to get customer reviews (and actually get them!)
Businesses can have a hard time getting positive reviews, even if they are not in the hospitality or food industry.
Unless something goes wrong, consumers don’t usually review the landscapers, car rental agencies, and other businesses they deal with every day.
We speak daily with companies that do exceptional work, have a great reputation in the real world, but have negative reviews online.
This disparity in online and offline reputation can be frustrating for business owners. What can a general manager or business owner do in such a situation?
Ask satisfied customers for their reviews.
You can tip the review balance in your favor by inviting happy customers to become your online advocates. I will share with you some best practices and tests that can be used to increase positive reviews.
Are reviews allowed?
First, you might wonder: Is asking for reviews okay? Google has the answer.
A resounding, “yes.”
Yelp has stricter guidelines regarding reviews requests. Yelp currently offers reviews.
Businesses are prohibited from asking for reviews
In any way, shape or form. These guidelines may have a loophole.
Request reviews verbally
You can do this over the phone, or in person.
If your business has multiple locations, you can ask customers to search for “[businessname] Yelp” on Google. The customer should be able to find your Yelp listing by doing this.
Also, make sure that the customer doesn’t leave reviews in your store/office. Yelp might see this information and flag it as solicited. It is important to not link directly to your Yelp listing. This is one of the fastest ways Yelp can flag a review or set of reviews as solicited.
We recommend sticking with Google and other review platforms if you want to avoid violating the Yelp guidelines or having your Yelp listing taken down altogether.
Be sure to read the guidelines for each review site, as they might differ in terms of what requests are allowed.
Let’s get that out of the way.
The gold standard is asking in person
It’s the best way to get reviews and ask for them in person. A person-to-person request can be extremely effective, especially if it is done with the customer. Asking in person will get you seven to eight times as many reviews than emailing.
Let’s use a furniture shop as an example. One sales associate may spend up to an hour helping customers choose and customize the perfect couch for them. They meet up and get to know one another. They talk about their lives, where they are from and what their families are like. The time they spend together creates a mini-bond.
The sales associate is the best person to ask for a review after a sale. An associate can explain to customers that the review helps them in their research and give a real perspective of the company.
When you are thinking of asking customers to review your company, it is important to identify the key customer touch points. This will help you determine who builds the most lasting relationships with your customer. This is the person to whom you should ask for reviews.
You can make it as easy as possible by displaying QR codes at the check-out counter or on a flyer that directs customers to your review site.
The “tip” trick
The “tip” technique is one of the best review growth hacks for specific industries. A customer who has spent time with the company will ask for a review. Then, the company will give them a $10 tip if they have a positive experience.
This little “sweetener”, gives customers the incentive to leave online reviews, especially if they had a positive experience.
This strategy works best when services are provided within the customer’s home. This applies to landscapers, exterminators, and movers.
People sometimes tip service providers because they work hard. This strategy allows customers to gratuitously tip those who do a great job.
This can significantly increase the amount of reviews received by the right companies.
Asking via email
It can be a little more difficult to ask for reviews via email. Sometimes, you may not have the opportunity to meet with customers face-to-face. Email may be the only way to communicate with customers in these cases.
We strongly recommend that you pre-screen customers by conducting an internal survey to determine if they are willing to give you reviews via email. Then, follow up with another email asking for their opinions. Although it may seem like cheating, this is exactly what you would do in real life.
You wouldn’t ask someone for an online review if they are clearly upset. You can also use triggers from an intern survey to apply the same human logic but algorithmically.
These are the top practices for email requests letters:
- It is important that the email comes from a real person.
- Send the email as a personal request to that person.
- Include a clear call to action link/button. Eliminate any links from social media and website footers.
- You can test using plain text email instead of HTML email.
- Try different subject lines. We have found that while using the name of the person in the subject line is effective in some cases, it doesn’t work in others.
- To find the best email copy, test it.
Like any great campaign, you should test everything until your conversion-to-review rates are the highest. Email is not as effective as asking in person but can still be very efficient at scale.
A company initiative
We have seen that reviews are a slow trickle before they are truly taken up as an organizational initiative and not just a marketing side project.
These are the best ways to make reviews a priority in an organization:
- A top-down approach to improving reviews is key. Executives must communicate the importance.
- Facilitating employee understanding of the direct effect they have on the business and gaining organizational support for the importance.
- Instruction of key employees in how to request reviews.
- A scorecard to track reviews by location (similar to our SERP score but for reviews).
