Get Customers To Review Your Business Online

When you own a business, you know that online customer reviews are very influential. From Yelp to Health grades, Angie’s List to Trustpilot, people are sharing their experiences on everything, and what they say has an impact.

These days, a Google review can shape your business far more than a Google Ad. According to a Zen desk survey, 90% of participants claimed that positive online reviews influenced their buying decision, and 86% said their decision was influenced by negative reviews.

1. Set Up Profiles on Multiple Review Sites

Consider all the sites that are relevant to your business: Yelp, Angie’s List, Google Local, Yahoo Local, LinkedIn, TripAdvisor, and CitySearch. Even if you don’t think you are in a review-driven industry like restaurants and hospitality, general review sites like TrustLink and Trustpilot are great (Trustpilot has the added benefit of showing up on Google).

2. Ask Your Customers

Want to know the best way to increase the number of reviews for your business? Just ask. Your customers understand how important reviews are to your business, and as long as you provide an excellent product or service, they won’t be annoyed if you ask for a review. Don’t wait too long: customers are more likely to give you feedback right away.

3. Make it easy for your customers

This is quite an obvious thing to do, yet most companies don’t follow it. You need to take the necessary steps to reduce the friction and minimize the effort needed to give you a review. For this to happen you would require a robust customer feedback system, where you are able to collect reviews and use the insights – seamlessly.

Here are some ideas:

Have a link on your homepage Click here to provide a review.

Send emails for getting reviews, promptly after you solve a customer grievance.

Use surveys when you want detailed inputs and have some open-ended questions to ask, such as: ‘How was the service’, ‘Rate the food’ etc.

Add a personal touch by giving customers a call at an appropriate time, the chances of getting a genuine response is very high.

4. In cent (but Don’t Buy) Reviews

Sometimes even your most satisfied customers need some extra incentive to take time out of their busy schedule to write a review. Offering a small incentive is a good way to show your appreciation. You just need to make sure your offer is for writing a review, and not for writing a good review. Monthly giveaways, where you choose one reviewer at random, are effective ways to encourage reviews, and there’s no semblance of a transaction where you are paying for a review.