By following a few straightforward strategies, you can unlock a steady flow of positive reviews and build a strong reputation online.
Let’s dive into some practical methods to get those reviews rolling in, and a few common missteps to avoid.
Think about your own experiences as a customer. When everything goes smoothly, you likely don’t give the experience a second thought. But if something goes wrong, you’re more motivated to share feedback.
This means that businesses must take proactive steps to encourage happy customers to leave reviews. Otherwise, you might only hear from those who had less-than-positive experiences.
So, how do you engage satisfied customers and encourage them to share their feedback?
The most important thing you can do if you want to get more reviews is to be proactive. As we've seen above, leaving customers to their own devices will rarely lead to them reviewing you, unless you've prompted them to do so by providing bad service.
Here's how to be proactive in the right way, plus what to avoid when trying to obtain more online reviews.
77% of customers say they'd leave a company a review if they were asked, yet just 15% leave them regularly.
The key to improving your collection rate? Ask. Ask and you shall receive.
For example, with platforms like REVIEWS.io, you can use SMS review requests, email requests, and even in-store review prompts.
Tailor these methods to your audience’s habits to get the best response.
Additionally, you can remind customers to leave a review with a friendly prompt on your social channels or by including a review request on packing slips or receipts.
We'd recommend asking customers for reviews via invitation as it dramatically increases your collection rate and also percentage of positive reviews.
However, if you're keen to collect more online reviews, it's really important to enable this in as many places as possible by leaving review platforms open across multiple review sites.
Along with your own site, consider collecting in other places such as:
This approach makes it easier for customers to leave feedback on their preferred platform, helping to create a consistent reputation across the web.
Remember: by leaving a review, your customers are doing you a favour. Even if you've provided them with the best products and services in the world, there are only so many hoops they'll be willing to jump through.
The key to a getting more customers to review your business? Keep it simple.
This means:
Every added step in the review process is an opportunity for customers to drop off before submitting, so keep it as streamlined as possible.
Do your customers even know you collect reviews? You can prompt customers to go out of their way and leave you a review by showcasing the feedback you've already collected in your marketing.
This can be across your site, socials, and even things like banners and billboards.
92% of customers now read online reviews, so if you have them on your site, potential customers are more than likely to take note.
If it was a review that helped them make their purchase decision, they'll likely be more than willing to 'return the favour' and help other future customers by leaving one of their own.
As with a lot of things in business, when it comes to encouraging customers to review you, timing is everything.
Asking customers to review a product they purchased from you a long time ago and have already used or even discarded may lead to confusion and even annoyance. As opposed to customer aftercare, this could come across as clumsy.
But even for new customers, timing is important - there's no point requesting a product review before it's even been received. A good opportunity is when delivery has been confirmed, or even slightly after this so the customer gets a chance to properly inspect the product before leaving feedback.
Business reviews are slightly different, as they contain content such as delivery time and customer service speed which can usually be judged earlier.
The moral of the story? Learn the best time to ask for reviews before sending out your invites.
Your customer's time is precious and their inbox is full - why should they take the time out to leave you a review?
Mass-sent marketing emails can leave a sour taste in your customers' mouths. In order to get them on side, you'll have to put some work in.
A personalized review request is far more effective than a generic email blast. Make your ask friendly and personable—let customers know how much their feedback means to you and that it’s valuable for future customers too.
Quite simply, use your charm to win them over.
It’s not only recent customers who can leave reviews—reaching out to past customers can be a quick way to boost your review count. Just be mindful not to ask about products they may not remember well.
Our Review Booster can do this for you at the click of a button and will get those reviews rolling in in no time.
Now we've looked at the best tactics to use to get more reviews, let's turn out attention to the strategies to avoid if you want to keep your online reputation squeaky clean.
"How was your visit today? Review us for a chance to win a £200 Gift Card!" - we've all witnessed companies offering incentives to encourage reviews. Whether it's an entry into a competition or a discount, this tactic is, in essence, bribery.
Offering rewards in exchange for reviews can seem appealing, but it’s considered unethical and may lead to biased feedback.
Focus on doing a great job and requesting feedback in a personable and professional way, and those online reviews will come streaming in.
You don't need us to tell you that buying reviews is not a good idea.The thing is, customer feedback is meant to be reliable and trustworthy, and that means it needs to be genuine.
Buying reviews or using fake ones is highly discouraged and can severely damage your reputation if discovered. Customer trust is built on authenticity, and having a history of genuine reviews is far more valuable than the risk of artificial boosts.
Reviews don't have to be written by a bot in order to be fake.
Asking your staff to review you, leaving yourself reviews or asking your Facebook friends to 'leave you a cheeky 5*s' are all no-nos if you want long-term success online.
Customers are not stupid and as online reviews become increasingly popular, it's getting more difficult to cheat the system. Fake reviews are easy to spot, and can seriously backfire. Play by the rules, be proactive and those genuine reviews will come in no time.
Collecting more reviews doesn't have to be hard, really. Engage with past and existing customers, be proactive, play fair, and your review collection rate will be through the roof!
Still got questions about getting more online reviews for your business? Head over to our website or jump on live chat with one of our advisors.
