Reviews are one of the most important parts of conducting a business, if not the most important. A few sentences in a review can have more influence on customers and potential customers than an entire website. The difference between one star, or even half a star, can be all it takes for a potential customer to choose a competitor over you. In order to get those great sentences or an extra star, you need to ask your customers for reviews. This can feel awkward or self-serving, but the truth is that people generally love to share their opinions. The problem is that they just don’t know the opportunity is there. In this article, you will learn the benefits of asking for reviews, as well as the different scenarios in which you can ask for reviews and examples of what you can say.
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Benefits of Asking for Reviews
Asking your customers for reviews has a multitude of benefits for your business. Reviews are impactful and getting more reviews is a straightforward process. Satisfied customers often don’t think to leave a review unless asked to do so.
Reputation Boost
A stream of 5-star reviews from customers helps showcase your business and creates powerful social proof. This can help drive sales as well as inspire confidence in prospective customers to purchase your product or service.
Instant Outreach
Proactively asking for feedback helps strengthen customer relationships as well as connects your business to the voices that matter the most. Knowing when and how to ask for a review can also activate your brand promoters. By encouraging them to write reviews, you can convert your happiest, most satisfied customers into vocal promoters and word-of-mouth catalysts who will put in a good word about your company on business review sites.
Amplified Search Presence
Google and other industry experts say that a company’s review signals, such as review count, ratings, and text, are factored into organic and local search rankings. This means that the more reviews you have, the higher the likelihood is that you will rank higher in search engine results.
How to Ask for Reviews
There are just as many ways to ask customers for reviews as there are communication mediums within your business and marketing efforts. It’s important to remember that you don’t have to stick with just one method of asking customers for reviews. Having a few strategies running at once can ensure a steady stream of feedback coming in about your business. Having multiple recent reviews help earn your business more trust from customers and also help your business to rank higher in search engine results.
Ask In Person
Asking for a review in person can be intimidating, but it is the most effective approach. The easiest scenario would be with a customer who approaches you with unsolicited praise. In this case, you have the opportunity to express your appreciation for taking the time to provide feedback and then suggest that they leave a review on the platform of your choice.
You don’t need to wait for a customer to ask them for a review. More often than not, you’ll need to strike up a conversation with them that will provide the opportunity. You can do so by asking questions about their experience with your store, services, or products upon checkout. Some good questions to ask are:
- Did you find everything you were looking for today?
- Is this your first time [using the product they’re about to purchase]?
- How is that [product they are purchasing]? I’ve tried [a similar product] but I have yet to try this one myself.
- How was your experience in our store today?
It’s important to note that you shouldn’t ask for a review upon a customer’s first positive remark about your business. This will make your conversation seem not genuine and you will come off as not caring about their experience and focusing solely on getting a review. Reviews have the potential to improve your reputation and ranking, but you won’t get any and your reputation and ranking will decrease significantly if you don’t ask in the right manner. It’s important to be able to read the customer you’re speaking to. If their responses are short and indicate that they don’t feel like talking, don’t force it. If they respond positively and offer more information or feedback, continue the conversation and then ask for the review. For example:
“Thank you for the feedback. We love sharing that kind of information with potential customers so they can feel more confident about choosing. If you’re comfortable with it, it would be awesome if you share any of what you said to me in an online review.”
Ask Over the Phone
If you own or operate a business that is customer support heavy, you and your employees can find plenty of opportunities to ask clients for reviews over the phone. However, it’s important to choose who you’re asking wisely. If you’ve just helped a client through a long or difficult problem, it’s probably not best to ask them for a review. However, if you have a self-proclaimed satisfied customer, ideally if they expressed gratitude for your help, this is a great time to ask for a review. For example:
“I’m glad we were able to help you today and we so appreciate your business. We would love it if you share this experience on [link to the online review platform of your choice]. Seeing glowing reviews from existing customers makes others feel more comfortable knowing that they will get the support they need should an issue with our services arise.”
By doing this, you will make your customer feel appreciated and valued, which not only increases customer loyalty but will also increase the chances of them actually giving you that review.
Ask Via Email
Using emails to ask for reviews is a great approach for all kinds of businesses. It’s a great channel for communicating with your customers, and you can include a link to the platform right in the email and even test out different formats and language. There are different ways that you can ask for reviews via email. First, you can send out an email blast. This is an email that will go out to your customer list. You may want to do one broad email or segment it out as you see fit. This type of email could be as short as a simple 1-10 scale rating, or it could include some brief copy. For example:
“Hi everyone!
Positive reviews from awesome customers like you help others to feel comfortable about choosing us too. Could you take 60 seconds to go to [link to review platform] and share your happy experiences?”
The second way that you can ask for reviews via email is through a personalized email. Nothing can make a customer feel quite as appreciated as when they receive a personal email from the business owner. Choose a handful of loyal customers who have done a great deal of business with you, or customers with whom you’re hoping to cultivate lasting relationships, and send them a personal note thanking them for their business and asking for the review.
The third way that you can ask for reviews via email is with an organization-wide email. This helps involve your employees in the process. Stress the importance of customer reviews to your staff and ask that they send personal emails to customers. Let them know that they would be personally contributing to the growth of the organization and they will feel empowered to participate in the initiative. It’s important to keep email correspondences short and sweet. People are busy and you’re already asking them to take the time to write a review, so it’s important to not make them read a long copy about it.
Ask in a Purchase Confirmation
Whether the purchase confirmation is an email or thank you page, asking for a review immediately might seem too soon, since the customer most likely hasn’t had the chance to try your product or service just yet. However, they can still provide feedback on what it was like to navigate your website, interact with your staff and/or sales team, and go through the purchase process. These are three very important factors that customers take into account when considering purchasing a product or service from a business. This is also when the process is fresh on their mind. For many customers, it may not be their first purchase, so if this is the third time purchasing a product from you, or the same product, they might be more inclined to give their positive feedback. For example:
“Thank you for your purchase! If you enjoyed your shopping experience, tell us (and others) about it!”
Start Asking For Reviews Today!
Asking for reviews is a great way to connect with your customers and receive the best feedback possible. If you want to boost your company’s reputation, learning how to ask for reviews with the tips we provided here is very helpful.
FAQ:
- How do I ask for reviews?
- Why do I need to ask for reviews?
- What are the benefits of asking for reviews?
- How do I ask for reviews via email?
- How do I ask for reviews in person?
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