How to Get Google Reviews
Getting more Google reviews for your business may seem like a tough code to crack, but we’re here with a word of good news: you don’t need to be an expert cryptographer to solve this marketing challenge. With a little education and a lot of consistency using the steps below, you’ll be well on your way to garnering an impressive collection of Google reviews...
How Do You Get More Google Reviews?
- Ask Your Customers
- Demonstrate How to Leave a Review
- Provide Excellent Customer Service
- Hire a Professional
Getting more Google reviews for your business may seem like a tough code to crack, but we’re here with a word of good news: you don’t need to be an expert cryptographer to solve this marketing challenge.
With a little education and a lot of consistency using the steps below, you’ll be well on your way to garnering an impressive collection of Google reviews.
1. Ask Your Customers
Where do you begin? Sometimes it’s as easy as asking...
When you want to get more Google reviews, keep it simple. Your biggest fans are more than happy to leave you a review, but they need an invitation.
Some customers may not be experienced with leaving reviews, so they won’t think to do it unless you ask them to. Other customers may be seasoned at writing reviews, but they may not realize that your business has a presence on Google.
Asking your customers for reviews is simple but not necessarily easy. You may be wondering when to ask and what to say when you ask.
What are the best practices to follow when asking for Google reviews?
Ask at the Point of Sale
If you have a brick-and-mortar business, you have the advantage of interacting with customers in person. The point-of-sale interaction is the perfect time to ask for a review since your sales team is already talking to the customer.
Once the sale is complete, tell the customer you’d appreciate their feedback in the form of a review. Then tell them how to find you on Google. This is a good time to hand over a business card with details of how to leave a review.
If you offer a service, you can likewise ask for a review once the service is complete. Consider saying something like, “Thank you for your business! We’d love to hear what you thought of our service. Would you be willing to leave us a review on Google?”
Send an Email
Don’t have a brick-and-mortar space? Or maybe you’re just looking for more ways to get more Google reviews? Making the request over email is another effective way to see the reviews roll in.
Your customers will need to be online to leave the review, so it’ll be as easy as clicking a link and writing a few sentences about their experience with your business. Make sure you’re always coming up with inventive ways to gather email addresses since this is a crucial component of building your online reputation.
Ask for Reviews Often (But Not Too Often!)
Every business needs to find the sweet spot of how often to ask their customers for reviews. You want to be asking frequently enough but not so often that you turn customers off to your business.
If you want a general guideline, consider asking for reviews once a month. Keep in mind that this could still be too often if you’re sending out weekly emails or daily social media posts. The right balance for you depends on your clientele, your marketing output, and the type of product or service you sell.
2. Demonstrate How to Leave a Review
Some customers may not leave you a review simply because they don’t know how. If you want to get more Google reviews, it’s up to you to educate your customers on how to write a review.
Explaining the Process
Make the process as easy as possible. The more barriers to entry, the less likely a customer is to follow through.
Always provide a link to your Google review page in your marketing materials. The link should be short and sweet so customers can type it in easily. You can create your own short URL by following these steps:
Log in to Your Google My Business page
Head to the menu on the left-hand side and click “Home”
Find the “Get more reviews” card in your main feed
Locate the short URL in this section and copy it to share with your customers
If you want to make the process even easier, you can create a QR code to print on your business cards and pamphlets.
3. Provide Excellent Customer Service
It’s important to get honest reviews from your customers, and that will inevitably include some less-than-desirable feedback. Even the best businesses can’t please all of their customers all of the time.
But a mix of positive and negative reviews can actually benefit you since it shows that you’re not paying fake customers to leave overly glowing reviews. In fact, 95% of consumers suspect that a business has posted fake reviews if they only have positive feedback.
Still, you definitely want most of your reviews to be favorable. Too many bad reviews will turn customers away, whereas positive reviews will help build your brand reputation.
Getting Positive Reviews
One of the most sure-fire ways to get positive reviews is by providing excellent customer service. When you make a really incredible impression, customers will be anxious to spread the word to their friends and family. And if you’ve educated customers about your Google review site, they’ll be more likely to leave their feedback.
Think carefully about what your company can do to improve customer service. Your diligence can pay off exponentially when you get more Google reviews!
What is Excellent Customer Service?
Truly stand-out customer service means following up with customers who had issues. It means:
Sending surprise freebies just to say “thank you”
Hiring personable customer service agents who know how to make human connections during a short interaction
Investing in multi-tiered customer service channels, so you can reach your customers wherever they are.
The Importance of Google Reviews
Since the original review sites popped up in the late 1990s, online reviews have been changing the way customers make buying decisions. Online reviews have changed a lot since those early days, but one thing remains the same: most customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Here are three other reasons that Google reviews are important:
Customer Purchasing Decisions
The vast majority of consumers read review sites before going to a business in person, meaning their opinion of the business has already been shaped before they step foot in the door. And customers are likely to spend up to 31% more at businesses with the best reviews.
