When you sell a product or service, reviews can be a love-hate kind of thing.
If you have a loyal and vocal customer base that’s gifted you with glowing reviews, they are GREAT.
BUT, if you’re new (without reviews) or worse yet if you’ve had some unfortunate experiences with particularly vocal grumpy customers, reviews can be the bane of your digital existence.
Good news! You can increase your positive reviews without farming or participating in shady deals.
And then those great reviews will help you to dominate local search results.
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Reviews! Everyone’s doing it…
Consider your last purchase.
Did you start with Google or Yelp and look for suggestions?
Especially for
- Where to shop
- Where to eat
- What service provider to trust
Customer reviews probably played a big role in your research phase.
Lots of high-rated reviews:
- customers select you over competitors.
- Google ranks you higher in local searches.
Reviews increase your exposure
Leads to increased footfall to your business.
Developing an Online Reputation
Online reviews are:
- comments about your business or its products/services
- by individuals who have no association with you.
Note: people look at reviews at the end of their purchase cycle.
If I’ve got a hankering for Italian food
I’m probably going to search Yelp for suggestions for Italian dinner.
According to a study by BrightLocal
85% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase decision.
Do online reviews really impact their final decision?
“Dimensional Research” found:
90% of respondents claimed reviews influenced their purchasing decisions.
On average, each individual reads at least 6 reviews before forming an opinion.
The number of people using online reviews has steadily increased over the years
Your online reputation = summary of your online reviews
Positive reviews may sway users towards your business
BUT
it takes but a few bad reviews to permanently stain your image.
Example: If people are complaining about poor quality food or slow service at your restaurant, most people will avoid your business.
How Reviews Impact Local SEO
It may seem that reviews are only useful for driving conversions.
But there’s more.
Google looks at reviews to determine how trustworthy your business is.
The more people talk about your business, the higher your ranking.
Why?
Google’s job is to improve user experience (UX).
Reviews improve UX:
- provide actionable results that people can reliably act on immediately.
Example: Search for a lawyer in Denver.
Sample Google search results
Notice the first thing they see in the results section.
A map of all related businesses in the region and the top 3 recommendations according to Google.
AKA the “3-pack.”
Businesses in the 3-pack feature above organic rankings
they enjoy:
- a bulk of the click-throughs
- AND a majority of foot traffic generated by search.
Reviews effect if your business will appear in the 3-pack.
Reviews are social proof that people like (or don’t like) your brand.
Google filters out businesses that could damage its own reputation.
If you’ve optimized for local SEO factors (local citations & social signals)
But
you have few reviews:
Google will not recommend (rank) you in the 3-pack.
Both quantity and quality of reviews matter.
Example: two comparable restaurants in the same city.
One has a 3-star rating with 500+ reviews
The other 4.5 stars with 300 reviews.
The higher rated restaurant will be given preference in ranking.
The Path To Acquiring Awesome Reviews
How can you get more people to leave a review for your business?
More importantly: without breaking Google’s guidelines?
Be proactive
Constantly remind people to review you.
People who are happy with your business will usually provide a review.
Step 1: Establish a presence
You need to be present on review platforms
The ones where people are likely to search for you
Those that make it easy for reviewers to leave feedback.
- Google+
- Amazon
- Yelp
- TripAdvisor.
You don’t need to be on every review site.
Find out which review sites Google is pulling data from for the top-ranked results in your industry.
Example: You’re an Italian restaurant in San Francisco.
Type that into Google
Check out top results.
Yelp and Tripadvisor reviews are weighted heavily.
Certain sites are favored in each industry.
Example:
- Those looking for a restaurant may start with Yelp
- Travelers typically trust TripAdvisor or Expedia
- Online shoppers head to Amazon
- People searching for a service provider often rely on Google.
Now set up a business profile on the sites commonly used in your industry. Note the link that directly leads people to the review form.
This makes it easy for people to leave a review when asked
(more on this in the next step).
If there is an option to verify your business, do so.
Moz Local and Whitespark can help you claim listings and keep them up to date.
Regularly confirm key factors like:
- Location
- hours of operation
- and phone number are current.
This adds an additional layer of trust to your business.
Inconsistent business info seems shady to potential customers.
Step 2: Ask politely for a review
Asking for a review can be really effective.
But
you have to be subtle
You can’t just flat-out ask someone to leave you a positive review.
Remain neutral
Encourage people to leave an honest review.
Every major review site has strict rules against incentivizing reviews
- Expect your ranking to tank
- All your reviews (even genuine ones) could be removed or permanently “hidden.”
- Maybe even legal action
How to acquire positive reviews naturally:
Start with “power players”:
individuals who are getting the most value from your product or service.
Look to your repeat and loyal customers.
After identifying a target group, try these tactics:
During the purchase process, ask customers to provide their contact information.
Worried about incentivizing?
- Email receipt
- Loyalty discount club
- etc.
