Google help section covers 3 ways in which a business can get more Google reviews. While their 3 tips are valid and work, there are a few additional methods that can provide results. Some of them work better than others and need to be tested properly.
1. Tell Your Customers, to Leave Reviews
Telling your customers to leave reviews does not cost you much. You can remind customers this every time you interact with them. This can also appear as a message on your website or social media accounts. Most customers that have a pleasant experience forget to leave a review but will not shy away from leaving a negative one. Remember to remind them about reviews.
2. Respond to Reviews
Getting more reviews is also a two-way street. Responding to reviews, addressing complaints, and interacting with happy customers that leave reviews is a great way to establish trust. This will encourage more customers to leave reviews because they look at existing reviews even before employing your services or buying your products.
3. Use Mailing Lists
Newsletters can help remind customers to leave a review but most users simply discard newsletters. They can still be converted. Every time a customer makes a purchase, in the order confirmation email, remind them to leave a review if they are happy or unhappy with the service or product.
4. Call-to-Action Pop-ups and Links
If you want to get more Google reviews, you can use your website to enforce this. Even if nobody likes pop-ups and unnecessary banners and links, you should still use them. They provide results and don’t cost that much to implement. You can also use direct links to your reviews page on Google to make it easier for customers to leave feedback.
5. Get Verified
Google recommends verifying your business and it makes sense since users are more likely to trust a company that shows as verified in Google Maps, search, and other services. Also, this is a mandatory requirement to be able to respond to customer reviews.
6. Improve Your Customer Care Services
If you are not getting enough Google reviews, maybe your customers are not happy enough with your services. That does not mean that your customer care team is not doing their job but it may suggest that some work should be done to improve service quality. Customers that get an outstanding service are more likely to leave reviews. Neutral customers tend to remain silent and not provide any kind of feedback.
These six points summarize the most common ways of increasing the number of Google reviews that companies use. What is important is to stick with Google terms and policies and avoid paying for reviews or incentivize them. Incentivizing reviews is strictly forbidden while paying for them can trigger Google to completely delist your company from their services.
Over time, you will get negative reviews and that is inevitable. It is impossible to make everyone happy. What matters is how you address negative feedback but always respond to customers and strive to improve the quality of your services.