Whether you’re running a small business or working in a marketing agency, customer reviews are always important.
Study after study reveals what you probably knew instinctively; we trust businesses more when we read positive reviews, and we avoid the ones that get negative reviews. There’s no way to pretend that reviews don’t matter; 86% of consumers read customer reviews.
That just leaves you with one challenge: how to actually get all those valuable customer reviews. Not everyone wants to take the time to write a review of your business.
There are a number of hidden tactics for getting more customer reviews. Just turn to a Neil Patel review. The master marketer shares his tried-and-trusted techniques for gathering more customer reviews to boost sales and raise your brand reputation.
We draw out some of Neil’s main strategies for getting more customer reviews so that you can easily apply them to your own business.
1. Cast a wide net
If you only ask for reviews from customers in person as they leave your store or office, you’re only using one channel to get reviews. You need to request reviews through as many platforms and channels as possible: in person; on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media networks; on your blog, podcast, and video channel (as relevant); basically, everywhere.
Neil Patel leads the way in this regard. He’s always asking for your comments, reviews, and responses to his content. That means that he gets a lot more reviews than if he only asked on dedicated review sites.
The results speak for themselves. Take his Marketing School Podcast, for example. Thanks to Neil’s approach which encourages his fans to review his content, his Stitcher profile is loaded with 5 stars reviews, not to mention detailed review articles that really drill down into why its content is so widely spread.
2. Get the most bang for your review buck
Although every review is valuable, some reviews are more valuable than others. Think about it; if you want to know if the new hairstylist round the corner is any good, you’ll head to their profile on Yelp or check them out on Google my Business, rather than searching for them on Instagram.
Neil reminds you that it’s vital to have a presence on the top 3 review platforms: Google, Yelp, and Facebook. They rake in almost 300 million visitors every month, so if you have limited resources, you want to focus them on getting reviews here.
Source: https://neilpatel.com/blog/online-reviews/
These dedicated review sites are the most influential. Reviews get seen by more eyes than reviews on your own site, and because the sites are so authoritative, reviews posted here have more weight than those on your own site.
3. Open your mouth and ask
It’s amazing how many businesses overlook this one. If you want more customer reviews, you have to ask for them. Although you might feel awkward, Neil reminds you to bite the bullet and make that ask.
Ideally, you’ll do this in an individual text message or email, shortly after you’ve given them awesome service or an excellent product. Make sure that you include a link to your preferred review platform so that they can leave a review or rating in a single click.
If someone gives you a compliment about your amazing business, seize the moment. Ask them to turn it into a profitable review on your chosen review site.
4. Pave the way for leaving a review
The harsh truth is that if it takes multiple clicks for someone to leave you a review, they’ll give up (unless they are really angry with your business). Your task is to remove all the obstacles that might discourage them from leaving a review, particularly on the Big 3 sites mentioned above.
Make sure that your Facebook page uses a business template that permits reviews. Then turn on your Review tab and display it prominently.
Claim your Google My Business page to gather reviews here. Just visit Google My Business and follow the online instructions.
● Yelp
You can’t ask for reviews on Yelp, but you can remind everybody that you have a Yelp profile. Once you’ve registered your business, display the Yelp badge prominently on your site.
5. Don’t ignore customer reviews
When you do get customer reviews, don’t just let them sit there.
● Promote positive reviews
Make the most of positive reviews by sharing them far and wide. Place them on your website in the form of customer testimonials, ideally with a nice headshot just like Neil Patel does on his NP Digital marketing agency.
It increases social proof and boosts your brand reputation.
● Mitigate the impact of bad reviews
Every business gets a negative review from time to time, so don’t panic. Neil points out that a bad review is your chance to show your excellent customer service, so apologize for your mistake, explain your point of view, and display your business’ policy for when something goes wrong. Once you’ve done all you can to fix the situation, you can ask the customer if they’d adjust their review.
● Reply to every review
Whether it’s a good review or a bad one, a long marketing question or a short “thanks,” on his YouTube channel or his own blog posts, Neil Patel tries hard to reply to reviews wherever they appear. Customers increasingly expect businesses to reply to their reviews. When you think about it, it’s good manners to say “thank you” when someone leaves you a valuable review. It encourages the next customer to leave a review as well.
Getting more customer reviews is not an impossible task
By asking customers on numerous platforms, making it easy for them to leave reviews on the most influential sites, and responding to as many of them as you can, you too can boost your business by increasing reviews and ratings.