Are Google reviews really important for a business?
Let’s put it this way: Imagine you need a contracting company to remodel your kitchen, but you don’t know anyone who has recently remodeled to ask for a referral. Your first move would most likely be to hop on Google and search something along the lines of “kitchen remodeling near me”. The first result has 28 reviews and a 5 star rating. The second has no reviews and no rating. Which contractor would you consider calling?
A lack of positive Google reviews doesn’t necessarily mean that you don’t have plenty of satisfied customers, but to prospects searching for your services online, it hurts your credibility (especially when compared to your competitors who do have lots of reviews). It also hurts your Google ranking in general, because Google puts businesses with a high number of reviews at the top of search results.
So if your customers are happy, why aren’t you getting Google reviews? One factor to consider is that most people will only think to leave an online review when they’ve had a negative experience. When someone spends money with a business, a positive experience is expected, and therefore it doesn’t typically motivate people to go out of their way. If you want to build your online credibility by collecting more Google reviews, you need to start asking customers for reviews.
Here are some ideas for generating more Google reviews from your happy customers:
- Simply ask. When a customer leaves your store/office, have your staff say something like “We’d love to hear feedback on your experience, so leave us a Google review if you have time.” You can even incentivise your staff for encouraging reviews.
- Add a link to your email signatures. Your email list is probably full of happy customers. At the end of your emails, add a link to your Google business profile and ask them to give you some feedback.
- Text them. This can’t work for every business, but if you can collect your customers’ phone numbers and they don’t mind receiving a text from you, text them your Google review link right after they make a purchase.
- Reward customers for leaving reviews. Put a sign at your front desk and have your staff tell customers that leaving a Google review will get them a small reward. You’d be surprised how many people will take ten seconds to leave you a review when there’s a $3 coupon for the local ice cream shop involved.
- Post on social media about it. Consider making a Facebook post asking your followers to leave a review on Google.
- Make sure your customer service department is asking. The people who are most likely to go out of their way to leave you review are the ones who you went out of your way for. Make sure that when a customer service representative solves someone’s problem, they end the conversation with, “I’m glad we could resolve this issue. We’d love to hear any kind of feedback you have on your experience, so please feel free to leave us a review on Google.
