When’s the last time you bought a product on Amazon or ate at a restaurant rated less than four stars? We’ll let you think. Odds are, you haven’t. Today’s consumers make more decisions based on reviews than ever before, and it goes beyond e-commerce and restaurant choices. Businesses across all industries are impacted by customer reviews.
But how can businesses get reviews? And where can customers review businesses? Are reviews important for MY business? Let’s talk it through.
How to Earn Reviews
Ideally – your product or service provides such an expectation-shattering experience that customers can’t help but to leave a good review. But that’s not always the case. While a lot of potential customers read reviews, most of them don’t write them. They need a little nudge.
Ask Customers for Reviews
If it sounds too easy, it’s because it is. Hear a customer say something great in a meeting? Ask them to say the same thing on Google or Facebook. This works across all business types. Most customers haven’t even considered reviewing you, but they’ll be happy to do so after you ask.
Send Review Links in Follow Up Emails
Whether these are automated or personal, follow-up emails are a great time to ask for feedback and reviews. You can even create links that send users directly to your Google and Facebook reviews pages.
Add Review Functionality to Your Product Pages
Amazon changed (and is still changing) the way we shop online. Each product listing features a star rating and a reviews section where shoppers can dive into the details. Your e-commerce website needs to have the same. Pro-tip: social proof is way more important than anything you say about your product.
Where Can Customers Review My Business?
Google, Facebook and Yelp are the biggest drivers of reviews. But product review functionality (mentioned above) and other industry specific sites like Houzz and Angie’s List offer customers other opportunities to leave reviews.
The most important ones depend on your industry and goals. We tend to tell clients to focus on Google and Facebook as those are huge SEO drivers (more on that later). But restaurants and local shops should also focus on Yelp, while home service businesses should focus on things like Angie’s List.
Why Do Reviews Matter?
Social proof and search engine optimization go hand-and-hand today. Users want to read reviews before deciding and search engines want to give users the best results possible. The more reviews you have, the more likely you are to show up in organic search results.
This concept applies to B2C and B2B businesses. While B2B marketers didn’t worry about reviews in the past, the rise of their importance in other industries lead B2B buyers to engage with reviews when they buy for their company the same way they would when they buy for themselves.
Bottom line: almost 100 percent of your customers read your reviews and they rank them as one of their most important decision-making factors.
Want to learn more about how you can grow reviews for your brand? Contact us today to get started.
