As a business owner, you know that reviews are important.
They can help you attract new customers and keep the ones you have.
But getting reviews can be difficult – especially if you’re not sure how to go about it. Luckily, there are some efficient ways to get more reviews for your business. From asking the right questions, choosing appropriate review platforms and even designing print based assets, we’ll unpack the ins and outs of successful review generation in this article.
Why Are Reviews Important For Businesses?
Any business should be striving to get a steady flow of good quality reviews.
Reviews are important to businesses for so many reasons. Reviews, first and foremost, are the main form of ‘social proof’. With customers likely to spend 31% more on a business with excellent reviews, getting one has never been more important.
On the flip side, 94% of customers say they’ve avoided a business due to negative reviews.
So with this information in mind, what constitutes a good review?
What Does A Good Review Look Like?
A high quality review should be very detailed and specific.
The key thing about a good review is that it should outline the transitional journey your customer has undergone from using your product or service.
It’s all about them detailing the before state and after state.
Here’s an example of a review that I left for my local gym that highlights the change I experienced from joining.
So how do you get customers to leave a glowing review like the one above? Keep reading this article to find out my top tips and recommendations on generating high quality reviews at scale.
What Platforms Should You Get A Review On?
My golden rule of Digital Marketing is to be exactly where your customers are and this applies directly to reviews.
Depending on your business type, sector and customer base some of the review platforms may not be suitable. Choosing where to direct customers to leave reviews is highly important.
Some of the most popular review sites for businesses include;
- Google Business Profile
- Trust Pilot
- Bing Places
It’s very important that you take into careful consideration what platforms you use.
When Should You Ask For A Review?
One of the key aspects of getting a fantastic review is to make sure you ask it at the right time.
But when is the right time?
Naturally, this will depend on many different factors but in a nutshell, the right time should be when your customer is their happiest with you and what you have delivered. This should also be in line with your business’s customer journey.
At Almond Marketing, we work with a fantastic property renovation company in London. For them, this could be a few weeks after they have completed a refurbishment project for one of their clients.
A software company could ask for a review 3-6 months after installation so the user has time to really understand the product and how it can impact their business.
Other times you can ask a review could include;
When a customer has completed an initial purchase or a repeat purchase.
After they’ve referred a customer to you.
If they are found to be a promoter (upon using an NPS survey)
After they’ve left a positive comment on social media
How To Ask For A Review?
So we know the when but what about the how?
There’s many different ways to ask for a review and you can easily have more than one method within your business
Automated Review Apps/Software
Many ecommerce businesses will understandably be dealing with a high volume of orders. Could you imagine sending over 1000 review request emails a day?
This is where review apps are highly advantageous.
Apps such as Yotpo and Loox integrate with your ecommerce CMS and automatically generate a review request reminder or SMS message depending on how you have set up your triggers.
With these apps you can set up a review request email to fire immediately after purchase, after delivery/fulfilment or later. With these types of apps you can also set up review reminder emails should they not initially respond to your initial review request.
Plain Text Emails
For smaller businesses with fewer orders, you can afford to send a highly personalised email.
As a SwingTrain dance instructor, this is something I do once my student has been with me for 2-3 months.
With these types of emails, personalisation is so important as you have the time to make direct references to their experience with you. It’s also important to give a direct link to your chosen review platform and any instructions necessary on how they can complete it.
Here’s an example I sent to one of my students referencing some details of how we met (our local British Legions Platinum Jubilee Celebrations) and how she and her friends brought new energy into the class.
Telephone Conversation
Another way to ask for a review is to talk directly to your customer over the phone.
Once they’re at that all important happiness stage, get them on a phone call to thank them for their customer and ask them if they would leave a review.
From there you can then send them a reminder follow up via email or text which can be further personalised with any details that arose from the call.
Printed Review Assets
If your business sells products you can send a review request flyer along with your product to incite a review.
An example of this was when I moved house. I bought some under-bed storage bags from Amazon to store a mass of clothes in.
Upon delivery, I saw this beautifully designed flyer that thanked me for my purchase, emphasised the company’s USPS (a small family-run business) and provided instructions on how I could leave a review on the product.
I thought this was a fantastic way of encouraging reviews. I thought it was so good that I kept it for future reference – hence why it looks a little worn!
Asking The Right Questions
If you want to elicit a compelling review that highlights how your business has transformed your customer, you’ll need to ask the right questions.
Sometimes when you ask someone for a review, they’ll often fire ‘Oh I don’t know what to say’.
When you ask for a review it’s always good to give your customers several prompts to guide them on what to say so they’re inspired to give the best review possible.
Some prompts we have both seen and used include;
What made you order [PRODUCT NAME]?
What made you choose [BUSINESS NAME]?
What do you like about [PRODUCT OR BUSINESS]?
What improvements have you experienced by using [PRODUCT OR SERVICE]
How does [PRODUCT/SERVICE] compare to others you may have tried?
What are some of the features of our [PRODUCT/SERVICE] that you find most useful/beneficial?
How long have you been a customer for?
Including these prompts when you ask for a review are guaranteed to result in high quality customer stories that you can use in your advertising.
Using Reviews For User Generated Content
Some review platforms, in particular ecommerce based ones, actively encourage users to upload a photo or video when submitting a review.
This is incredibly beneficial as this can result in user-generated content.
A really good example of this can be found on The Puppini Sisters Shop.
When they ask for a review, they give the option for users to submit a photo. Upon submitting a photo users receive a one-time discount code that can be used on any product in the shop.
Not only are The Puppini Sisters using reviews to generate new content but they are also using them to generate additional sales.
Depending on the nature of your business, using reviews to encourage user generated content and additional sales could be something worth trying.
Generating reviews for your business can be a challenge, but it’s important to have a steady flow of positive customer feedback in order to boost your reputation and overall online presence.
The tips we’ve provided in this article should help you get started on the right foot. If you need help getting more reviews or want to discuss how Almond Marketing can help improve your online visibility, don’t hesitate to contact us today!
