Last Updated on: 12th December 2022, 03:33 pm
We turn to reviews in almost every area of our lives to assure quality, movie reviews, job candidate referrals, music album evaluations, and so on. The list goes on for companies. In fact, research published by Fan & Fuel found that a whopping 97% of consumers say that customer reviews factor into their buying decisions. People tend to take everything they read or hear with a grain of salt when it comes to corporate content. They understand that businesses only promote good things about their items and services while leaving flaws and issues out of the picture. When people see their peers sing praises for a business they trust, it gives social proof. The explanation is simple: other people like you are boosting your brand image even if they don’t have any financial interest in your company. This is why producing feedback on a regular basis is critical for accelerating growth.
Due to how much importance customers put on reviews throughout the buying process, obtaining customer feedback should be a significant part of your marketing efforts. Despite the significance of consumer feedback for development, many businesses neglect to request it. We discovered that several sectors, including construction and property management, do not often request reviews. One reason why businesses don’t usually ask for reviews is that manually asking each client for a review may be time-consuming and difficult. In this article, we’ll show you how to obtain significantly more feedback for your company in a short amount of time. But first, let’s address some frequent questions about obtaining evaluations.
Frequently asked questions:
What is social proof?
In a business setting, social proof is evidence that other people have bought and appreciated a product or service provided by a business. People look for evaluations, suggestions, and methods to learn what others’ experiences were like before buying when they shop.
What is review generation?
The goal of this stage is to obtain online reviews from your consumers on relevant business listing review sites, such as Google and Facebook. Industry-specific ones include TripAdvisor and OpenTable, as well as general industry-specific sites like Google and Facebook. Review generation is an important component of online reputation management, which aids in customer acquisition and retention.
What are the benefits of generating reviews?
Customers’ online reviews have set up a new layer in marketing that bridges the gap between word-of-mouth and a viral form of feedback that can influence consumer opinion. Customers and shoppers use reviews as a major factor in helping them decide where to do business, no matter what sector you’re in. The more excellent evaluations your business has, the more likely people are to become customers
The benefits of regularly generating reviews
1. Reviews increase sales
Positive or negative, both comments help businesses make positive modifications, attract consumers, increase conversion rates, advertise their brand, and take an extra step forward. According to a study on how reviews impact sales, on average reviews produce an 18% increase in sales
2. Compete with customer experience to save margins
A positive review is an equivalent of a professional endorsement for any business, no matter how big or little. Having a lot of fresh good reviews puts you on par with the more established competition and may help you gain a favorable niche in the eyes of customers. Simply put, which would you prefer to do business with: one with 500 three-star reviews or one with 250 five-stars? Most likely, you’ll choose the latter. Positive feedback does all the marketing for you
3. Consumers do your Marketing for you
Positive online evaluations are far more successful at attracting consumers than a marketing campaign. They provide valuable social proof that helps to attract visitors long after the online review is published. They provide a continuous positive image for potential clients and help to build a lifelong business reputation
4. Reviews build customer loyalty
Consumers that express their satisfaction with your business on the internet have had a fantastic experience and are therefore more likely to return. Even if a client gives you a poor rating, you may still cultivate loyalty by responding to it and addressing the issue. After a business responded to a review, seven out of ten customers changed their opinion about it
5. Reviews increase your search ranking
When it comes to local search results, customer reviews are a top-three ranking factor. Over time, generating reviews allows search engines to discover patterns and characteristics about your company. High star ratings suggest that Google believes your business provides a great experience on a daily basis. When consumers frequent highly reviewed websites, they will be regarded as more trustworthy by Google, and you’ll appear higher in the search ranks
Additionally, when reviews have comments that commend the items and/or services you’re trying to rank for, this will help you rank higher in search engines
How to get more reviews
- Make the process as easy as possible
- Ask for reviews on the sites your audience frequents
- Create personalized workflows
- Customize your review requests
- Connect your apps and automate the process
- Send review requests on multiple channels – not just email
Many businesses struggle to get reviews because they don’t ask for them, don’t make it a habit in their marketing, or find it distasteful and/or uncomfortable to ask for them. Furthermore, many people dislike asking for feedback and do not want to put their consumers in a position where they may feel obligated to provide one
The best way to get more reviews is to integrate review production into your marketing and make it quick, simple, and painless for both you and your consumers. This may be done using Simply Be Found’s review generation feature. Get more customer reviews
1. Make the process as easy as possible
At the end of the day, when customers leave a review online, they are doing you a favor. They’re taking time out of their hectic lives to help your company’s reputation. To ensure this happens, ensure the feedback process is as simple as possible. Include the proper link within the request so that your consumers don’t have to do anything more than click and respond
2. Create personalized workflows
Automate the process of obtaining reviews at scale. Automate the creation of intelligent and personalized campaigns to get the most out of your review requests. Send requests right away or set up and run a drip campaign quickly. Simply Be Found provides reminders as soon as you log in, saving you time and money
