How to get more business reviews
Access to the internet at the fingertips of shoppers has changed the way people buy products or subscribe to services. It’s rare that purchases are now made without reading reviews from one of the many sources’ customers use to voice their opinion. A survey by review trackers identified that 94% of online shoppers have avoided a business after reading a negative review online. Whereas positive reviews can help transform a business from failing to thriving by encouraging customers who are unsure about purchasing. It’s critical your business addresses negative reviews online and encourages new positive reviews where possible. We have a few tips on how to gain more customer reviews.
Email Campaign
Start with emailing your best customers and ask them honestly and openly to help support your business by providing a review. Make it as easy as possible for a customer to submit a review with a direct link to the location you want the review to be added. You might find many customers are happy to submit a review for your product/ service this way. Make sure with any email campaign you wait until the customer has had time to use the product/ service. Too many companies send emails before the product has been delivered! Always check your data is GDPR compliant before sending out any emails to customers which contain information about other products and services. Simple emails that thank customers for their purchase and also ask for a review are permitted as service messages but to be sure do your research and double check you are GDPR compliant.
Social Campaign
Many customers who purchase products and are unhappy with overall experience will head to social media to write a negative review or complain about a business. Even if you don’t have a social media presence customers can create a social media presence for you by writing reviews, these are collated on unofficial social pages or under certain hashtags. Customers using social media in this way can also lead to a negative bias which can put potential customers off using your business. Encourage all customers on social to review your product honestly. Here are some tips and best ways to do this:
- Post out organically and simply ask customers to help your business out
- Incentivise reviews with a competition / offer
- Use current reviews in posts to promote your business, this will show customers that as a business you appreciate reviews and take on board the comments made
- Make sure reviews are enabled and visible on your social profiles, without this customers may be unable to submit and see the reviews
- Don’t delete negative reviews, this comes across as dishonest. Instead address any negative reviews and resolve the issue where possible
Respond to all reviews
It’s important to respond to every customer review individually, this encourages more reviews as customers can see their review is being read and taken into account. Reading customer reviews can also be very beneficial to a business looking to improve their product or service by addressing issues customers have identified.
Add reviews to your website
Add a review call to action to your website to give customers an easy way to review your products and services. These can be placed on key pages customers might visit e.g. a login area for current customer use. These reviews should also be visible to potential customers looking for more information on your business or products.
Ask for reviews offline
Online reviews are important for businesses who have shops and physical premises as well as those who only sell online. People will often look online for reviews before taking the time out to visit somewhere in person. Asking people when you have their attention at an event or when they visit your premises can be really effective. The key to this is making it really easy for someone to review, business cards which use QR codes are a great way to do this. To increase the chance of a customer completing a review you could consider offering the customer a discount on their next visit if they leave a review.
