HOW TO GET MORE GOOGLE REVIEWS
How To Get More Google Reviews By Building An Effective Reviews Program For Your Entire Team
For many local businesses, everything from their Google ranking to their ability to convert searchers to buyers depends on their customer reviews. In fact, your review ratings are the biggest driver of clicks in local search results. Eighty-six percent of local searchers look at reviews before choosing who to click on.
SO MANY REVIEW SITES, SO LITTLE TIME
How can you keep up with your reviews, respond to your reviews, and get even more Google reviews? It can be a time-consuming task to monitor what is being said about your business and brand online across all of the top review sites, plus industry-specific review sites.
Looking at some of the most popular Google searches related to getting more reviews, you can see some of the common problems business owners are facing when trying to get more reviews
- “How to ask for google reviews”
- “How to get better google reviews”
- “How to ask customers for reviews”
- “How to ask for reviews on Facebook”
- “How to improve Yelp reviews”
- “How to fix bad reviews”
- “How to ask customers for 5-star reviews”
In this post on how to get more reviews, we will look at a few of the most important aspects of running a successful review program at your business.
- How to monitor and respond to reviews
- How to get more reviews
- How to showcase your best reviews
- How the MaxMyReviews works
Let’s dive in and take a look at some of the best ways to get the ball rolling with your new reviews program!
As a business owner, you need to be proactive in many areas. And one of your top jobs is to always know what your customer base is saying about your brand, products, services, and even your employees.
Why Are Reviews Important?
Not knowing customer sentiment can leave you clueless about why your sales have recently declined for example. It can even leave you not knowing why your sales have suddenly increased! And of course, on a basic customer service level, you need to know which customers had a terrific experience with your business, or maybe not so great
Google reviews in particular are key factors in your website’s Google search ranking. And studies show that the number of reviews a business has is a key click-through and the age of the review matters. In fact, 80% do not consider older reviews to be relevant.
For many businesses, the problem with keeping up with customer sentiment is simply a matter of time – not having enough of it! Luckily today you do not need to track the more than 200 general and niche review sites out there. In 2021 most consumers tend to leave reviews at just a few of the top review sites.
Top Review Sites
– Yelp
– TripAdvisor
– Yellow pages
To discover where customers are leaving reviews for your business, do a brand search ‘ACME Brick’ in Google. Check the first few pages for any reviews on your company. We will be showing you ways to direct your customers to particular review sites later on. For now, schedule a few minutes a couple of times a week to browse some top sights to see if there are any reviews for your business. Some review sites will even send you alerts when a new review for your business is posted.
One of the most common concerns for business owners is how to get more reviews – and how to get more Google reviews in particular! The number 1 rule I getting more reviews is pretty simple; you have to ask! And the more you ask, the more reviews you will get. Plus, it turns out you will not have to twist a lot of arms. Senty-Two percent of consumers leave a review when asked.
Dos and Don’ts When Asking For Reviews
The top review sites have their own individual rules regulating their review program, so you will want to check that out in more detail. For now here are a few of the most common guidelines when requesting reviews
- Do not incentivize or compensate for reviews.
- Do not request reviews from family or friends
- No bulk solicitation of reviews
- No review gating. (only requesting reviews when they will be positive)
- Do not accept anonymous reviews
Use A ‘Leave-A-Review’ Link
When you reach out to customers for you want to make the process as easy as possible for them. One great idea is to create a page on your website with a few top review sites listed. Then you can simply include a link or QR code to that page in all of your future attempts to get more reviews from your customers
For those who prefer to get reviews on their Google My Business listing, Google makes the process very easy by providing a short link that you can include in your review requests for reviews.
Emails Recent Customers
You should already be getting your customers’ email addresses whenever possible for a myriad of marketing and customer service reasons. And one of the ways to use them (with permission) is to reach out and ask for a review! Don’t expect to get back a review from all, or even half, of your requests. For example, email open rates are currently around 20% – which is pretty good.
Customers are much more likely to give a review of the experience that is fresh in their memory. Plus email open. So you want to have a plan in place that allows you to ask when the getting is good!
For example, you can customize a pre-made email template to speed up and standardize the process. Tracking who responds to your emails will also allow you to adjust the copy or design of the email in order to increase responses.
Text Customers For Reviews
Whereas emails are opened 20% of the time, text messages are opened over 95% of the time! And thankfully today it is also acceptable for most types of businesses to reach out to their customers via SMS to request a review. As with email, there are services that can help you automate the SMS process and add an opt-out option for your text subscribers as well.
