The Ultimate Guide to Getting More Google Reviews
When someone is looking for your business on the web, they're bound to find your Google reviews in their searches. Since these reviews typically appear right below your business name, showing off with a high star rating is the kind of first impression you want to make.
With a strong rating and many responses to back up your image, your business gets a major credibility boost when new customers spot your listing. But what if those five stars are missing? Even if your service is exceptional, you may notice a lack of positive reviews (or any reviews for that matter). Luckily, this guide will help you communicate with your audience and increase your ratings.
Follow Up With Your Customers
Following up with your customers and clients is a great way to start earning some star power, which is why our first two tips include connecting with your audience.
Send an Email
First, you could try sending out follow-up emails after successfully serving or fulfilling a customer's needs. Some people are opposed to business emails, so be earnest and personal. Thank your customer for choosing your business and spending their time with you. Be honest about how you're looking to receive feedback so you can better your business, and then courteously leave them a direct link that leads to a Google review form. If they're reading your email already, you don't want to burden them with the clicks it could take to head over to your Google reviews section manually. If you can't find a link to your Google review form, please follow the numbered guide at the end of this blog.
Emails and newsletters featuring reviews without actually asking for them are also effective. By including reviews in your newsletters, you're showing customers that you're proud of your business and care about your patrons' experiences. Accordingly, someone on your mailing list may just leave a review to spread the positivity and see themselves featured someday.
Include a Thank-You Card
Instead of going digital, you could also include thank-you cards with your products and services, which express your desire for meaningful feedback. Feel free to flex some graphic design skills as you create the thank-you card, and be sure to guide the reader to your Google reviews. The tangible feel of the card may just convince those customers who would otherwise drag and drop your emails into the trash.
Promote Leaving a Review On Your Social Channels
Besides follow-ups, you can also increase the volume of your reviews via your social channels. When you get a good review, feel free to share it! For example, you could craft an entire post around a review highlighting what makes your business rise above the competition. Creating well-designed posts that regularly highlight reviews will make your audience feel like their voices are heard, and they'll be more likely to leave their own review. If you want to humanize your brand, you could even have staff members read the reviews on video and genuinely thank their customers.
Make it Easy to Leave a Google Review On Your Website
If you're going to highlight reviews on your social channels, then you should do the same on your website. Leave several reviews visible throughout your site, or leave a link to your Google reviews so people can check out others' opinions.
Respond to Your Current Google Reviews
Reading these reviews on social channels and being thankful for them brings us to another tip– respond to your reviews. Don't let your reviews be an endless wall of customer text; instead, respond to your customers by thanking them for positive reviews and replying to negative reviews with inquiries about how to improve. Of course, a bad review is still bad, but if a new customer sees that you genuinely care about your performance, they're more likely to feel favourable toward your business.
Guide your Audience Toward Specificity
Whatever your means of garnering more reviews, always ask for specifics. Specific references to the elements of your products or services that deserve attention help new customers identify exactly what's so great about you. A blank or general review like "Great spot!" is certainly welcome, but it's less likely to sway someone trying to decide why they should go with your business for their needs.
Provide a Guide to Leaving A Google Review
If your audience is having a hard time figuring out how to leave a Google review, then provide them with some guidance. This quick breakdown should help them out.
- Log in to your Google account if you haven't already
- Search Google or Google maps for the place or business you wish to review
- Once you select the correct location, you'll see a review summary with past reviews and a star rating. At the bottom of this review, a summary is a link titled "Write a Review." Click this
- This will open a page with a blank star rating and a text field. Select the number of stars you wish to award the location and enter your review into the text field. Once complete, click "Post"
- Your post will now be published alongside the previous reviews. Remember that your Google profile will be visible and linked to the review
Our Agency Can Help You Score More Google Reviews
Now that you know how to increase your audience's engagement via Google reviews, you can go forward feeling confident that these strategies will boost that star rating and attract more positive testimonials. But if your business still isn't seeing the type of praise you want, then consider reaching out to us at WEB ROI. We can help you with all types of digital marketing, including website design and development, search engine optimization, advertising, social media strategy and more.
