The average consumer needs to see at least 20 reviews to feel confident about
making a purchase.
Now, how do you get more online reviews for your business?
Find out inside the video!
Hey guys! It’s Chia from Brand24 and today I want to talk about how to get more online reviews
for your business.
Online reviews play a really important role in the way that people form opinions about
your brand or your company.
So, in other words, they’re crucial to your business reputation — especially for consumers
who just aren’t really familiar with your business, at least not yet.
For example, let’s say you own a store that sells jeans.
And a potential customer who doesn’t have a particular brand or store in mind... they'd probably
just Google “jeans” along with their location… and what’s the first thing that pops up?
A short list of stores that sell jeans in that area, from Google Reviews.
So, just looking at these listings, the customer could immediately rule out the 3rd option
since it sells men’s jeans, and out of the 2 stores left, the first one has a higher
rating.
HOWEVER, the 2nd store has almost DOUBLE the amount of reviews, a picture of its product,
and we can even see part of a review that’s featured along the bottom.
All of this really helps a store stand out on Google Reviews, and chances are, just the
fact that the second store has more online reviews than the first one already has that
shopper’s attention.
This is only natural, as studies have shown that if you have 2 similar products with different
ratings, consumers will just choose the one with MORE reviews, even if it has a lower rating…
simply because more people have tried it.
So, at this point, the shopper would probably click on the listing to see what people are
saying.
And since that store has more reviews than the other one, it’s just perfectly understandable
for it to have a lower overall rating.
The shopper would mostly just be looking to see if any customers had really big issues that
are relevant to THEIR needs, and whether they'd been resolved.
So, getting more online reviews helps put your business on the map (both literally and figuratively)
— and just get more people Interested in your brand.
There are a lot more than just 3 stores selling jeans in Boston (those were just First Page
results).
And even though most shoppers wouldn’t visit every single store on the map, they would
start with the ones with more reviews and higher reviews, before even considering the
stores without any reviews.
That’s why it’s so important for your store, your restaurant or your company to get more online
reviews — and here are some tips to help you do just that!
1st of all, you want to make it really easy for customers to leave you a review.
A lot of people are willing to help, as long as it doesn’t require a lot of work.
So, DON’T make them search for anything or give them really long, complicated instructions.
Just send them direct links that let them start writing the review as soon as they click on
it.
And secondly, it can also help to let people choose WHERE to leave the review.
Some customers might prefer to just give you a review on Google, while others might want
to do it on Facebook, Yelp, or TripAdvisor — it just depends on where they spend most of their
time: so, let THEM choose.
The 3rd thing to consider is that it’s actually AGAINST Google Review policies to solicit
reviews from customers by offering incentives (this is also something that the FTC, or Federal Trade
Commission, frowns upon).
So while you cannot offer your customers any cash, goods or services in exchange for
a review (and, yes, that's even if you KNOW that their positive review would be authentic because you KNOW that
they LOVE your product), you CAN choose to only approach satisfied customers.
Especially after they’ve just praised your Customer Success team for a job well done:
timing is everything!
And 4th: if your business doesn’t give you much of an opportunity to communicate
on a personal level with customers, you can go ahead and ask for reviews on a wider scale.
It’s really easy to set up an email blast with Mailchimp or Wishpond, and if you follow the
tips we just mentioned to make leaving online reviews as easy as possible, you’ll definitely
get some.
HOWEVER, if you ask your entire mailing list without any filters, you
do run the risk of getting some negative reviews...
Which brings us to our 5th tip: create a short process or funnel.
Your goal is to get more online reviews — but, of course, this means positive ones.
(It’s not the end of the world if you DO get some negative reviews: there are some smart
ways to deal with this.
Just be sure that you respond to them, so people can see that your company doesn’t
ignore complaints, but actively tries to fix problems and find solutions.)
Now, when you're asking for reviews on a larger — and much less personal — scale
creating a short process or funnel will help decrease the possibility of getting negative reviews.
Start simple: use SurveyMonkey or 123FormBuilder to send out a short survey asking if your
customers are happy with your product or service.
If the answer is ‘yes’, you can follow up by asking those users to give you an online
review.
And even if the answer is ‘no’, you’ve opened up a dialogue for communication now,
and you have a chance to find out WHY they’re not happy with your product or service.
This type of customer feedback is incredibly valuable, it just doesn’t have any place in
your online reviews, where it can leave a really negative effect on the reputation of your business.
That’s it for this week!
Remember to give these tips a try to get more online reviews for your business.
Now, if you have any questions, just let me know in the Comments section below.
If you’ve found this video helpful, feel free to Like, Share and Subscribe to
our YouTube channel, where I’ll be sharing some new tips on how you can do even MORE in social
media and digital marketing each week.
Thanks so much for watching, I hope you learned something new, and I’ll see you next time,
bye!