Customer reviews are an important part of any Google My Business site.
When people visit your site, they will either glance or look at the reviews.
This is social proof to them that your business and service has been of value to others.
HOW DO I GET CUSTOMERS TO LEAVE REVIEWS?
We all have our best and most loyal customers that you have a very positive relationship with.
They can be referred to as “Evangelists.”
They are your biggest boosters as they have a high regard for your abilities based on past performance.
If you approach them properly, they are likely to provide amazing testimonials about your business and service.
When asked to provide a Google My Business review, they are normally pleased to assist you.
However, they may need some help in accomplishing this task, to avoid frustration.
To help them out, we have created an email template that has some brief instructions in it, along with the direct link where they can leave a review.
Once we know that they are willing to help, we simply send them this link.
CREATING A GMAIL ACCOUNT
In order to leave a google review, the person must have a GMAIL account.
Not all of your clients may have a GMAIL account.
So to expedite matters, we have created a second brief email with a template which describes how to create a GMAIL account for those that do not have one.
We specifically ask in the first email that requests a review, that it be a 5 STAR review.
That might seem bold to ask, but some clients simply have a different impression of the star rating system than we have.
Many clients think that 3 stars is a very good rating and that providing this ranking would be doing us a favor.
We want to avoid this ranking, as it will reduce our formerly high ranking by dropping the average rating.
So, pretty soon, you should have your first reviews from these Evangelists on your Google My Business site.
STRATEGIES TO OBTAIN TESTIMONIALS
After that, you want to develop a process where you regularly ask clients for a review, when they seem particularly happy with your business or service.
Some examples of successful strategies for getting reviews:
- One of our clients regularly sends prepaid coffee cards to their best customers as a thank you. Once they receive the card, they are asked if they would mind leaving a review.
- Another client holds Customer Appreciation Events. This would be another good opportunity to ask for a review once the event is over.
Here is an example letter.
It was great chatting with you today.
I would appreciate it if you can leave a review for me at my Google website as we discussed, as social media is becoming more and more important and it will help us out.
Please log into your gmail, and then click on this link. Direct Link to review.
It should take you directly where you can click on the fifth star so they are all orange, and leave a review where it says ” share details of your own experience at this place”. Any specifics about what you liked about your experience with our business will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.