How to get Google Reviews?
Do you want to learn how to get Google reviews for your business?
Having positive reviews with visibility on Google search results benefits your business in many ways. In a world where people regularly go on the internet to get more information about companies before they choose to purchase anything, having dozens of online reviews is a great way to get people to want to visit your establishment or order from your website.
People want to purchase from companies that have good reviews because it lets them know that other customers have had great experiences. When someone is buying something, they want to have a genuinely pleasant experience, and they want to make sure they are spending their money wisely.
If you are having a difficult time getting customer reviews as a business owner, there are a few ways to get people to start posting winning reviews. It takes a bit of creativity and excellent customer service, but you can eventually end up with the positive input you want and need.
Remember you need positive 5 star reviews to stand out in Google SERP’s.
Do not get discouraged about a lack of reviews. Instead, follow this simple step-by-step guide on winning the Google reviews your business needs.
Ask Customers to Leave Reviews
Sometimes it’s as simple as asking people to post a 5 star review. Small businesses often depend heavily on the positive feedback provided by their customers. It is a way for them to strengthen their relationship with current customers while getting those customers to spread the word to their family and friends.
Word-of-mouth referrals can still do a lot for businesses of all sizes, especially small businesses that depend on their customers to have success. Many customers would have no problem providing a review of your business, but they might not think about it on their own. There are a few good ways to ask your customers to leave reviews. These are just some of the options:
- Request a personal email address and phone number of customers when they are completing a purchase. You may then send a message via email or text to thank customers for their purchases and to ask for their feedback via Google. Consumers are often most responsive to text messages because they have their phones with them most of the time.
- Leave a decorative thank you card in bags or boxes when customers purchase items. They will see the card when opening their items, and that might remind them to go to Google to leave a review for your business.
- Place a sign in your establishment in a prominent location that asks customers to leave reviews while they are still there. It is easy for people to forget to leave reviews when they get home, but they might not forget if they are reminded to do so as they checkout.
Having a Five star rating on Google is essential for your small business. Take the extra steps to kindly remind your customers leave their feedback and how much it will mean to you.
Provide Great Service to Your Customers
If you are regularly providing excellent service to your customers, you can expect your review stars on Google to increase with ease. Happy customers are more than willing to leave feedback about their experiences.
You could end up making customers feel appreciated and satisfied with their experiences by doing these things:
- Answering calls as quickly as possible
- Responding to customers when they have questions for you
- Providing high quality products and services that customers would consider top-notch
- Going above and beyond to satisfy your customers while meeting their needs
- Offering a safe and welcoming environment
- Providing your services/products at great prices
- Providing service with a smile and a positive attitude
- Encouraging staff members to create a positive, non-hostile work environment
When you start getting new reviews from these satisfied customers, you can end up gaining more of an online presence. Having a more significant presence online is important because that makes it a lot easier for potential customers to find you and your own site.
The more good reviews you receive from your customers, the better your online reputation will become.
Respond Positively to Reviews From Your Customers
Be responsive when you get reviews on Google. While you want everyone to have a great experience when doing business with you, there are times when someone might have a negative experience. When you are reading a negative review, you might feel upset and discouraged about the situation, but there is a right way for you to handle things. Instead of getting angry and ignoring the negativity, respond in the most positive way possible.
You want to let the customer know that you are sorry for their bad experience and that you would like to do anything you can to help resolve any issues they might have. When you respond in such a way, the customer may be willing to remove the negative review while taking you up on the offer to fix anything that went wrong.
Not only does it help the person who left the bad review in the first place, but responding positively to negative comments makes you look better as a business owner. Both current and potential customers will see that you are taking the time to respond to those who leave reviews.
They will notice that you want to resolve issues and improve any bad experiences that people have had, and that is what is going to make those people want to continue to do business with you.
A kind and professional response can have a huge impact on the way that other people view your business. While it is reasonable to get discouraged over a one-star review, you simply need to take it with stride and work harder to provide the best possible experience for the customers.
Create a Social Media Incentive
While some people will find your business through a Google search, it helps to use social media incentives to get more reviews that will make it even easier for potential customers to find out information about the business during these searches.
For example, ask followers to leave reviews to talk about their experiences with your business on your Facebook page. Not only is it good to have good reviews on Google, but also ask consumers to leave positive feedback on Facebook.
When people are looking up your business name on Google, they will quickly and easily find this valuable information that could help them decide to do business with you or not.
So, how exactly do you create a social media incentive? You create a blog post and post it to Facebook, where you are offering a small discount or special deal to those who leave a review.
It may be awkward to request positive reviews, but if you are offering an incentive, people have an even better reason to rate your business a bit higher. You may have a much higher response rate when you are offering an incentive that is going to benefit the consumers.
Create a Google My Business Profile
Take the time to create a detailed profile via Google My Business. You have a better chance of getting the positive feedback you want and need when you have created a profile that makes it easy for customers to find your business on the search engine site.
You should create a free profile to increase customer engagement. Your profile will include important information for past customers and potential customers to see.
Some of the information you need to add on your profile for your business page include:
- Full name of the business
- The phone number for customers to call if need be
- The physical address for your business
- Link to your website
- Hours of operation
- Details about methods of payment that you accept at your establishment
- Photos of the business and some products provided to customers
After creating this profile, internet users will see all this essential information. If they go on Google and type in the name of your business to get more details, they will have easy access to everything they need to know about your business. They will also have the opportunity to see reviews from others who have decided to leave feedback for you based on their experiences.
Why It Is So Important to Get Good Google Reviews?
Consumers will often make an informed decision on which business to choose for different products or services based on Google’s search result findings.
It is not uncommon for consumers to visit Google to look up information on a business and then check out the reviews for that business before deciding if it is the right company to choose.
When you have a lot of positive things being said about your business via Google, it gives you greater credibility. Prospective customers might choose your business over another business simply based on all the reviews they found and read through beforehand. After all, why would someone want to do business with a company that has a two-star rating when they could do business with a company that has a four-star or five-star rating?
Providing a great customer experience, asking for reviews, and responding to the feedback you receive are just some of the ways for you to get more Google reviews. It requires some extra effort, but having legitimate reviews from real people is far better than having a bunch of obviously fake reviews for your business.
It is easy for customers to leave reviews via their computers or a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet. Now that the process of leaving a review is much easier, you have a high chance of getting the feedback you desire by directly requesting it from people.
While the goal is to get positive reviews, you might get critical views at times. Consider critical input as valuable insight into what you can do to better your business and improve over the next few months.
And finally, don’t give up on a customer that gives a poor review. Quickly work to resolve the problem to the customers satisfaction and ask them to change their review once you are sure they are satisfied.
Your investment to salvage the customer relationship is very important. Reviews are permanent and poor results and your failure to reverse the negative comments will be read by hundreds of potential customers over the years – so “make it right” with unhappy customers. People will talk about recoveries more than bad experiences.
