Amazon, eBay, Angie’s List, Google, Facebook …. So many opportunities where customers can talk about your businesses and their positive or negative experiences with your services, products or customer care.
We live in a world where online reviews are a significant influence as to where we spend our money and whom we trust with our wallet. Ninety percent of customers say they check online reviews and their decisions are influenced by what they read.
Have a place where you can be reviewed
Have a place where you can be reviewedFirst things first. If you want to generate online reviews you must provide at least one platform to send customers where they can post their opinions. If you want to generate Google reviews, you have to have a Google Business Panel for your business.
Check to see if you already have one or create one, if needed. If you have one that Google automatically generated, “claim it” and that will give your access to many different business tools, including one to ask for and receive (and answer) reviews.
Many 3tr party review websites generate their own records automatically. You must claim the account to make ensure you have the ability to edit the address, phone number, service descriptions, and answer the reviews, etc.
Among the best review sites are: Google, Yelp, Merchant Circle, YellowPages, LinkedIn, TripAdvisor, BBB, Manta.
Where do you want to collect your reviews?
This is the key question for your business. You have to determine where your prospective clients are looking for your service. For a local gift shop probably the best option is Google, but for an adventure park TripAdvisor would be the best.
Once you have identified where you want your reviews to be left, copy the link to your account. This way, you will be able to provide this link when asking for a new review, reducing the time and effort of your clients to find the correct account in order to provide you with great feedback.
How to get more reviews?
If somebody had a bad experience, it is highly likely they will complain about that service. Unfortunately, if they receive great service, they are less inclined to have a shout out for that business. Sadly – this is our society.
It is key to ask for reviews, not just wait for good reviews to happen.
Some businesses have an automated way to collect online reviews but most do not.
If you are in a business where you are able to collect your client’s email addresses, you should send an email with the link to seek their feedback. Like this: Turek Design Review Link
The easier you make it for people to leave customer reviews, the more likely they are to leave one.
The best time to ask for a review is when the value of what you’ve delivered to the customer is at the top of their mind, making it easy for them to write a timely and honest review.
That could mean:
- When the project hit a milestone
- When you send your invoice and reinforce the value of doing business with you
- When they’ve contacted you with positive feedback
What is a really good review?
The best reviews are not generic, like ”Great service, I will be back next month”.
The best ones are detailed and specific.
”Monika came to our home to help my husband and I improve website optimization for our individual companies. I wanted to get her opinion about what I could do better on my website to get more visibility online. We met and she taught me what to change, and how to make my site more google friendly. In a 90-minute session, there was a lot of great information and clarification on how I could manage my website better. It was convenient, very specific to our needs and was just want we needed. I would recommend her highly! „
Dealing with negative reviews
The flip side of asking people to provide an online review?
The possibility of receiving negative feedback. In most cases, you shouldn’t be surprised at occasional negative reviews, as you simply can’t please everyone. Don’t be afraid. Consider them an opportunity to show more of your business.
When a negative review come in, you should handle it as you would handle the person face to face.
- As soon as you read the negative review answer it. Be prompt.
- Be polite and professional.
- Let the customer tell their story.
- Figure out who this person is and what the complaint is about. You or your coworker might remember the situation.
- You should acknowledge that you read the comment and you are ready to do something about it.
- Try to resolve the issue quickly, if possible.
- Get to the bottom of why the mistake occurred; focus on fixing the process so that it does not happen again.
- Your interaction below a negative comment can show your customer service and can be a great opportunity to gain more clients.
Don’t forget to also acknowledge the positive feedback and thank the reviewer.
Google Business Listing is very important for reviews and also for showing up in the searches. GMB is getting more and more complicated and offer more features than ever before. We help business owners to optimize and verify they business listings.
Summary
Getting people to provide an online review of your business may be challenging but it is a rewarding process.