As mentioned earlier, with both email and text, you want to include a link to your website review page, your Google My Business listing, Facebook page, or where ever you need to improve your quality or number of reviews.
In-Store Review Request
Why wait until your customers leave your business? Let’s ask them while we are still face-to-face with them. If possible, ask customers when they are checking out if they want to leave a review. Then you can hand them a flyer or text them the link and QR code while they are with you.
You might also consider posting a few high-visibility ‘please leave a review’ signs around your business if appropriate. Remember to include your short link or QR code. Some restaurants even print their review QR codes on their menus making it extra easy for their patrons to leave a review!
Utilize Your Website
Also, consider putting a few call-to-action buttons on your website that link to either your reviews page on your website or your favorite review sites like Yelp or TripAdvisor. And more specifically you can embed a Facebook and Yelp Review badge right on your home page.
As you might imagine, staff involvement is key to any successful review program. Here are a few tips to keep your team motivated to get more reviews and to keep the program top of mind for your entire team!
Create Fun Contests
Create a fun in-house contest two or three times a year and provide prizes or pizzas to whoever gets the most reviews that month! And since the number of reviews your competitors are receiving is public info, put a twist on the contest and give your team a prize if they can beat that competitor’s number of reviews.
Post A Leaderboard
Or try posting a team ‘get a review’ leader board in your back office where your entire team can track which employees are getting the most reviews each week.
Back-Office Signage
Create ‘get more reviews’ signs as a back-office reminder for your staff to ask for more reviews. Efforts like these really stress to your team how important getting more reviews is to the health of your business
And for those who one to take it one step further, you can even create a ‘get more reviews’ logo with your company name included. You can use a logo like this throughout your new review campaign. For example, you can include it in all internal communications with your team.
Now that your business is getting more reviews it’s time to make people notice them. Sometimes it’s okay to brag about yourself especially when it is so easy to showcase your best reviews.
Your Website
At the very least you want to add an ‘our reviews’ section to your homepage and consolidate your best reviews there. If you want to take it a step further you can even incorporate an entire web page just to showcase your top reviews.
You may also want to showcase reviews that pertain to certain products or services you offer on their relevant web pages. Some businesses even add their best reviews to their support and contact web pages.
Your Social Sites
Try and make it a habit to consolidate your best reviews each month and create a new Facebook post for them. If you use a social media tool like Hootsuite you can post your reviews to all of your social sites with one click
Your Daily Emails
Include the best review in your email signature, or maybe a simple link to your reviews page on your website.
Inside Your Business
Let’s not forget the brick & mortar opportunities to showcase your great reviews. Do people think you serve the best chicken salad in the state? Well blow that review up and put it on your wall! We have seen reviews put on everything from menus to outdoor neon signs. Get creative and find unique ways you can highlight your positive reviews in house
Create Ads Featuring Your Best Reviews
Do you use Facebook advertising? Have you considered incorporating customer reviews into your ads? Facebook ads that include customer reviews blend in with other news feed stories and are better received by people browsing Facebook. When your copy says, ‘check out this awesome review from our customer,’ your copy seems forced. Keep your text short and don’t refer to the review in your copy.
If you love the idea of having a review program like the one described in this post but you are just too busy running your day-to-day business, JetMax Digital offers two options that will help.
#1 DIY: Monitor, Reply & Ask for Reviews
And do it all from a single screen! You will have access to a password-protected dashboard to see your latest reviews across dozens of review sites that you choose. You can even respond to reviews and request new reviews from the same dashboard. It even gives you the tools to showcase your best reviews across your website and on Facebook.
#2 Outsource: Your Entire Reviews Program
The MaxMyReviews team will administer the entire program for you for a monthly fee. From monitoring and replying to reviews to creating your review awareness kit that includes signage and employee contests. And with monthly phone consultations and reports, you will know exactly what is happening at all times.
More information on MaxMyReviews
Conclusion
There are many advantages to establishing a robust review program at your business. In fact, having an aggressive reviews program for your business helps your entire organization up its game. By knowing that customers are likely to leave a review, employees give that extra effort that sets your business apart from the competition.
If you want more information on how to set up your own review program, or if you want to outsource the program to JetMax Digital call or email Greg from JetMax Digital at 479-200-4185, Greg@jetmaxdigital.com