Reviews are the word of mouth of the internet era today. As studies find, 93% of customers read reviews before buying, so they are a vital channel for Australia businesses to earn credibility and win new customers.
Good reviews don’t magically appear—they require a plan. Luckily, asking for more reviews doesn’t have to be expensive or a bore. These are five tried-and-true techniques for asking satisfied customers for internet reviews.
1. Ask Soon After a Satisfying Encounter
Timing is everything when requesting reviews. It is best to ask for a review while customers are still enjoying a positive experience with your company.
Train your staff so that they can recognise a happy customer, either through a word of praises, a smile, or favourable feedback. This can happen either immediately a service visit becomes a success, a customer is thanking your employees, or even a sale that they are so visibly exuberant about.
Come up with a brief script that your team can utilise, such as: “I’m so happy that your service was satisfactory today. Might I ask that you suggest your visit on the internet? It would be a great help for other customers to find us.” This individualised feedback makes the ask seem sincere rather than computerised.
2. Make Reviewing Your Business Easier for Your Customers
The simpler the review process, the more customers will come through. Quite a few customers are more than willing to leave reviews, but don’t because the process is long or complicated.
Put your review sites up for direct links and share them through e-mail, phone, or even QR codes printed on receipts. Focus intensely on one large site for a start—one that is market-specific, such as Google Business, Facebook, or another. Do not overwhelm customers with a long list of sites.
You can even create a tiny landing page that has accelerated links to each of your review sites, so that customers can have one central landing place from which they can leave reviews. Work with an SEO company to make leaving a review easier than ever.
3. Provide Incentives for Leaving Reviews
Although you shouldn’t necessarily buy favourable reviews, small incentives for truthful feedback can encourage customers to provide some. This works best for businesses from competitive sectors, which happen most often for businesses operating from Australia.
Consider giving a modest discount towards a future sale, entry to a regular prize draw, or a free add-on service to customers for leaving reviews. Ensure that your incentives are Terms of Service of review platform friendly, but never stress that you’re seeking positive reviews – just reviews.
We suggest that the word of these incentives be distributed through your available channels—e-newsletters, social networks, and signage for stores can be utilised to generate buzz for your review program.
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4. Reply to All Reviews
It demonstrates that reviews are important to you, that customers are important to you, but above all, replying to reviews gets more individuals to leave reviews because they can see that businesses are taking the time to reply.
Reply to customers for favourable reviews and deal with negative feedback issues immediately and graciously. Your replies now are a part of your internet reputation, so be polite and friendly.
By replying to reviews, we’re sending indications to review sites that your company is a lively, active company, which increases exposure for searches.
5. Leverage Social Media to Encourage Reviews
Social networks allow us to naturally ask for reviews without being aggressive. Post positive reviews that came your way on your Facebook page or Insta, so other satisfied customers can share theirs.
Try social media posts that remind followers, politely, of reviews’ importance to small businesses. Few customers are even aware of reviews’ value to small businesses, so reminding customers of that value could incentivise customers to leave reviews.
You can even utilise social networks to put behind-the-scenes information, along with reviews from users, so that you can reach a more personal level that gets people to assist your company through reviews.