3. Customize your review requests
When requesting reviews, don’t lose the personal touch to ensure you receive responses and have the most positive customer comments
4. Connect your apps and automate the process
The ideal review generation software should work in tandem with your existing CRM so you may connect it to your current customer database and start sending automated reviews right away. Simply Be Found provides everything you need to respond and share your reviews across all social media
5. Send review requests on multiple channels not just email
If you want to get the most out of your customer reviews, send a text and email request. You’re probably dealing with a lot of pleased consumers. The only issue is that most of them don’t want to go searching for your profile on different review platforms. Customers are delighted to provide a review if you make it easy for them
What to avoid when generating reviews
1. Waiting too long to request a review
It’s critical to send review requests the same day you start a transaction or interact with a client. The longer you wait, the less likely it is that a consumer will recall their experience or even bother to give a review. While customers may be pleased to leave a positive restaurant review, their memory of the encounter is more than likely to fade after a month
2. Focusing on the wrong review websites
Businesses often make the mistake of prioritizing the wrong review websites. We saw this across a variety of sectors. In comparison to vertical-specific sites such as OpenTable, businesses in the restaurant industry nearly equally divided their review requests between Google (45%) and Facebook (43%)
A significant number of reviews (20%) are published on other sites, rather than Google (59%), which illustrates that consumers are writing reviews on industry-specific platforms. This shows that customers are posting comments on niche websites. There’s a clear potential for more reviews to be requested from restaurants on specialized sites in order to boost conversion rates. This is true for most businesses in most sectors. Businesses often get caught up just focusing on the most popular general internet sites, even though there is a chance to improve conversions by appealing to relevant specialist niche websites
3. Not requesting reviews from all of your customers
It’s tempting to only send review requests to clients you have a positive relationship with and are certain will provide a good review. This, however, is a poor technique. If you’re being picky like this, there’s a good chance you’re missing out on customers that appreciate your service but aren’t as vocal about how much they love their experience
Many consumers are aware of the problems that many business owners confront, and when they read your bad reviews, it will be easy for them to identify with you and connect. If people hate something about your product or service, it is crucial that you address their concerns as soon as possible. Positive feedback will also make clients more willing to recommend your business to others. Negative comments may sometimes be changed into positive ones by responding promptly when issues arise and addressing complaints in a constructive manner. This will not only encourage client loyalty but also show prospective consumers that you care about their experience
4. Buying reviews
Buying online reviews has far more long-term drawbacks than any short-term gains. Google’s terms of service prohibit the purchase of reviews. Positive feedback has both immediate and long-term benefits. You can quickly increase the number of reviews you have, easily find areas in the client experience that may be improved and create consumer confidence in your star rating by simply automating your request for reviews. The fact is that most customers don’t trust perfect 5-star ratings
How Simply Be Found helps you get more reviews
Getting your local business found in local search is an important aspect of running a profitable business. Businesses that tend to their marketing success, while those that do not, fail. Simply Be Found shows local businesses how to be successful with our Review Generation and Review Management features that allow you to generate and respond to more reviews and get found by more consumers who are looking for your products and services. You can generate reviews, respond to reviews and showcase your reviews to all your platforms to improve your rankings online and get found locally at the top of local voice search. We also help you verify your business listing, show you how to use photos and videos, and how to generate more reviews to get found in business listings with our step-by-step plan in 5-10 minutes a day. We help businesses make sure that their website is listed on directories like Google My Business and Yelp. If your local business isn’t listed in these directories, you’re missing out on a valuable opportunity to reach potential customers. Simply Be Found helps businesses get more market share by helping you make sure your address and operating hours are correct across search engines so potential consumers can find you online. We help businesses claim and optimize their Google My Business listing which powers all local business results in Google Assistant. We help businesses make sure that their business information is updated and consistent, as it will impact your local SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Simply Be Found’s membership also includes providing local businesses with the ability to manage the business and holiday hours in advance, so your customers always know when to do business with you. Local businesses also boost SEO by generating and responding to more reviews to get found by more consumers who are looking for your services. As a member of Simply Be Found businesses have a well-executed local SEO strategy, to ensure that potential clients see your business first on local search, directories, maps, and social media when they are searching for your industry type in your local area. Simply Be Found helps businesses make sure that the public details about their company are correct on time and consistent across multiple search engines, voice services, maps, apps, and other discovery tools that people use to help them decide where to do business when using Apple Siri, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, and Microsoft Cortana. By following Simply Be Found’s daily step-by-step plan, you are positioning your business’s marketing strategy as a powerful tool to connect with your clients, stay top of mind, and generate leads. It’s important to have a review strategy in place so you get found in local search and win more business
