start.

Link To Google Reviews

Once you have your GBP, you need to start getting reviewed. The simplest way to do so is to include a link or a button in relevant places to encourage customers to leave your business a Google review.

Some places you can add a link or button include:

• •On your homepage
• •In your website’s header or footer
• •On your social media profiles (though Facebook has their own review system)
• •In company emails

Essentially, you want to remind people as much as you can that they can leave a review and make it as easy as possible for them to do so. Many people are willing to leave reviews if you remind them and if it’s simple enough.

Display Your Reviews

The great benefit of having reviews is you can share them. They’re one of the best marketing tools you can get. People will see them when your business shows up on a search engine, you can put them in your advertising, and you can place them front and center on your website. Sharing your reviews, especially on your website, has the added benefit of getting you even more reviews.

There are a few ways sharing reviews can increase the number of reviews you get. For starters, when you openly share reviews, you’re demonstrating that you take feedback seriously. You’re paying attention to what your customers are saying, and this encourages others to share what they think.

There’s also the “social proof” effect, which essentially is when you choose how to act in a situation by observing what others do and have done. If someone sees a bunch of people reviewing your company, they’ll be more likely to adopt that behavior and share their own experience.

Send Follow-up Messages

A great way to ask for reviews is by sending a follow-up message. It’s becoming increasingly common to book services online, which usually requires submitting an email to receive an appointment confirmation.

Following the service appointment, you can send a follow-up message asking for a review as covertly or explicitly as you’d like.

Here are some ideas:

• •You could send an email saying, “Tell us how we did,” with a link to a review form.
• •If you want to be subtler, you could send a “thank you for choosing our services” email with a link to a review form at the bottom.
• •You can even offer the customer a discount on their next service if they leave a review.

There are different ways of sending follow-up messages, but they’re highly effective for increasing the number of your reviews. At this point, your services will still be fresh in the customer’s mind, and, assuming everything went well, they’ll still have the satisfaction of a problem solved as motivation to give feedback.

Make It Easy To Write a Review

Now that we’ve gone over how to ask for reviews, let’s take a quick look at how you can drive people to take you up on writing one. The best approach is to emphasize the ease of writing them. In your buttons or requests, you can indicate how little time will be needed to write a review. For example, this could be, “Take a minute to write a review,” or even simpler, “Write a quick review.”

The caveat is that you need to make it easy to write a review. Your links and buttons should direct the customer to exactly where they need to be to write a review without any additional steps. It should be as easy as clicking the link, typing, and clicking the submit button.

You should also avoid unnecessary fields. If you have ten “How was our speed?” or “How were our prices?” questions before a field to leave a review, a customer is more likely to exit before they finish. Keep the number of fields the customer has to fill out as low as possible.

Respond to Reviews

Finally, once you have your reviews, respond to them. This is fairly straightforward on Google—just log into your Business Account, go to reviews, and click reply. However, it might be harder if you have your own review form. One easy option is to automate a thank-you follow-up email. You could also respond personally in cases that require it, such as when a customer leaves a negative review.

Responding to reviews shows your customers and prospective customers that you care about their input and are always looking to improve your services. It’s good for publicity and encourages future customers to leave reviews, as they know you look at them.

Responding to positive reviews is simple enough, as a thank you will generally suffice. Responding to negative reviews or constructive criticism, however, requires more effort. With the right approach, though, you can demonstrate your dedication to customer satisfaction.

Here are some guidelines for responding to negative reviews:

• •Stay calm and professional: A customer can have a negative experience for many reasons, and very few are about you personally. Responding angrily or defensively makes your company appear to have contempt for your customers.
• •Acknowledge the customer’s experience: Denying the customer’s experience can negatively impact your image. Instead, consider saying something like, “We apologize for any inconvenience” or “We’re sorry you had a bad experience.”
• •Take responsibility if appropriate: Not all negative reviews will point out a genuine issue with your business. However, if they do, acknowledge it and say you’re taking steps to improve the matter. For example, you could say as a roofing business, “We’ve had some issues with those shingles and are moving away from them.”
• •Offer to make it right: You can offer a discounted or free service to remedy the issue, but offering to make it right could also be as simple as suggesting the customer call your office to discuss the problem further and find a solution away from the public eye.

Work With a Professional Digital Marketing Team

Life as a small business owner can be busy, as you have a lot to manage and little time to do it. When you need help getting more reviews for your business, contact the digital marketing professionals at LinkNow. Our team works with small businesses across North America, helping them build their online presence and gain reviews to increase credibility.

When you’re ready to grow your business online, book a free consultation with a member of our team.