You may think developing a review acquisition strategy towards getting more positive Google reviews may be a gamble due to the potential for bad reviews but it turns out, statistically, that the more reviews you grind for the better the outcome.
Yelp releases statistics about all the reviews they accumulate on their site (hundreds of millions) and show that about 76% percent of reviews are 3 stars or higher. Nearly 50% are 5 stars and a low 6 % are 1 star.
Those numbers say it all, if you grind for reviews, odds are you will begin to rack up good ones provided you aren’t running a completely incompetent business.
Do I need to even spell out why positive google reviews are helpful? Take any service or product you do you are interested in, how natural is it for you to look for reviews before making any kind of decision. Plus, are you going to purchase a service or product that has a ton of negative reviews? Probably not.
Moreover, no reviews are just as bad as negative reviews, so this is work that has a major benefit. Let’s get them reviews!
Create The Space for Positive Reviews
There are a few key spaces to have for customers to write a review. Remember, you don’t want any pages for your business to have zero reviews. These spaces include:
- Amazon
- Yelp
- Better Business Bureau
These sites all take some dedication and sprucing up in order to be effective. Think of these web spaces like the front window to your virtual business. We are all very judgemental on the web, after all, we want things to look nice or else we move on. So, it’s important to take the time to optimize your business listing and take advantage of local search marketing.
Implement Different Avenues For Reviews
The reality is that customers of yours usually are not going to actively seek to leave you a review. This is where you need to crawl through your site’s existing content and strategically post content on social media asking for customer feedback.
Clamoring for positive google reviews is not a good look. It goes without saying but if you are shooting for more good reviews there has to be established reputation management of your business along with a great online presence. These things take work but hey, so does running a business.
Do these buttons look familiar to you?
Throwing something aesthetically pleasing on a page that gets you a lot of views can reel in those reviews. Website development platforms allow you to place buttons to different business review avenues, like Google my business or Yelp, which serves as an extra way to encourage people to visit your listings and, ultimately, leave a review.
Create An Incentive
Just like your time is valuable, so is your customer’s. Throwing together some incentives for them to write a review, especially at the start of your venture into trying to accumulate reviews, can go a long way into getting more positive google reviews.
Does this show your hand? Yeah a little bit, but when people see something like a coupon for leaving a review they will have zero issues with it.
Of course, timing has to be right with this, prompt a customer with the incentive after they
- Interact on a social media page
- Tag your company’s page in something
- Make a purchase
- Contact you with positive feedback
- Sign up for a company newsletter you are sending out
Reaching out to them at the right time is vital when you’re working on getting more positive google reviews.
Get Connected With Your Customers
Do you know when consumers are intrigued to leave a good review? When they genuinely like not only the company they will leave a good review for, but when they like the people running the company.
Social media marketing is your pathway to building meaningful relationships with your customer base. Creating solid, interactive content on your Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or anything else these days gives your company a personality that makes you more attractive.
Posting comical things (in good taste) or creating interesting conversations and interacting with those who respond will organically leave a good impression for all those involved. When people are connected to and involved with your business, they’re more likely to post a review. You could even find a way to tactfully get people to leave a number of reviews through the social media outlet.
Keep Your Integrity
There is a dangerous territory you can enter in the wide world of online reviews. That danger zone is paying for and/or creating artificial or fake reviews. Do companies do it? Most definitely. Do they get caught? It’s definitely possible.
Platforms that have a review section available have algorithms made to flag suspicious-looking review trends. Getting flagged is bad. It can have major consequences to your page which can and will affect your online presence.
There is also the human condition of wanting to feel proud instead of feeling like a fraud when you look at your hard-earned reviews. I’ve seen companies that have a load of 5-star reviews from users without avatars and 1 negative review from a person with a completed profile – it’s a terrible look.
Respond To Reviews
I’m sure you’ve been asking yourself while reading this, “But what about when I get a bad review?”. Bad reviews happen inevitably and there is also a fair chance that the person leaving the review is extremely irrational or maybe just trolling your page. It happens.
Start the habit of responding to reviews. Not just the bad ones, but all of them. It’s something I don’t see enough, but when I do, it naturally gives me a whole new respect to whoever’s company page I am looking at. Responding to reviews, both positive and negative, lets people know that the business actually cares about what people think and is active in improving their customers’ experiences.
Basically, if it’s a good review, thank the person for their review and their business. Do not just copy and paste the same message to every good review you receive, nobody likes a robot so don’t be a robot. Respond to good reviews like you would respond to a friend – thankfully and genuinely.
When doomsday arrives and that one-star-rating comes in, you as the owner need to step in and do damage control. Set your pride aside and don’t turn it into an argument, no matter how wrong you think the reviewer is. Maintaining professionalism is of utmost importance.
Stay Patient And Consistent
Managing your online reputation and getting more positive Google reviews is a tedious task at times. Just like we covered getting started with SEO last week, this strategy requires you to work on it every day and not expect results instantly.
If it feels overwhelming, there’s software out there that will organize your reviews and update you when there are new ones.
Gaining some rave reviews about your company offers something that no other strategy can. It gives potential customers an unbiased view of the service you offer and how well you do it. Find that time out of your day each day to glance over and acquire reviews and the results will speak for themselves.
