How to Get Good Customer Reviews: A Guide for Businesses

October 26, 2023
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As a business owner, you should know that customer reviews are essential because they can make or break your business.

Because of this, you must learn how to get good online reviews from customers to enhance your reputation.

Our guide will offer tips on getting good customer reviews, handling bad reviews, and more!

Why Are Reviews Important for a Business?

Customers will leave reviews for your business for multiple reasons.

There are three main reasons why customers leave good reviews.

To help other customers make better buying decisions.
To share testimonials for the company.
To reward a company if they had a good experience.

Source: Trustpilot

Customer Reviews are crucial for all businesses.

First, it helps with SEO because good reviews will result in more people finding you on search results. It also allows you to have more SERP real estate for search terms.

Most importantly, potential customers read customer reviews to know more about your business.

A great review shows potential customers that your products and services are worth purchasing. They will think this because they trust other customers’ opinions more than anything else. That’s why it is essential to ask your customers if they can provide feedback for your business.

Why is Online Reputation Essential for Businesses? 💻

Cultivating and maintaining an excellent reputation is crucial for several reasons.

The main reason is that if you don’t have a good reputation, customers won’t trust you and, therefore, won’t buy anything from you. Because trust is essential, you must establish a good reputation with customers from the beginning.

Because of this, you must focus on excellent products, a website that’s easy for customers to navigate, and customer service that will make them want to leave a positive review.

Here are some other reasons why your business’s online reputation is vital.

7 Top Tips to Get Good Reviews from Customers

Some types of customers will go out of their way to leave a positive review if they have good things to say about their experience with your business.

However, only some people are like this. Some people need a reminder or push to leave a review, so you must know how to get them to leave one.

Here are some tips to help you get good customer feedback.

1. Have a Method for Asking Reviews

The most important thing you must remember to get reviews is to ask for them. Some customers may be unaware that they must provide reviews, or some may forget to write one, even if they intend to. That’s why it’s your obligation to request it politely.

You and your employees should ask for client reviews. Incorporate a method of doing so and do it consistently. It will also save effort and time if you automate this task. Here are some suggestions for requesting reviews:

After a triumphant service or project, you and your employees should request a review. Clients will more likely leave positive feedback after this.
Ask for reviews in email marketing campaigns.
Use a Net Promoter Score (NPS) to identify happy customers willing to promote your business to others. Build a strong relationship with them.
Include review links on your website, thank you pages, or after checkout.
Indicate your review sites on flyers and business cards.
Include review widgets on your website to give customers reminders during their buying experience.

2. Provide Excellent Customer Service

Even if you ask for a review, a customer may not give a positive one if they didn’t have a good experience with your company.

Therefore, excellent customer service at every relevant point of the sale is essential. If you don’t provide brilliant customer service, there’s little to stop them from shopping with a different company.

You must ensure that your company handles contact with customers politely and gives helpful answers to their questions. Additionally, if they provide a review (positive or negative), thank them for their feedback and see if it’s something you can implement.

3. Start with a Personalized Question❓

Personalization is the key to success. If you or one of your team staff have a close relationship with a customer, converse with them and inquire what they think about your products or services.

If they’re happy with your business, tell them you appreciate their loyalty and opinion.

Let them know you would be thankful if they would help spread the word to potential clients by providing a review or recommendation.

Another way to personalize the question is by sending a video. Thank the customer for their loyalty and support, and kindly request them for a review.

Personalization is also a brilliant way to retain customers and increase your company’s profit. In a Google survey, 90% of the leading marketers say personalized service contributes to increased business profitability.

Source: Think with Google

4. Ask at the Right Time 🕜

Timing is crucial, so you should know when the right time is to request feedback. Doing this depends on the type of product or service you’re offering.

However, remember that you should target happy customers. If they’re unhappy, they might leave a negative review, which would be troublesome for your business.

Here is some advice on when you should ask customers for feedback:

They show happiness towards your product or service.
They reorder the product or service.
They positively tag you on one of their social media accounts.
They refer another client to you.
They browse your website for other products or services.

5. Offer an Incentive

People would be more willing to provide a review if they get something in return. For example, a study from BMC Medical Research Methodology states that customers are 50% more likely to answer a survey or questionnaire if they have an incentive.

Because of this, ensure you make incentives clear to customers. Here are some incentives that you may offer:

Discounts or credits
Gift cards
Free content (such as ebooks)
Donate to charity
Publicity (such as shoutouts)

6. Inform Them How Much Time It Requires

Since people can be busy, they don’t have time to complete long reviews. You should inform them how short it will take so they might agree to provide feedback.

You can state the approximate time it will take to leave a review on the email or review widget.

7. Follow Up if the Customer Doesn’t Leave a Review Right Away

You should only do this for clients that agreed to give a review. Don’t force the ones that don’t like to do it.

For those that agreed, they were perhaps too busy at the time or didn’t remember. Therefore, sending a follow-up message to remind them would be an excellent idea. We recommend doing this via email.

Things That You Shouldn’t Do to Get Customers to Leave a Review

Even if you’re desperate to get reviews, there are certain things you must never do:

Never force someone to give a review if they don’t want to.
Don’t create fake reviews. 95% of customers will suspect that there are fake reviews on a product page if almost all of them are overwhelmingly positive.
Don’t pay third parties to write reviews for your business.
Don’t source many reviews all at the same time. The review platform may think they are spam and delete them from the platform.

How to Effectively Handle Negative Reviews

Not everyone will be happy with your company, and you can’t avoid bad reviews. Therefore, you should use that chance to respond to negative reviews and know what to improve.

Reply to the review, thank the person, and inform them how you plan to resolve or if you have already fixed the issue. Make the necessary adjustments and changes. You may also contact them offline to understand the whole situation.

People will think you’re responsive and transparent if you can handle negative reviews well. Correcting mistakes can help gain more trust than not making a mistake.

How Do You Handle Fake or Toxic Reviews?

Because fake reviews can sometimes be hard to spot, many retailers believe that only paying customers should leave reviews. 43% of retailers believe that the only customers who should be able to leave reviews are those who make verified purchases with them.

Source: Invesp

Another type of review you should look out for is a malicious review, a negative review without any substance. Its only purposes are to goad you into responding angrily and to ruin the company’s reputation.

If you spot a malicious or fake review, you should remember the tips below so you can handle it properly:

Don’t respond angrily to the review. If the review is malicious, this is precisely what the person who sent it wants.
Read reviews to determine their validity.
Report the review immediately. Your review platform should have a system in place to do this.
Contact the review platform directly to inform them of fake reviews.
Be professional and calm when responding to a fake or overly negative review.
Consider legal action in extreme cases of persistent malicious or fake reviews from a single source.

Review Platforms That You Should Try

How can people leave reviews if you’re not a part of review platforms?

If you haven’t registered for any already, here are some you should consider joining.

Google My Business (GMB)

One of the best ways to connect to potential customers is using Google My Business. Users near your area can find or contact you using Google Search or Google Maps. They can also leave Google reviews.

You can also provide other business information such as:

Business type
Opening and closing hours
The busiest time of the day
Physical address
Contact number
Website address
Photos

Facebook (FB)

Facebook is one of the leading social media platforms. Contrary to what most people think, using it to contact friends and loved ones is not its only purpose.

When used correctly, Facebook pages are like websites where people can send messages, shop online, and book appointments. Businesses also advertise here, and people can leave reviews for them.

When users give reviews, their friends may also see them, which exposes your business to other potential customers.

Yelp

Yelp is a famous internet search and review service.

Users rate on a five-star scale and have the option of providing comments. Since making a profile is free, you can create one for your business and respond to the reviews given to you.

Final Thoughts on the Best Ways to Get Good Reviews

Getting good customer reviews will help you gain more clients and more profit. It will also increase brand awareness and your website’s visibility to people. So, when you need reviews, don’t be afraid to ask customers for them.

If you want to find other ways to improve the profit and reputation of your business, check out our blog on Tommy.

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