With so much influencing power, the company with the most positive online reviews has a good chance of dominating the industry. A new restaurant that gets a hundred online reviews could soon have a line wrapping around the corner, with people eager to try the hottest place in town.
An e-retail shop could go from selling a few products out of the home office to selling thousands of items a day from a massive warehouse. You just never know what can happen when you get more Google reviews.
Google Rankings
No surprise here, but Google favors websites that have more Google reviews. This isn’t just because the search engine and review site are owned by the same company. It’s because companies with many reviews are considered more trustworthy. Therefore, websites with the most reviews will rank higher in Google search results for related keywords.
Though there are many other factors influencing search engine ranking, getting more online reviews is one way any business can boost its position in Google results.
Click-Through Rates on Search Engine Results Pages
Improving your ranking in Google search results is one thing, but getting people to actually click through to your website is another. Your ultimate goal is to turn a casual online visitor into a paying customer, and you can’t do that very easily if the person never visits your website.
What can you do? Well, positive Google reviews can increase your click-through rates. That’s because a certain number of positive Google reviews will cause your ratings to show up next to your website name in Google search results. And if you have at least 3.5 stars, those using Google will perceive your business as more trustworthy—and be more likely to click your link.
How to Respond to Reviews
With all of the energy you’re putting toward getting Google reviews, don’t forget to follow through with the next step: responding to those reviews.
Increase Brand Loyalty
Responding to reviews allows you to open a two-way communication line between your company and your customers. This interaction will lead customers to feel more loyal to your brand, and they’ll be more likely to become brand advocates.
By responding to reviews, you’ll also have a chance to satisfy an unhappy customer and right any wrongs that may have happened in the transaction process.
Improve Your Local SEO
When you take the time to respond to customers who leave reviews, you’re also boosting your local SEO. Google rewards businesses that show their customers that they value their feedback. Thus, the companies that respond to reviews will get more visibility in their local search results, increasing the chance of getting more customers.
Mistakes to Avoid When Collecting Google Reviews
You’re almost ready to go out there and get lots of new Google reviews for your business. But before you do, make sure you avoid a couple of rookie mistakes. Google has some strict rules to ensure that all reviews are honest and organic.
One of the worst ways to go against their rule book is by incentivizing reviews. Google will quickly catch on to the scheme and delete the reviews—or worse, shut your page down. You’ll get the same treatment if you ever try to buy reviews, so don’t even think about trying it.
4. Follow Up
You already have countless customers who have made a recent transaction with you. And you’ll have a higher likelihood of getting new Google reviews if you follow up with those customers soon after they interact with your business. These customers have already demonstrated an interest in your company, and with a little encouragement, many of them will be willing to leave a review.
So how do you follow up with these customers? One of the best ways is to send an email or text message letting them know about promotions you have going on or sending reminders about appointments. This method works best for companies that have a customer’s contact information and can easily identify them once they make a transaction or interact with your company in any other way.
For example, a medical office can review their upcoming appointments, then send the patient an appointment reminder via SMS text message, or email. After the appointment, they can follow up by thanking them for their business and asking them to leave a review.
5. Respond to Reviews
So you’ve received some new Google reviews? Great! Your hard work is paying off. But even though you know how to get Google reviews, your job isn’t over yet. Now it’s time to respond to those reviews, whether positive or negative. Learning how to respond to reviews appropriately can seem tricky, but we’re here to break down the process:
- Say hello. A simple greeting will do, and make sure to address the customer by name!
- State your gratitude. Show your thanks for the time they took to leave a review.
- Call out one of the positive aspects of the review. Even if you get a negative review, it’s important to reiterate something positive.
- Respond to concerns. This is a crucial aspect of responding to negative reviews. It will show other customers that you truly care.
- Invite further discussion. If you’ve received a negative review, it’s best to take the conversation out of the public eye and over to email or phone. You can also invite customers who have left positive reviews to check out your social media channels or give feedback in a customer survey.
Use your keywords. If it’s a positive review, try to use your company name, and product or service name in your response if appropriate.
6. Bring in the Professionals
No doubt about it: collecting, monitoring, and responding to Google reviews involves a lot of effort and technique. You’ll spend a great deal of time honing your strategy and making sure the reviews keep coming in, especially when you’re starting out. But if you’re looking to save time and get even more reviews than ever, it might be time to bring in a professional review software company like Shopper Approved.
Why choose a business as Shopper Approved? Since its founding in 2010, Shopper Approved has consistently helped businesses get up to 10 times more ratings and reviews than competitor companies. By hiring us, you’ll exponentially grow your product reviews, local reviews, or Google Seller Ratings and Reviews without pouring in hours of time and money. Learn more about how Shopper Approved can help you get more reviews today.
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