If you have a brand, you may already know how important reviews are for your business credibility. Reviews are absolutely essential for your business, but actually getting people to leave a review is a whole different story!
Many people struggle with the thought of asking a customer to leave a review. Thoughts of negativity may sweep your mind, causing you to think that maybe you’ll sound stupid if you ask or maybe they’ll leave you a bad review for everyone to see! Just like anything in life, there are a million different things that could happen, though most of them are beyond unrealistic.
The only reason why you need to ask for reviews is because people need to be told what you need them to do. The truth is that most people don’t even think about writing reviews for the businesses that they visit or the online stores they shop from. Unless your customer had a beyond horrific experience or an out-of-this-world excellent experience, they will not normally think about writing a review.
In that case… you need to ask! And just to be clear, there is no harm in asking. Even though it sounds intimidating, you need to push through and ask anyway. It’s better that you try and fail rather than failing because you never tried. We guarantee that you won’t fail by asking for reviews. You will only be helping your business.
So, put all of those negative thoughts aside and open your mind to new ways that you can approach your customers and ask for that positive feedback!
The good news is that most customers are more than happy to tell you what they think. All you have to do is ask
1. Product Feedback Email
If your business sells tangible products, it would be a good opportunity for you to ask for product reviews. This is a great way for the customer to give you honest feedback about product they purchased! Instead of asking your customers to write any kind of review, ask them to write a product review. This gives them a topic and a greater incentive to write about the product!
2. Link to Feedback Survey
Make sure you snag the customer’s email address when they’re shopping in store or online! Their email address gives you the opportunity to send them a thank you email and a link directing them to a survey. You might be thinking, “Why would somebody want to fill out my survey?” Well, you will get some people that won’t look at it. But, you will also get some people that will! Those are the people that matter. You will never get survey feedback if you don’t ask for it. Don’t be afraid to send them the link and see what happens!
3. Ask for a Facebook, Google, and/or Yelp Review
People are already on their phones for most of the day, scrolling online and through social media. Take advantage of that opportunity and ask your customers to leave you a review on the platform that they most use. If they already use Facebook everyday, then why not have them visit your Facebook page and leave a positive comment? Although Yelp clearly states that you are not allowed to ask people to leave a review, you can certainly allude to the fact that you have a profile. With Google and Facebook, it is more acceptable to directly ask for a review. Just be sure to remind your customers that Google reviews increase your brand visibility and that a social media review will help increase your online presence.
4. Ask in Person
What ever happened to the good ole fashion way of communicating? Ask your customers in person! It doesn’t matter if you include it at the bottom of your receipt, hand them a reminder card, or just ask your customer face-to-face. Asking your customer directly can be a very effective way of getting that review. You don’t have to make it weird either. All it would take is a “Hey! Thank you so much for shopping with us! It would mean the world if you could leave us a review today and let us know about your shopping experience!”
5. Add an Incentive
One partially-genius way to get your customers to write you a review is to offer some type of incentive for doing so. Whether that means you will enter them into a raffle, give them a coupon to your business, or promise to give everyone a free gift when they enter your store; Give your customers some reason why they should give you feedback on their experience. As mentioned before, most people will gladly write you a review. But, an incentive never hurts.
6. Over the Phone/ via Text.
Another effective way to get those reviews is to ask the customer over the phone! Keep in mind, that calling or texting a customer who had multiple problems with your business may not be the best person to ask. Try to contact people who, while at your business, expressed their gratitude and happiness with your service! Those people will most likely be the most responsive. There may not be a lot of cases where you are face-to-face with your customers. For this reason, asking your customers via phone or email is the most popular way to ask for a review.
7. Use a Review Management Tool
Consider using a review management tool to keep track of your reviews, send requests to write a review and reply to reviews that have already been written. In most cases, you will not be notified when a customer writes a review on any of the platforms where your business is listed. That leaves you with the job of having to log onto every platform and reply manually. Unless you have more time on your hands than you know what to do with, it would benefit you to at least look into how a review management tool can help your business.
The Hostirian team offer a few tools that will help you with every part of those reviews. Our tools will also show you analytics, offer you the best keywords to use, allow you to send mass messages to customers, and much more! Our tools, Customer Voice and Reputation Management, are worth checking out if you have ever struggled to manage your reviews! Even if you are not struggling, make it easy on yourself! Get some online tools to help simplify your life and manage your reviews.
Reviews build your brand reputation. The importance of reviews is sometimes swept under the rug. Don’t forget you need them to grow your brand, increase sales, build your credibility, improve your SEO, drive traffic to your website and much more! It has been proven that nearly 4 out of 5 consumers read reviews before making a purchase. You absolutely need those reviews. If you are not getting them, the best thing you can do for your brand is to ask for them. And remember, if you ask for those reviews, make sure that you respond to them!