With consumers being overwhelmed with more options than ever thanks to the saturation of digitalization and globalization, how do they know that you’re the business for them? Positive reviews can be the difference between potential customers choosing your small business or going with a competitor. Essentially, you’re trying to impress the review generation who want to see that you’ve got plenty of online reviews detailing how you have exceptional customer service and happy customers.
Why do positive reviews matter so much?
A lack of online reviews or negative reviews can have a major impact on the success of your business. Bad reviews suggest that you’re a local business not worth spending money on and not having much of an online reputation creates uncertainty. If other small businesses do have online reviews, potential customers will be more inclined to go with them.
As well as building social proof and credibility, Google reviews are great for improving your SEO. To get any business from search engines, you need to be high up on the first search results page. Most people don’t scroll beyond the first 10 businesses shown on search engine results, never mind go beyond the first search engine results page.
Building up a bank of Google reviews will positively impact your ranking, particularly if you’re a local business that needs to show up in local search results.
Positive Review Pitfalls to Avoid
Going about getting more reviews the wrong way can do more damage than good. So here are a few warnings of what not to do while building your online reputation.
Yes, a 5-star Google review is golden. But that’s not the only success factor. The review generation wants more. While getting more Google reviews to rank highly among local businesses, gather feedback on different review sites. This creates a wide and varied online presence that’s proof of how amazing your business is.
It’s not just about the number of online reviews but the quality, variety, and consistency of how often they come in. That means it’s definitely not worth paying for fake reviews. The review generation can see through it. They’re looking for authentic reviews. Fake reviews can do more damage than bad reviews because it destroys trust.
With those warnings out of the way, how do you create a review generation strategy and get plenty of 5-star google reviews on a regular basis?
Tips for Generating More 5-Star Reviews
The best way to get more reviews is to ask for them. Remind your customers to leave reviews to support you as a local business and include a review link in your request to make it super easy for them to know how and where to share their feedback. Here are some best practices for getting top reviews from more customers.
Ask Through the Proper Channels
The easiest way to get more reviews is to ask through your customers’ preferred channel of communication. They’re more likely to see your review request and click on the review link. Text messaging has a really good response rate. Plus it’s easy for you to set up the review request campaign and for your customers to leave a review.
Leverage Physical Traffic
If you have a site where your customer base sees you in person like a shop or office, use this opportunity to ask for reviews. All it takes is putting up a “Leave us a review” sign with a QR code that’s linked to your Google business profile. Why not drive physical traffic to leave 5 star google reviews?
