• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Login

Crystal Media

Marketing Clarity

  • EVOLVE 2023
  • Free Training
  • Blog
  • Products
    • Ads Management
    • Get Listed
    • Insider Membership
    • Social Media Planner
    • EVOLVE 2023
  • Speaking
  • Podcast
    • Crystal Uncorked
    • Rooted in Retail
  • About
    • About Us
    • Meet the Team
    • Case Studies
    • Testimonials
    • Let’s Connect
  • Work With Us!

Sep 13 2021

5 Ways To Generate More Customer Reviews

We all know how important customer reviews are in making our purchase decisions nowadays. In fact, according to a survey,* 91% of the respondents aged 18-34 years old trust reviews posted online as much as personal recommendations. Also, 93% of consumers say that online reviews had an impact on their purchase decisions.

As local business owners, most of us probably know that customer reviews are a vital factor that influences our local search ranking. Businesses that respond to reviews see an average of .28 increase** in their star rating. According to Google,*** an increase in star rating is usually equivalent to an improvement in local ranking.

But what if you’re not receiving any reviews at all? How can I, as a small business owner, generate reviews?

Don’t fret because, in this post, I’m sharing with you some of the best practices on how to solicit reviews from your customers:

1. Be timely with your request for a review. The ideal time to request a review is right after a transaction, as the experience is still fresh to the customer. If this isn’t possible, the max would be up to 4 days after the date of purchase.

2. Make it easy for your customers to leave a review. Remove unnecessary steps in the review process that will deter your customer from submitting one.

3. Be mindful of the different guidelines of each website in soliciting reviews. As an example, Google allows review solicitation but they don’t allow incentivizing reviewers. On the other hand, this practice is not allowed on Yelp as they don’t want businesses asking for customer reviews.

4. Don’t neglect other review platforms. In addition to Google, encourage your customers to provide reviews on other review sites like Yahoo!, BBB, and other niche review sites that are applicable to your industry.

5. Maximize different ways of sending review requests to your customers (i.e. via email, SMS, or checkout page for online purchases.)

Lastly, I believe that when you provide the best experience to your customers, they’ll be more likely to provide you a good review—sometimes you don’t even need to ask for it.

Holiday Marketing Summit 2021

BONUS! I wanted to share these social media strategy ideas for receiving Google reviews:

IG/FB Video Post – Thank your customers for supporting you this season and helping keep your small business going strong this past year! Ask your viewers if they’ve had a good experience when visiting your store and, if so, if they’d consider leaving a Google review.

IG/FB Post – Upload a photo of the owners with a caption of gratitude, and include a CTA to leave a Google review. Something along the lines of, “Hello from the owners of [your Business Name]! We appreciate all your support so far this season. Next time you visit the shop, it would really make our day if you could snap a photo of your favorite display or a good experience you’ve had here and include the photo in a Google review! Every review helps our small business get discovered!”

IG/FB Post – Upload a photo/video of your store, showcasing the entrance or the storefront. Say something along the lines of, “[Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter] is a great time of year for tourists to visit our wonderful community, enjoy the natural beauty of our town, and support the local economy! We welcome tourists from all over into our shop each [Spring/Summer/Fall/Winter]! Something that really helps new tourists hear about us is Google reviews! If you’ve shopped with us before, please feel free to upload a photo of your visit and leave a review on our Google page to help us welcome more [Summer] visitors to our small business! Thank you!”

Be sure to include a link to your Google page so viewers can easily click over to leave a review for you. Remember to always respond to each Google review thanking the poster for visiting and for leaving a review!

What I Want You To Take Away From This Blog:

  • Customer reviews help improve your local ranking.
  • Each review site has its own guidelines. Be aware of each to avoid getting penalized.
  • You can be creative in generating reviews for your business.
  • An excellent customer experience is always the easiest way to get positive reviews.

Okay, over to you…

Have you used any of the practices mentioned above? If not, which of them are you going to try out with your customers? Let us know in the comments below!

We would love to know if you enjoy receiving tips from our weekly blog! Feel free to leave us a review here.

*Online reviews statistics to know in 2021 by Diana Kaemingk for Qualtrics.com
**How Responding To Online Reviews Affects Your Business Reputation by Lauryn Chamberlain for Yext.com
***How to improve your local ranking on Google by Google

Comments

comments

Written by Erick Sapalaran · Categorized: General Business Tips · Tagged: Helpful ways on generating reviews for your small business, Strategies on generating reviews as a retailer, Tips on Generating Reviews for Retailers

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Carole Kamin says

    April 10, 2022 at 8:58 am

    Eager to read more.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Whatcha lookin’ for?

Whatcha Lookin’ For?

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms
  • About
  • Contact Us
  • Support
  • Login

Follow Crystal Media on FacebookFollow Crystal Media on TwitterFollow Crystal Media on LinkedInFollow Crystal Media on InstagramFollow Crystal Media on PinterestFollow Crystal Media on YouTube

Copyright © 2023 Crystal Media | Website by Wickam Group

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT