6 Steps to Get More Positive Online Reviews
Whether you request your happiest customers (promoters) to leave you a Google review or you use one of the other innovative approaches outlined below, a steady stream of positive reviews will help your business improve search engine rankings and boost revenues (consumers trust peer recommendations more than they trust advertising).
The dramatic increase in mobile device use makes online reviews more important than ever before; customers can research and make buying decisions right on the spot. So how can you rack up influential, positive reviews? These tips will help you start:
1. Deliver as Promised
At the most basic level, your customer service game needs to be on-point if you want to generate positive reviews. It’s not fancy or a secret — just simple, straightforward hard work that results in positive feedback for most businesses. Happy customers simply share more and will cheerfully share their thoughts and opinions about your service with others; according to a recent American Express survey, a happy customer tells 9 other people about their experience with your brand.
2. Ask the Right Customers at the Right Time
Asking for reviews can help generate them. When you have a customer who is thrilled with her new haircut, who loved your enchiladas or who feels amazing after an adjustment, ask them for a review, right on the spot. A customer satisfaction app that accepts reviews allows you to instantly gather feedback right at the point of purchase.
3. Conduct Net Promoter Score® (NPS) Surveys
Other customers to ask include those who refer your business to others, promoters — who boost your business simply by spreading the word and your most engaged followers and buyers. How can you identify these powerful influencers? Conduct NPS surveys; a Net Promoter Score survey can help clue you into your primary promoters and best bets for positive reviews.
4. Ask in the Right Way
You can’t ask for positive reviews — it damages your credibility with your customers. What you can do is invite them to leave honest feedback. If you’ve done your job with customer service and the overall experience, the reviews you generate will be positive ones anyway. Even a less than perfect review can reveal valuable insight into your business and provide transparency and trust for the reader, too.
5. Ask More than Once
You may not get a response the first time you ask for a review — and that’s ok. Adding a review request to your newsletter or email marketing campaign gives customers another shot at reviewing your business. Use a customer feedback app at the point of purchase so customers can share a review. Make it easy and you’re more likely to generate reviews that will help your brand.
6. Respond to all Reviews
Respond to all reviews you receive, whether they are positive or negative; doing so allows you to engage with your customers and can actually trigger other users to leave reviews as well. Responding to a negative review gives you a chance to turn things around and show prospects how great your customer service is; responding to positive reviews boosts engagement and rewards those who took the time to post.
Your reviews matter, and sometimes simply asking can help trigger a flood of positive feedback for your site and your brand. We make it easy to ask the right customers at the right time — our innovative feedback apps allow you to request feedback at the point of purchase, and in real time, when satisfaction is high.
Originally published at QuickTapSurvey Blog.
