How can your business dominate local search and truly stand out from the competition?

What would it do for your business if you were able to dominate the first page of Google and have a constant stream of new customers coming into your business?

You need a steady stream of positive reviews posted online where customers are looking for businesses like yours. And we are going to cover several ways to get more reviews posted online, raise your local search ranking, and take your business to the next level.

You Need More Positive Reviews to Outrank Your Competitors

Research shows that reviews are a strong ranking factor for search results. Search engines like Google are analyzing your online reviews from several angles. They look at quantity, how quickly new reviews are posted, how many sites have reviews for your business, and product keywords.

With proven ranking influence, it is crucial to consistently gather and post positive reviews to help your business rank higher in search results.

Another clear benefit of reviews management is the strong influence customer reviews have on the purchasing decisions of future customers. Online reviews posted on review sites and your business website give buyers the social proof they are looking for when searching for reliable products and services.

10 PROVEN WAYS TO EARN MORE POSITIVE REVIEWS

1. Train your employees to gather feedback from customers.

Customer feedback is a crucial resource for growing your business.  Train employees to listen to what your customers are saying.  Use that information to make improvements with the knowledge needed to refine your products and services.

One of the most important, and most neglected, steps in training your employees to handle customer reviews is arming them with scripting that encourages happy customers to leave reviews on the online sites that matter most to your business.  A simple, “I’m glad you found this helpful.  We’d really appreciate if you’d leave a review on Yelp.” reminds happy customers how they can help your business in return.

Training should include instructing customer-facing employees on the questions to ask to get quality feedback and the steps they can take to deal with dissatisfied customers.

2. Request online reviews from your happiest customers.

The best way to get reviews from customers is to ask for them and the right time is immediately following the service or transaction. The experience is fresh. Their appreciation is strongest, and they are more open to review site suggestions. When you pave the way for an easy and convenient process, customers are more likely to spend a little time and effort reviewing your business.

3. Make collecting customer email address part of your purchase process.

When you do business online, you have the benefit of collecting the email address of customers as part of the buying, opt-in, or customer service process.  Doing business in-store or on-site, you need to incorporate the collection of emails into the buyer’s journey as well. It can be as easy at having a clipboard at reception, or a more sophisticated method of asking people to “sign in” using a QR code or shortened URL.

From prospect to sale, the customer’s email address is golden. Not just from a review acquisition perspective, but also for a newsletter service. Just make sure you get their permission!

4. Use a cell phone number to text customers a “Thank You. Leave a Review.” message.

Did you know you can text a review request link to a customer?  This is incredibly effective with businesses that provide services and already use phone numbers to contact their customers with text reminders and appointment verifications.

With the dominance of smartphones and mobile internet use, clicking a link in a text message is a very simple and fast way for a happy customer to leave your business a review. Customers who have dealt with you on the phone or received text messages from your business, are not surprised or put off by a text requesting a review.

5. Incentives can give customers a reason to leave positive reviews online, but be careful.

Telling customers they can receive a 10% coupon or a free ice cream for leaving a review would seem like a harmless way to increase the number of reviews you receive.  However, be mindful of rules against incentivized reviews on your chosen review sites.

Do your homework when creating your incentive to see what is considered “payment” for services on the review sites you use.

Beyond review sites, the Federal Trade Commission has its own rules (FTC Endorsement Guide) which boil down to this:

It’s okay to invite people to review your business after an actual purchase if you tell them in advance that they should disclose what they received from you in exchange for the review and that the discount is conditioned upon their making that disclosure.  This protects the consumer by giving them a choice to decide how much trust to put into those reviews.

Make sure you aren’t violating any of the review sites’ terms of service or the specific laws in your industry governing incentives for reviews.

6. Execute a review management plan that gets reviews across ALL of the review sites that matter to your business.

Be where your customers are!

Would your customers look at the local Chamber of Commerce website to find a business like yours?

Does your local television network run a popular “Best of Your City” contest where customers can leave reviews to vote for their favorite local businesses?

Identify the review sites used most in your industry and your location.  Start with this general list for well-known review sites, but don’t forget to research where your local customers turn when they want to know the best of the best in your town.  If your customer base is hanging out on niche review sites, you need to be actively funneling reviews to that site.

7. Ask happy reviewers for referrals or reviews on other sites.

Customers who have left five-star reviews for your business can be your greatest brand ambassadors.  Reaching out to these happy customers is an easy-ask situation.  Having taken the time and effort to praise your product or service shows an investment in your business doing well.

Reaching out with an email or a phone call can bring valuable referrals and get good reviews on popular sites from a customer who has used and has a high level of trust in your business. Personalize the messaging to each customer, and be sure to thank them for the online review.

8. Have a system in place that ensures employees are asking your happy customers to leave positive reviews online.

Previously we discussed how training your employees to ask for reviews is a top priority.  Depending on the size of your company, the complexity of getting all your employees onboard can vary, but ROI is huge.

Without an internal system, it will be near impossible to get consistent results whether you have two employees or 200.  Develop a system your employees can understand and implement that makes it easy to ask your happy customers to leave a review at the end of every interaction.

9. Use feedback forms to give customers a way to voice their concerns and protect your business from receiving negative reviews online.

Bad customer reviews can have a lasting negative impact on your business. Knowing that… it might seem careless, if not scary, to send every customer directly to your Yelp profile to leave a review.

There is a way to put an extra layer of security around what is being posted online that improves customer service at the same time: feedback forms.

Review-gating (only showing people who leave a positive review a link to the review sites) is against many review sites’ Terms Of Service, so make sure people can always leave a negative review if they want to. But often it can be enough for an unhappy customer if you just ask them about their experience, allowing them to vent. And if you are on top of your review monitoring and respond to their feedback in an empathetic manner (never come up with excuses!) they may even thank you and sing your praises.

What about all that great feedback you get from happy customers in this process?  Simple: You send them an email full of gratitude and a direct link to your preferred review site to leave a glowing review where it matters most.

10. Build trust and raise your authority online by responding to customer reviews.

Managing your customer reviews isn’t just constantly generating fresh reviews and monitoring review sites for activity.  Responding to online reviews and interacting publicly with customers shows the importance you place on your customers’ experience.

Customers are more likely to leave real and useful reviews on business accounts that show activity from the owner. And less likely to leave mean-spirited, negative reviews where the owner will respond.

Take this opportunity to thank customers who took the time to leave you positive reviews and highlight what made the experience so great for other readers.  More importantly, you need to be prepared for the not-so-great review.

Make Your Reviews Work Harder for Your Business

We can’t overstate the importance of constantly getting new online reviews and protecting your positive online reputation. With several sites to monitor while working to gather good reviews and handle negative ones, this whole online reputation management process can seem overwhelming.

Luckily, it’s simple to outsource or automate most, if not all, of your reputation management and marketing processes and activities. Contact us to find out how to leverage your positive online reputation and protect future revenue without any extra work.