How to Get More Customer Reviews
Customer reviews about your business can provide benefits and increase sales. There are several steps you can take to encourage customers to leave messages and impressions after purchasing or visiting your business.
One of the first steps before taking further action is to claim your business online via social media. This can be started by creating a free Google My Business profile and making it easier for customers to find your business on Google Search and Google Maps.
You can include contact details, a link to your website, operating hours, photos, reviews, and much more. You can also use social media and other sites to encourage positive customer reviews, such as Facebook or Instagram.
This is an important first step in making it easier for happy customers to write reviews in a medium that is easy for them. The following are steps that can encourage customers to leave reviews on your business:
Ask for Customer Reviews
Customers tend to leave messages and impressions after asking questions from your business representatives. So the system of picking up the ball by asking for customer reviews is a step that you should take.
Before asking customers for reviews, let them know that their visit or purchase is important to your business. You can do this through emails sent to customers after a transaction occurs. Let them know that your reviews will help build trust and grow your business, as well as your business' readiness to support them as customers.
Several ways you can ask customers for reviews based on the media you choose:
- Ask for reviews directly
- Request reviews via SMS
- Request reviews via email
- Ask for reviews when shipping goods
- Ask for reviews on social media
Automated System for Customer Reviews
A surefire way to get more customer reviews is to create an automated review request process and scale it against your business. This can make testimonials and reviews a regular part of your operating system and business processes.
It's also important to consistently get new reviews because reviews that are too old don't encourage new buyers to commit to a business. Here are some ways to incorporate review requests into your business practices:
- Add a review link to your thank you page or order confirmation email
- Integrate review requests via automated systems into email or SMS
- Train your sales and customer service staff to always ask for input from customers
- Have customer testimonials on social media to encourage other customers to leave reviews
- Regularly remind loyal customers to generate reviews. This can be coupled with rewards such as getting points that can be exchanged during transactions if you leave a review
- Added a link to review digital notes
Reducing Problems for Customer Reviews
Including a review system in an ecommerce website is another way to encourage customers to leave messages and impressions. There are several types of reviews based on each ecommerce. Two important points to remember:
Provide a star scoring system so customers can measure their satisfaction with the products or services offered by your business
Create forms that are easy to fill out so that you can eliminate the hassle of filling them out and can get detailed reviews that can be useful for other customers
Follow Up on Customer Review Requests
Most customers will likely not leave a review after completing a transaction. So it would be better if when making a transaction, you ask for the customer's email as a communication medium. Via email you can then follow up on reviews or comments to customers who have not yet given their impressions and messages.
Offer Bonuses in Return for Customer Reviews
The final step is to encourage customers to leave reviews by giving them rewards or bonuses for doing so. Giving bonuses to customers in this way does not mean it is detrimental to you because it takes time and effort for customers to leave reviews. So by receiving some kind of appreciation for leaving a review will provide a positive experience that they get from your business. There are several forms of rewards that can be given:
- Offer coupons or discount codes to encourage customers to provide feedback publicly
- Host periodic drawings and giveaways by selecting winners from a pool of customers who leave reviews within a certain time period
Rewarding customers for sharing their genuine experiences with your business is an acceptable practice, as opposed to buying reviews. Make sure the rewards you offer are only for impressions and messages that customers actually experience, not for writing reviews with the point of view or message content that you ask for.
Your business will increasingly benefit from the more reviews left by customers. Customer reviews help your business to gain the trust of potential or target customers, increase visitor traffic, build social proof, and improve business search (SEO). Therefore, the actual experience experienced by customers becomes valuable input for the progress of your business.
