In today’s strategy session, we’re giving away knowledge tips for collecting and dealing with customer reviews. The first thing you need to understand is that any work you do on reviews is free… and has ‘forever value’.
It is never a waste of time to pursue gathering reviews because they never expire for the life of your business.
What platform should I get reviews on?
So, where should you focus your time between all the platforms? Yelp and Facebook are fine, but Google is still the top dog when it comes to public trust because it gives people a glimpse through other’s eyes into what it’s like to work with you. We would suggest you focus the majority of your time on getting reviews on your Google My Business platform.
The words people use in reviews are powerful and have been shown to impact Google’s search results when looking for a specific business or service. Typically, you need 5 reviews for Google to display your profile, so start collecting them now.
Reasons you should set Google reviews up right away:
- It’s free
- We set up a GMB (Google My Business) profile for you
- We built a review collection feature on your website
Next, we’ll talk about two items you’ll want to focus your time in preparing for receiving and asking for reviews, and then we’ll address some concerns and questions.
Two simple steps to grow reviews:
#1: Feedback page
In the Launch Kit or Sparrow website that we built for you, you’ll find a feedback page ready to connect with a Google my Business profile. How this works is when you’ve concluded your business with someone, send them an email thanking them for the experience working with them, and ask if they will leave you a feedback review. Send them to your feedback page (not direct link to Google) just in case they’re having a bad day. If you end up getting criticism or a poor review, make sure you set up the button to send directly to you, not to your public reviews page so you can address the issue.
#2: Business “feedback” cards
If you have a business where you send mailings, packets, or door hangers, make sure you have a business card available to everyone with the invitation to leave feedback. Emails can be effective, but people will often have greater success in remembering to do it if they have a little piece of paper floating around to remind them. Canva.com is a great resource to design and print off your cards for a very reasonable cost.
Common Objections and Questions about Gathering Reviews
What if they leave a 1-star?
It is never fun to see anything less than 4 or 5 stars, but you have to remember that you’re dealing with the ups and downs of other people’s emotions. Also consider, having a variety of reviews can boost your trust value. If someone looks at a business that has only 5-star reviews, it may cause some distrust because a perfect score seems too good to be true.
How should I respond to a poor review?
- Remember that you don’t have conversations on Google review… you have the last word in this discussion, so don’t defend yourself.
- You are not responding to the person who is upset, you are responding to the next person that will view this conversation later on. Invite the conversation to continue offline and express your willingness to make things right.
- Deal with issues with a professional attitude – try not to let emotions lead you.
- Don’t argue with trolls (competitors leaving negative reviews, or people who haven’t been a customer) and state clearly and kindly (for the readers who will see this exchange) that you have never served this person but you’d be happy to change their mind about your service.
- Also – if the review is unfounded or inappropriate, there is a new tool that you can use to remove it!
What if I don’t have time to deal with all these comments myself?
We now offer a Basic GMB SEO Growth services for $50/month that includes monitoring, responding to, and helping you grow your reviews online. Or, we can recommend BrightLocal as a resource. Their Just Reviews service for $8/month will take care of your reviews across all the platforms and send you an email keeping you updated, so you can respond to them all at one time.
As always, we enjoy sharing our knowledge with you and seeing your business grow as a result. Please let us know if you have any questions about our strategies or marketing tips and share your success with us!