- Bonuses and awards given to the top online review locations.
- The best way to make sure that action is taken is to put the C-suite behind online reviews.
Fight back
Asking for reviews is a great way to get back control. Many business owners assume that there is no way to improve their businesses. It’s actually quite the opposite, as you can see.
You don’t need any special technology or tools to ask for reviews. All you need is a willingness to follow through. These strategies can help you fight the negative reputation of businesses, other than the hospitality industry.
Dominique Jabbour helped research and write this article.
This is why we speak daily with companies that do exceptional work and have a great reputation in the real world, but have more negative reviews online than positive.
This disparity in online and offline reputation can be frustrating for business owners. What can a general manager or business owner do in such a situation?
Ask satisfied customers for their reviews.
You can tip the review balance in your favor by asking happy customers to become your online advocates. I will share with you some best practices and tests that can be used to increase positive reviews.
First, you might be asking: Is it OK to ask for reviews? Google’s answer is a affirmative “yes”
Yelp has made contradictory statements about whether you are allowed to ask customers for reviews. I contacted Yelp directly and was told that it was legal to ask customers for reviews, as long as there’s no incentive ( See #2 under “5 Yelp facts businesses owners should know”). You’ll need to review their terms of service as well as guidelines for all other review sites.
Let’s get that out of the way.
The gold standard is asking in person
It’s the best way to get reviews and ask for them in person. A person-to-person request can be extremely effective, especially if it is done with a customer. Asking in person will get you seven to eight times as many reviews than emailing.
As an example, let’s say you shop at a furniture store. One sales associate may spend up to an hour helping a customer choose and personalize the perfect couch for their home. They meet up and talk about their lives, where they come from, their families, etc. The time they spend together creates a mini-bond.
The sales associate is the best person to ask for a review after a sale. An associate can explain to customers that the review helps them in their research and give a real perspective of the company.
Before you ask customers to review your company, find out who has the closest relationship with them. This is the person you should be asking for reviews.
The “tip” trick
The “tip” technique is one of the best review growth hacks for certain industries. A customer who has spent time with the company will ask for a review. Then, the company will give them a $10 tip if they have a positive experience.
This little “sweetener”, gives customers the incentive to leave reviews online, especially if they had a positive experience.
This strategy works best when services are provided within the customer’s home. This applies to landscapers, exterminators, and movers.
People sometimes tip service providers because they work hard. This strategy allows customers to gratuitously tip those who do a great job.
This can significantly increase the amount of reviews that are received by the right companies.
Asking via email
It can be a little more difficult to ask for reviews via email. Sometimes, you may not have the opportunity to meet with customers face-to-face. Email may be the only way to communicate with customers in these cases.
We strongly recommend that you pre-screen customers by conducting an internal survey to determine if they are willing to give you reviews by email. Then, follow up with an email asking for their opinion. Although it may seem like cheating, this is exactly what you would do in real life.
You wouldn’t ask someone for an online review if they are clearly upset. You can also use triggers from an intern survey to apply the same human logic but algorithmically.
These are the top practices for email requests letters:
- It is important that the email comes from a real person.
- Send the email as a personal request to that person.
- Include a clear call to action link or button. Eliminate any links from social media and website footers.
- You can test using plain text email instead of HTML email.
- Try different subject lines. We have found that while using the name of the person in the subject line is effective in some cases, it doesn’t work in others.
- To find the best email copy, test it.
Like any great campaign, you should test everything until your conversion-to-review rates are the highest. Email is not as effective as asking in person but can still be very efficient at scale.
A company initiative
We have seen that reviews are a slow trickle before they become a priority within an organization. This is not a side project of marketing. These are the best ways to make reviews a priority in an organization:
- Better reviews require a focus from the top; executives must communicate their importance.
- Facilitating employee understanding of the direct effect they have on the business and gaining organizational support for the importance.
- Instruction of key employees in how to request reviews.
- A scorecard to track reviews by location (similar to the SERP score but for reviews).
- Bonuses and awards given to the top online review locations.
The best way to make sure that action is taken is to put the C-suite behind online reviews.
Fight back
Asking for reviews is a simple way to regain control. Many business owners assume that there is nothing they can’t do. It’s actually quite the opposite, as you can see.
You don’t need any technology or special tools to ask for reviews. All you need is a willingness to follow through. These strategies can help you fight the negative reputation of businesses, other than the hospitality industry.
How customers can leave reviews and actually get them was first published on MarTech.