How to Get More Reviews for Your Small Business
Think back on the time you were browsing the internet for local restaurants. What did you consider when looking at them? Out of the list that google provided you, which one did you pick? The two-star or the five-star restaurant? You most likely chose the one with better reviews.
Search engines use online reviews to gauge which businesses to rank in local search results. It’s something that all small business owners should consider highly necessary. It’s simple. The more positive reviews, the higher your page ranks, the more natural conversions you’ll have to lead to better business. However, it’s one thing to know that they are essential; it’s another to actually receive them. So how does one go about getting more positive reviews? Although there is no instantaneous fix to gain more reviews, you can be prepared, strategic, and consistent in all that you do within your business that can help boost more reviews from your customers.
Be Prepared
Whether you want them to or not, people are going to review your business online. Most of the time, reviews can be extremely positive or extremely negative and you should have a response ready for both. Preparation is critical. You want to engage with those that are satisfied with your work, and you want to comfort and respond to those that were not. It is essential to make your response to a review as personal as possible. Be sure to include the reviewer’s name and reference what it is that they stated in their review. If the review is negative, try to take the conversation offline because most negative reviews only want to be heard. Keeping a high engagement will help your businesses show up higher on various search engines.
Reviews Impact Local SEO
According to MOZ’s Local Search Ranking Factors Survey, online reviews are thought to make up 10% of how Google and other search engines decide to rank search results. The more reviews, the better. Having a steady amount of reviews coming through gives search engines the ability to see patterns over time.
Be Strategic
In addition to being prepared for all that may come your way, it would be best if you were strategic about who, when, and how to ask for a review.
When to Ask for a Review
- Make sure to do a great job and that you have done something worth noticing.
- Do everything promptly and meet expectations set beforehand.
- Have a positive attitude throughout the whole experience with a customer.
- If you mess up, make sure to apologize and mean it. Fix the mistake as quickly as possible.
- Check-in periodically and make sure that they are satisfied with your performance.
- When the job is complete and you have established a good relationship, ask for a review.
Other Creative Ways to Gain More Reviews
- Create a review tab on your website so you can invite customers to leave a review directly on your site or direct them to your social media or google review tabs.
- Suggest for customers to tell others about their experience with you as a part of a thank you email.
- Create an online review survey and request at the beginning if you may use a comment to display online.
When you are strategic about asking for a review, you are less likely to forget to ask.
Be Consistent
Being consistent means to keep in mind throughout all exchanges with your customers that you would like to have more positive reviews. Having this thought in the back of your mind should help to keep consistency in the process of gaining positive reviews.
Connections
Sending a personalized email that wraps up all of the work you have done with your customer helps to remind them about leaving you a useful review. It will also assist in any writing on all the positives that transpired throughout your time working together.
Follow Up
Make sure that you are periodically checking in on customers. Having a streamline of open communication can help eliminate any negativity that can stem from poor communication. Remembering to check in and see how things are going even after a project is completed will show that you genuinely care for those customers.
Staying prepared, strategic, and consistent all play a significant role in continuing to build better customer service, relationships, and, most importantly, reviews. If you would like to continue to build your online reputation with the help of one of our experts, give us a call today at 334.446.6149.
Posted: Feb 04, 2020