Google reviews are incredibly important—88 percent of consumers trust online reviews just as much as personal recommendations and 90 percent of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business. Not only are they often the final factor that tips prospects to customers, but they also hold a lot of weight in the current search algorithm.
I.e., More, better reviews = Higher search rankings, more leads and sales, and increased revenue.
If you’re struggling to improve your online presence, stay tuned—in this article I’ll give you nine ways to get more Google reviews, and practical tips on how to pull it off.
First Things First: Why Google Reviews Matter
It’s no surprise that online reviews are important, but just how much weight do they carry in customer acquisition? The proof is in the data!
10 Ways to Get More Google Reviews
Before we get into the meat of this guide, there’s something you should know: 85 percent of consumers don’t trust reviews more than three months old, and 40 percent only look at reviews from the past two weeks.
What that means is it’s not enough to get 100 5-star reviews and call it quits. You need to continuously manage your company’s online reputation effectively, so your review profile is always fresh. You can easily do this by incorporating the ten review generation strategies below into your marketing plan.
1. Ask Customers Directly for Feedback
One of the easiest ways to get more reviews is to ask all your customers for feedback regarding the service you provided.
Asking for feedback is often the most direct way to ensure customers are satisfied, and build your reputation online.
If you’re on the phone with a customer, remind them that you’re on Google and that you appreciate any feedback. It’s that easy!
2. Send a Follow-Up Email
After a successful job ends send your customer a follow-up email reminding them that you’re on Google and appreciate any feedback.
In your email be sure to:
Be personal
Thank your customer for choosing you
Tell your customer you appreciate and read all feedback
Tell your customer why feedback is important
Provide a direct link for visitors to leave you a Google review
3. Leave Behind a Leave-Behind
A leave-behind is a piece of marketing collateral that you leave at your customers’ property. These tend to be more popular with contractors or local service companies.
For example, if you’re a flooring contractor who just installed new oak hardwood floors in a client’s home, consider leaving a folder containing the following:
Care and maintenance tips for the new floor
A phone number in case the customer has any follow-up questions
A business card
A feedback card
Clear, precise instructions detailing how to use the review card
Don’t feel like paying to print hundreds or even thousands of leave-behinds?
No worries—create a digital version!
Canva is a great free online tool to create a well-branded brochure for your company and to get more Google reviews.
4. Add a Review Link to Your Website to Get More Google Reviews
Another easy way to get more Google reviews is to add a review link to your website or create a custom review link.
WHAT IS A CUSTOM GOOGLE REVIEW LINK?
A custom Google review link is exactly what it sounds like—a custom URL you can create where your clients can leave you a review. When someone clicks on your custom Google review link, a box like this pops up:
This will help you get more reviews simply because it makes it easier for your customers.
You can do this in a variety of ways, including putting a link in your site’s header or footer or even using a lightbox popup requesting customers leave a review.
HOW TO USE THE CUSTOM GOOGLE REVIEW LINK GENERATOR
Here’s how to get a custom review link for your business:
Alternatively, you can view the place ID finder with its code in the Google Maps JavaScript API documentation.
Once you’ve found your local business, copy the Place ID:
What’s a Google place ID? A place ID is a unique identifier given to your local business address by Google. Place IDs are available for most locations, including businesses, landmarks, parks, and intersections.
Tack that bad boy onto the end of this link: http://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=<PLACE_ID>
Just because a customer doesn’t leave you a review immediately doesn’t mean they’ll never leave one.
You might’ve initially caught them at a bad time. Or maybe they wanted to leave you a review or send feedback, but simply forgot.
We recommend creating two email follow-up templates in addition to your first feedback request and limiting your total number of feedback requests to three.
Try sending a new request once a week or even every other week until you’ve hit your max. Face it; some people will never leave a review or send feedback no matter how many times you ask. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try.
Persistent follow-up keeps your company fresh in the customers’ minds and adds more points of contact between you and your clients.
6. Keep Your Cool When You Get a Bad Review
So you got a bad review. Don’t attack, don’t deliver excuses; just accept responsibility and vow you’ll correct the problem. I’ve seen our clients turn a one-star review into a 5-star review just by being good people and making things right.
When customers see that you monitor and respond to reviews—even bad ones—they’re more likely to see you as a stand-up company and choose your services. If it’s genuinely a false review, follow these steps.
7. Add Calls-to-Action and Popups on Your Website
People procrastinate. You know that. I know that. Everybody knows that.
Nudge procrastinators by having plenty of calls-to-action on your website, and even by adding a small pop-up encouraging the user to leave a review. Chances are you’ve seen these popups and CTAs at work—typically they something like, “Are you enjoying [insert product here]? Leave us a review!” I know I see them every time I use half my apps on my smartphone, and multiple times a day as I browse websites I use for work.
8. Respond to Your Reviewers
We always recommend responding to online reviews—both positive and negative.
If a customer leaves a positive review, say thank you!
If a customer leaves a negative review, follow the steps below:
Address the issue
Apologize for the issue (even if your company is in the wrong)
Online reviews are often similar to the six o’clock evening news—you only hear the bad and not the good.
By far the easiest way to get a Google review is to provide great customer service to every customer you interact with.
If a customer is blown away with your company, the service you provide, the product they purchased, or the experience they had, they’ll feel compelled to leave a review (use steps 1-8 to help ensure it’s a Google review!).
Make Google Reviews a Priority
Getting more Google reviews can pay dividends for your company, like higher rankings on Google search results and increasing leads. But, the process to get more Google reviews isn’t easy. You must have an employee who owns your company’s reviews from end-to-end, including:
Creating and managing your review process across your company
Monitoring new reviews
Responding to positive and negative reviews on Google (and other platforms, like Yelp, BBB, Facebook, etc.)
Escalating negative reviews and poor customer experiences to the proper teammate (i.e., management)
Need help increasing leads from the web? Contact us online to learn more about our wide range of digital marketing services designed to help businesses like yours generate as many leads and sales as possible from the Internet.
Blue Corona's Editorial Staff is determined to help you increase your leads and sales, optimize your marketing costs, and differentiate your brand by passing on our tribal knowledge. The team vigilantly stays on top of the latest in digital marketing, bringing you the top insights with expert commentary. Want to see something on our blog you haven't seen yet? Shoot us an email and our marketing team will get to work.
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