Are you a small business owner or a startup struggling to get enough online reviews? It isn’t easy to compete with larger businesses, especially those that generate thousands of online reviews about their service and their products. The truth is that most people will not buy anything online without first checking for some online reviews. Here are five useful tips to get more positive online reviews.
#1 Email campaigns work
If you have a pre-existing email list, starting an email campaign is a very effective way to generate some positive online reviews. Anyone who subscribes to your email list is already a loyal fan, so if you ask them to leave your business a positive review, chances are they’ll do it.
#2 Ask every customer in person
Anytime to sell a product or service, there’s no harm in asking someone to leave a review. Even though this may prove tedious, time-consuming, and dull, you will quickly see results. Gentle encouragement is all that customers will need to leave positive online reviews. Make sure that you mix it up and look for reviews on different social media platforms on different weeks. This week could be a Facebook week, next week, Google Maps or Yelp.
#3 Always reply to an online review
The danger of actively looking for online reviews means that you are open to receiving a bad review. When this happens, the first thing to do is take a deep breath and respond in a calm, professional fashion. Always look to encourage the customers to turn their negative experience into a positive one. It would help if you also remembered to respond to all positive reviews that you receive. These will help you connect with your existing customer base. It will also make future customers see you care about their opinions.
#4 Always share good reviews
Everybody loves getting attention and praise, so anytime you receive a glowing review, you need to highlight it and make sure that you leave with lengthy positive responses. People actively look at what others are doing to affirm the actions that they are taking themselves are fitting.
#5 Put more time and effort into staff training and customer service
All the fancy tricks and tips in the world will be worth nothing if your customers aren’t happy with the services and products that you provide. Firstly you’re never going to guess a positive online review, and the ones you do receive I just got to be scathing.
One of the best investments you’ll ever make in your business is staff training and incentives. Suppose your staff is going to get rewarded for their positive attitude to your customers. Then, whether they’re having a bad day or not should be irrelevant. Ensure your customers are not having an everyday experience with your product or service; otherwise, it’s unlikely ever to leave a review.
We hope these tips will boost the number of online reviews of your small businesses. Remember that customers are actively seeking products or services that others have nothing but good things to say about.