4 Ways to Get Your Customers to Leave Great Online Reviews

As a business owner or a manager, you understand that how people perceive your brand makes a huge difference in your bottom line. Yes, your product or service has to be awesome. But so does your image. And that’s even more relevant in today’s rapidly expanding online world. 

According to research, more than 80% of customers check online reviews before they purchase a product or use a service. If your business does not have goodwill online, you are going to struggle.

So what do you do? One way is to solicit positive reviews from your existing customers. In this post we’re going to tell you how.

1. Ask them personally

The best and the easiest way to get positive reviews for your business is to ask existing customers directly and personally. Customer service should already be a strong point of your business strategy, and you can build on it further by getting regular feedback from customers.

You can simply call up some of your best customers and let them know that you would love to get their testimonial and review to feature online.

Most people will agree if you ask. But if they sound at all hesitant, be sure not to sound pushy. You don’t want to ruin your existing relationships either or risk a less-than-stellar review.

2. Send out email reminders

An effective strategy used by a lot of businesses is to send customers an email reminder several days after they have purchased your product or service.

Your email serves as a virtual “check in” with them to make sure all is well. Invite them to contact you if they have any questions or concerns. And, if they’re satisfied, encourage them to leave a review.

3. Make it easy

One major reason customers don’t like leaving reviews is that it can be time-consuming. So make it easy for them by creating a simple review process.

You can do this by setting up a very short form, requiring just a name and basic feedback instead of asking for extra details like phone number, email, address, item description, date of purchase, etc., etc. Similarly, if you’re emailing requests to customers, consider giving them the option of replying directly to that email with their feedback rather than asking them to take an extra step, like clicking on a link, visiting a site and filling a form.

The easier you make it for your customers, the easier it will be for you to get positive reviews for your business.

4. Resolve bad reviews

Another great way to get positive reviews from your customers is to pay attention to the negative ones.

While negative reviews can definitely hurt your business, each negative review can also be an  opportunity to turn the problem around. For example, you can turn a disgruntled customer into your advocate by apologizing, offering a complimentary service, or replacing a defective product.

Many customers who leave negative reviews actually care about your product or service. Your positive, prompt response can change their mind, cause them to retract their negative review (or amend it with an updated, positive one), and improve your general goodwill online.

It has been proven that positive reviews boost sales and we hope these tips help you generate some great reviews from your customers.