Building a business that is customer focused can be immensely rewarding. You touch the lives of people every day and they are so thankful to have you in their lives – your business grows and customers refer their friends and family.
Client referrals are one of the most important factors in creating a successful and sustainable business, but it should not be the only focus.
There are many ways to reach new customers and online testimonials play a significant role in whether a new customer decides to call you for an appointment or visit your place of business. While a few 5 star reviews can help a potential customer get a sense of your reputation in your market, breaking the 50-100 review mark will earn you a credibility status that sets you apart from the rest. By default, customers will assume that your first 20 reviews where created by your network of friends and family. If you managed to reach this far then I want to let you know there is more work to be done.
Here is a strategy that is sure to get you high-quality reviews and many more ratings.
Let’s start with putting together a list of your most loyal and delighted customers. There are many ways to ask your customer to review your business, but the most effective, hands-down is face-to-face. The best time to ask them is after they use your service or product. Don’t ask before hand or during, be sure to ask right before they are gone. The conversation might go a little like this:
“Thank you so much. I want to ask you for a huge favor. We want to reach more customers and in order for us to do this, it would be a tremendous help if you can take a few minutes to write an online review of your experience. Doing so will let other potential customers know about all the benefits you get and will help spread the word so that more people can benefit from our services. Will you do that for me? Thank you again, this will be a great help!”
Great! Now let’s make sure we have a seamless process in capturing these reviews. The last thing you want to do at this point is to put hurdles in the way of your customer fulfilling your request. Now let’s give them the direct links to reaching the review page. Let them know you will send them a text or email with the links to write their review.
Your business may be registered on many directories but I will only cover the most obvious review sites for now.
The simplest way to get your google review page URL is to do the following:
Go to the Google Maps Developer Page and search for your business. If your business is not listed then get your business listed on Google. Next, find your businesses place ID and paste it onto a text document. Now add this place ID to the following URL replacing the <place _id> with yours at https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=<place_id>
This URL will take customers directly to your review page.
For YELP, search your business, click on the Write a Review button and copy the URL of this page. These reviews will appear on Apple Map searches so make sure your business is listed there as well.
For FACEBOOK this process is very similar, make sure you are logged out, search your business, then click on YES under the Do you recommend (Your Business Name)? then copy the URL to this page.
This strategy will surely get you new and up-to-date reviews for your business. Now it is up to you to stay consistent and ask your latest customers to share their experience. Be patient and diligent and your reputation will grow steadily.