Add the email address to an automated mailing list that asks users to leave a review.
Consider adding it to your thank you message
Or your “welcome to the club” email
Include a link that redirects users directly to the review site.
- Social media
You know your target customers use social media
Many use social media to connect with the brands they love.
Remind customers to check out your social presence.
- Print reminder on your receipt
- Include a link to your social media pages on emails
- Include your brand’s Facebook address on your business cards.
Facebook encourages users to review businesses
- Dedicated landing page
Set up a landing page dedicated to collecting reviews.
Promote this page
- through flyers in-store
- in your social media community
- send customers to this page after service.
The elephant in the Room: What about unhappy customers?
Those customers that were unhappy tend to scream loudest
Pointing those people directly to a public platform is not a good idea
Super frustrating if you weren’t aware that the customer was unhappy and didn’t have the opportunity to make it right.
Landing page lets you triage for positive and negative reviews.
Here’s how:
Have a dedicated review landing page that asks customers to rank your product/service in a super simple way.
- Thumbs up or smiley face for good
- Thumbs down or frowny face for bad
Segment customers based on this response.
Send unhappy customers to another page (that you control) where they can leave feedback.
Instead of sharing that review publicly, send it to your customer service team.
Send those who respond positively to a page with links to 2-3 sites you want them to review you on.
Tips:
- Keep the selection options small (2 is probably best)
- Rotate them out periodically to diversify your review distribution.
Step 3: Respond to Every review
(especially the negative ones)
Nothing is more disappointing than an unengaged business.
A customer has taken time and effort to leave a review
The least you can do is make time to say thanks.
Here’s a great example from Hard Rock Cafe:
What makes this a great response?
- Personalized
- Specific
Doesn’t seem cold and uncaring.
Impersonal “robo” response harms your reputation as much as a negative review.
Show you value a person’s feedback.
Remember:
You aren’t talking to just them
The entire Internet reading your every word.
Stand out with your response:
- Say thanks
- Reference something unique about the product or service they bought
- Make a funny remark
Goal: show that you are a real person.
Hard Rock’s response mentions the server getting recognition for her work.
If they had just said “thank you, come again”?
It would read like:
“you aren’t important enough to warrant a personal response.”
Gives a bad vibe
Could even appear disrespectful.
Always put in more effort than your customers
Aim to build strong, lasting relationships.
Unfortunately, reviews are not always positive.
Ignoring a negative review may be tempting but doing so is damaging.
Let’s start by looking at a great example of a business owner handling a negative review.
This is a great response because
- It non-defensively responds the issues
- Accepts responsibility where appropriate, graciously
The worst thing you can do:
Respond with anger, defensiveness or aggression
- It acknowledges how the reviewer feels.
Ignoring someone’s anger or frustration because you disagree with them prolongs the conflict
In the example above the owner:
- addresses each issue.
- informs the customer of the work being done to improve customer experience
- invites customer to reach out to him.
Template to respond to a negative review:
- Thank them for the feedback
Always thank people for their reviews whether it’s positive or negative.
A negative review may seem like a punishment but when you consider the alternatives, it isn’t.
A person could have simply:
Told family and friends never to do business with you & never returned
Instead, they took time to provide feedback.
Take the opportunity to consider if their experience may be shared by other customers that DON’T let you know what needs to be fixed
- Agree with the truth
It’s natural to feel that a bad review is filled with misinformation and lies.
Instead, look for any bit of truth and agree with it.
Example:
“This company is a scam!
The product I bought broke the first time I used it.”
Where’s the truth?
They bought your product
You should confirm this.
It doesn’t matter right now whether you think they broke the product intentionally or if it was faulty, just agree with the truth.
Never argue over opinions
(such as your company being called a scam).
Once you’ve acknowledged the truth
Empathize with how they feel.
Don’t accept their conclusions as fact
Do recognize their feelings.
If you can do it appropriately, mirror the same words or phrases they use.
If they say “frustrated,” use that word in your response.
- Give them a goal
Take charge to solve the problem.
Let people know that your goal is to fix the problem and improve customer experience in the future.
Give them a task to help solve the problem.
This makes it less likely they’ll spend the next few weeks leaving you bad reviews all over the net.
Don’t offer discounts or offer money back in the review.
This can backfire:
Encourages people review you badly to get a discount or free stuff.
- Stay on top of your online reputation
Don’t delay
Reply promptly
If you don’t have time to monitor multiple review sites every day, set up a Google alert for your business and product names.
Respond within 24-48 hours
Address legitimate customer concerns.
A negative review is an opportunity to fix problems before they tank your business!
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Get Those Reviews!
Reviews can make a huge impact in today’s digitally connected marketplace. Not only can they increase traffic to your store or website, they can lead to more exposure from local search.
But you can’t just sit back and wait.
You have to actively pursue positive reviews
With a few subtle tricks to encourage happy customers to tell the world while you get the chance to resolve the bad experiences privately.