The importance of online reviews for any business is clear. Study after study show the extent to which people utilize online reviews in buying decisions. Plus, reviews weigh heavily in Google’s local search ranking. Finally, because of their prominence in most local search results, reviews can influence how often your website is clicked on (click-through-rate).
But how can a business increase their reviews? Simple, asking for reviews must become a part of the way you do business. These 4 Steps will get you started:
1. Create a Review Page on your Website
The URL should be easy: www.mywebsite.com/reviews. On this page, you would have links to multiple review sites and a form to complete if they have a complaint. The form is important…you want to give people with complaints an option to address their problem while giving people with compliments opportunities to share their experience.
2. Promote your Review Page
Create a postcard, flyer or some other piece of collateral with that review URL on it and a call to action to “share your experience”. It could be as simple as putting it on the back of business card.
3. Empower Your Employees
Each employee should be armed with this collateral and trained to utilize it. Anytime any customer makes a positive comment the employee should respond, “Thank you, we would appreciate it if you would share your experience” and hand them the material.
4. Follow Up With Every Customer
Finally, as a part of your standard customer follow up, a review call to action should be included with a link to the review page.
To achieve a significant, positive online presence it must become a part of the way you do business. These four steps will get you started down the path but only you can commit to steps 3 & 4. These two steps especially change your culture and make customer engagement part of your daily activities.
But how can a business increase their reviews? Simple, asking for reviews must become a part of the way you do business. These 4 Steps will get you started:
1. Create a Review Page on your Website
The URL should be easy: www.mywebsite.com/reviews. On this page, you would have links to multiple review sites and a form to complete if they have a complaint. The form is important…you want to give people with complaints an option to address their problem while giving people with compliments opportunities to share their experience.
2. Promote your Review Page
Create a postcard, flyer or some other piece of collateral with that review URL on it and a call to action to “share your experience”. It could be as simple as putting it on the back of business card.
3. Empower Your Employees
Each employee should be armed with this collateral and trained to utilize it. Anytime any customer makes a positive comment the employee should respond, “Thank you, we would appreciate it if you would share your experience” and hand them the material.
4. Follow Up With Every Customer
Finally, as a part of your standard customer follow up, a review call to action should be included with a link to the review page.
To achieve a significant, positive online presence it must become a part of the way you do business. These four steps will get you started down the path but only you can commit to steps 3 & 4. These two steps especially change your culture and make customer engagement part of your daily activities.
