The Importance of Google Reviews: Part 8
How to position your business to get Google reviews
Photo by Souvik Banerjee on Unsplash
As a preview of our latest whitepaper on the Importance of Google Reviews, here's section 8.
First things first, getting your business setup on Google is a step in the right direction toward building your online presence and generating valuable customer feedback.
Follow these steps to create your own Google Business Profile:
1 Claim your Google Business Profile
The first thing you need to do in order to get any reviews on Google is to claim your Google Business Profile. Here's a Google help document explaining how to claim your listing.
2 Complete your Google Business Profile
Now that you have a Google Business Profile, ensure all your relevant business details are added. If you don't include relevant information, it may not be all that helpful to those who see your listing. Remember, the objective is to inform and educate people about your business who search for it on Google. Make certain to give your business a proper description, hours of operation, images, and all other details that help people understand more about what you do.
3 Encourage customers to post reviews on Google
Getting reviews is a continual process. Have you ever looked up a business and read their reviews, only to find the most recent review was from 5 years ago? If your reviews are not fresh, they're not relevant and can hurt your chances of influencing visitors to consider your company. Whenever you solicit a Google review, it's always a good idea to explain to your customers why you want them to post a review. Let them know you want their honest review of your business so others can learn from it. You should never pay customers to post a Google review for 2 primary reasons: First, it is against the Google terms of service for text reviews, and second, it defeats the point of using reviews to develop trust and transparency with customers.
So how exactly do you solicit a review? When you speak with customers, ask them to post a review on Google. Place a link in your email footer to your Google review page to entice customers to post their review. Place a sign in your store reminding customers to post a review on Google. Google even has stickers and tools for you to solicit reviews. Follow up with your customers with customer feedback surveys. If they have a positive experience, ask them to please leave a review (see next section). There is no single magic bullet to get more reviews. Build the process of asking for reviews into your regular business processes and manage it just like you would any other. It takes work, but the work will pay off in the long run.
4 Use a reputable Review Management and Customer Feedback service
One sure fire way to get more Google reviews is to use a reputable Google review service to acquire customer feedback. Unlike manual solicitation, using a customer review management software will automate the process and help you deploy a system that regularly engages customers to request a review. This will ensure a balanced approach to having quantity, velocity, and diversity of reviews. Look for a service that makes it easy for your customer to post a Google review, and easy for you to monitor and track activity.
Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
In a 2021 Forbes article, Jon Clark cites that "91% of customers said positive reviews make them more likely to use a business and 76% of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations" (2021). These statistics demonstrate the importance reviews online hold in today's marketplace. They are one of the most crucial factors that dictate the online perception of a company. Because Google is the number one platform in this space, their reviews hold the most weight. So how can a business encourage it's customers to leave Google reviews?
"Ask and you shall receive", and why not ask for Google Reviews? The data listed in Jon Clark's Forbes article states that "if a local business asks, 72% of customers will write a review" (2021). There you have it folks; half the battle is simply just asking! However, there is still a strategy involved in how to approach asking for Google reviews. First and foremost, is the timing of your request. The answer, ask for a Google review shortly after your transaction with a customer. This way, your service, and the experience they had with your company is still fresh in their minds. The timing is more relevant than asking six months down the line, at which time the details of your interaction are lost. Additionally, many customers view a request for a Google Review as a positive, rather than a nuisance. It shows a company cares about their experience and wants personal feedback to improve their product or service. It's a way of demonstrating your company values them as a customer. Getting more Google reviews is generally a positive, but when it comes to negative customer interactions, other factors need to be considered.
It's been said that "any press is good press." The logic being, anything that brings attention to a person or a brand, positive or negative, grows awareness, but in the case of Google reviews, this is not always true. Negative Google reviews will bring down your company's star rating. Too many bad reviews compared to good ones will damage your reputation and can deter customers from choosing you over a competitor when landing on your Google Business Profile. Exercise caution when requesting a Google Review from a customer you believe had a less than satisfying experience with your business. Implement the strategy of providing excellent customer service, asking for feedback (positive or negative) so that you can improve your business processes in order to avoid negative reviews in the first place. And never, never attempt to censor negative reviews if you do get them.