Two of the most powerful types of inbound marketing are word-of-mouth marketing and referral marketing because people trust their peers. 95% of customers read an online review before buying from or working with a business, so putting an emphasis on generating reviews for your business should always be a priority.
How do you actually get customers to leave your business good reviews? Outside of the food and beverage industry, it is not always an easy task. So we wanted to discuss a few actionable strategies to help your business to get more online reviews.
And not just any review -- positive ones! After all, we can all agree that no review is better than a negative review.
Here are a few tried and true tips to get more online reviews for your business.
1. Ask for reviews.
Wait, okay, this one's too obvious, right?
But seriously, the easiest way to get a review is simply to ask a customer that you know has had a good experience! At the end of your time working with someone, say "Hey, we would really appreciate it if you would leave us a review on XYZ or recommend us to any of your friends."
Chances are, they'd be happy to do so! A lot of people just don't even think about leaving a review until it's been brought to their attention.
Obviously, you don't want to bring this up to people who have had a bad or mediocre experience with your business (hey, we can't win 'em all), but it's a great idea to ask people who have told you in person or via phone/email how much they've enjoyed working with you to leave you a review or testimonial to share with future customers!
2. Make it easy for customers to find you.
Make sure you have a presence on multiple review sites. This makes it easier for your customers to find you and leave you a review on the platform of their choice. If you stick only to Yelp or only to TripAdvisor, you could potentially be alienating customers who don't utilize either of those platforms.
Instead, you should maintain profiles on at least two or three online review sites, like Facebook, Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Foursquare, or Amazon.
You also want to make sure you link to your review sites in multiple places. Include links on your website and in your email signature so that your customers can easily find them and click through to leave you a review. You can't rely on customers to jump through hoops in order to do you a favor, so make it as easy for them as possible.
3. Offer incentives to your customers.
If you're struggling to get reviews, one strategy that's sure to help is offering incentives to your customers who leave you a review. There are a few different ways to do this.
You could offer a small freebie or discount to each customer who leaves you a review, guaranteeing an incentive for everyone. Or you could run a campaign where everyone who leaves you a review within a certain time frame gets entered into a giveaway for a larger prize, like a gift card or a free product/service from your business.
People are always happier to do someone a favor when there's a chance they'll get something in return, so if you're looking to increase your reviews quickly, this is a great way to do so.
4. Send calls to actions with products.
If you ship products to your customers, create a "comment card" with a call to action to leave your business a review on one of your review sites. This is a great strategy because people are always excited when they receive a package in the mail, so you're able to tap into that happiness.
Hire a graphic designer to create the call to action card for your business and have them printed out so that you can include one in each package. Use your logo, brand colors, and fonts so that it matches your branding, and have a catchy, simple phrase, like "Tell us what you think!" with icons for the review platforms on which your business has a presence.
5. Send a follow-up email.
Create an email marketing automation that sends a follow-up email to each customer after a transaction or service is completed. You can use your email marketing platform to create a visually appealing newsletter-like email template that includes copy asking for them to leave a review along with a button that leads to the platform where they can do so.
If you own an ecommerce business, this is a great way to quickly and easily send mass emails to customers after they have made a purchase from you asking for reviews. If your business is service-based, this allows you to set a trigger after working with a customer that sends this automation so that you don't even have to think about asking for reviews. Your email automation is doing the work for you!
If you prefer to go about this in a more personalized way, you can simply send a more personal email following up with customers after you've worked with them to see how their experience was, and politely ask them to leave your business a review.
Getting more online reviews for your business should absolutely be a priority. Customers want to learn about other people's experiences before working with or buying from a business, and having few to no online reviews can deter your potential buyers. Use these five strategies to help your business increase your online reviews and then watch your revenues increase.
If you have questions about improving your company's digital marketing, we're here to help! Contact us today.
Written By: David Carpenter
