On The Sixth Day of Christmas….
Did you know that 88% percent of consumers trust online reviews as much or more than personal recommendations? In fact, in a recent study, it was found that only 12% of consumers regularly do NOT read online reviews on a business before patronizing them. Local reviews are also important for your SEO and rankings. What does this mean for your business? If you don’t have strong reviews (on your Facebook page, your Google + page, your website), you’re probably missing out on business.
So how do you GET local reviews on your social media and website? After all, if it were easy, everyone would have them, right? The fact is, most people are more likely to write a negative review than a positive one. They simply don’t think about it. That’s why it’s important to build a plan to encourage your customers to write positive reviews, make it easy for them, and capitalize on them once you get them.
Depending on the type of business you’re in, encouraging local reviews might be as simple as asking for them. Contact those you’ve done business with and ask if they’d be willing to share their experience. It’s important to not ask for POSITIVE reviews, but to ask for HONEST reviews. Not only will they come across more genuine, but it will also give you the opportunity to improve your customer service if the reviews are less than glowing. You can also incentivize customers to write reviews (do a drawing for those who write reviews, for example, or give coupons to those who submit reviews). You also need to make sure you are making it EASY for your customers to write and submit a review. If they go to your Google + page and are confused about how to leave a review, most people will give up rather than ask questions to learn how to do so. When asking your customers to write reviews, send them detailed instructions on how to do it. We also suggest you only ask them to write a review on one platform as this will be less overwhelming and they’ll be more likely to comply.
Need more guidance on how to ask for, gather and promote local reviews on your social media and website? Your e-Team is always here to help!
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