When you think about growing your business, what strategies do you consider implementing? Do you go back and forth deciding on whether you should focus on social media engagement, SEO, or paid advertisements first? If you do this, you’re doing it all wrong. Online reviews are the first thing potential customers look at when deciding on a business. That means if you aren’t focusing your attention on how to get better online reviews, then you’re missing out.
This key strategy should be a part of every business plan because reviews are how you build your customer base. When you learn how to get reviews for your business, you’ll find that your website traffic skyrockets. That’s because if someone is deciding what restaurant to dine at for dinner, that individual will turn to online reviews and will decide where to eat solely based on those online reviews. The same is true for whatever service or business a customer is looking for – the first thing a consumer will look at is what other customers have said about the brand. That’s why it is crucial to get online reviews for your business because your online reputation is a key factor in whether or not a customer will choose your business.
Just like with anything though, improving your online presence can be tricky. There’s the risk of having negative reviews posted after you went through the trouble to get online reviews for your business. Or there’s the risk of spending time trying to generate online reviews, only to find out that your customers cannot be bothered to take the time out of their days to leave you a review. If this happens, it can be frustrating to navigate. You know you need these online reviews to grow your brand but how to get more reviews for your business is a question you can’t seem to find the answer to.
That’s where we can help. Below we take a deeper dive into how to get better online reviews for your company so your business can flourish.
4 Ways To Get Better Online Review
1. Spread the word to your customers about leaving a review
If you’re struggling with how to get reviews for your business, start by going to the people you know already love your brand – your customers. Loyal customers are happy customers, and they are often willing to leave you a great review if they are asked – you just have to ask the question. Without your guidance, your customers are unaware you want them to post about your business and they don’t know where the most powerful place would be to leave a review. When you take the time to educate your existing customers you are helping your brand grow.
As you think about how to generate reviews from your loyal customers, consider these strategies:
- Ask via email where the email includes a link to where you would like a review to be left.
- Since consumers are always on their phones, ask for a review via text message and include the link to the review website in the short text.
- Keep your messaging straightforward by explicitly stating that you would like them to leave a review and providing clear instructions on how to do it.
- And say thank you after your customer leaves a review because it will show you appreciate them as a customer and value their feedback.
While it can feel awkward to ask for reviews at first, it’s almost always worth it, and once asked, your customers are usually happy to help.
2. Offer exceptional customer service
If you want to avoid having negative reviews posted about your business, then ensure your customer service is exceptional. If your customers feel ignored or feel like they were treated, or spoken to, rudely, they aren’t going to want to leave a review, and if they do, it will be a bad one. Happy customers are your best advocates and will be far more likely to leave an online review than unhappy customers.
When it comes to providing great customer service, you’ll want to focus on:
- Responding promptly, always striving to get back to a customer within 24 hours,
- Being a friendly face that always puts the customer’s experience first,
- Listening to your customers because often they just want to be heard,
- Being an expert on your product or service so you can troubleshoot any issue,
- Saying “thank you” because this phrase will always go a long way,
- Offering multiple channels for customers to contact you,
- Responding to customer feedback to improve your business,
- And keeping your promises to show you are worthy of their trust!
When you practice these strategies, your customers will always feel valued, respected, appreciated, and understood.
3. Respond to every review (even the negative ones)
When you are working hard to get online reviews for your business, nothing has the potential to kill your spirit more than getting a negative review – especially if the customer is loud and makes false claims. The key with negative reviews though is to respond to those just as you would a positive one. If you ignore the negative reviews, you are telling your customers that you don’t care what they have to say and that they are not worthy of a response.
If you receive a negative review, follow these five steps:
- Start by acknowledging the issue they have brought up to show that you hear what they are saying.
- Next, you’ll want to sincerely apologize to demonstrate your business has a standard and that you are sorry that this standard wasn’t delivered to them.
- Then, if necessary, you’ll want to explain why something may or may not have happened.
- You’ll then want to compensate the reviewer appropriately to show that you value their business.
- And finally, you’ll want to ask the reviewer to discuss the issue offline so you can resolve it with them.
When you follow these steps, you are putting your pride aside to make things right. When you do this, potential customers will see, and it will give them the confidence they need to buy from you because it reassures them that you have their best interest in mind.
4. Provide your customers with the best overall experience
To ensure that your customers are getting the best experience possible, you will need to take a deeper dive into your company. When you evaluate your company, you’re taking the steps you need to make sure you can generate as many positive reviews as possible.
As you think about how you can enhance the customer experience look at:
- Your recent online reviews to see if there is any truth behind what someone may have said,
- Your loyal customers and what has kept them loyal to your brand,
- And other existing customers to find out what you can do to make their experience better.
When you evaluate your company, your work isn’t finished. You’ll want to truly listen to what you uncovered and take the steps you need to improve the customer experience.
Once you take the time to follow these practices, you’ll find that you have uncovered the answer to the questions you once asked yourself – how you can grow your brand and how to get more reviews for your business. And once you take the time to focus on this, the rest will be history.
