Your company is no longer as good as YOU say it is - it's as good as YOUR CUSTOMERS say it is.​

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Customer reviews are absolutely essential for any business. If a customer wants to know if your company is worth dealing with or buying from, they're not going to take your word for it. Increasingly, they rely on recommendations, social media stories, word of mouth and online reviews. It's worth your time assessing how you can influence all of these information sources - for now let's focus on a big one: how you can generate online reviews on Google.

 

If you haven't already listed your company on Google My Business, do it now. There is no logical reason for you not to head to the following link and sign up for free:
https://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/business/

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Don't rush it. Enter information fully and accurately (without spelling mistakes), say something honest and appealing about your company and add a few relevant pictures. When you've done that, come back we can talk some more.

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Make it easy for your customers to leave a review.

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It's not enough to ask a customer to leave you a Google Review. They won't do it unless you make the whole process simple - this means sending them a short, friendly email (or a WhatsApp, Messenger or text message) with a direct link that takes them to the place where they can leave their rating and review.

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Here's how:

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1. Find your company details in Google and click on the "Write a Review" link.

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2. Copy the full URL (website address) from the address bar. Note - this is right at the top of the web page, not within the pop-up box that appears.

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3. Use an online URL shortening tool to make the URL easier for your customer to use - it's quite off-putting to be sent a crazy-long URL like the full version of the Google Review link. We recommend the following tools:
https://tinyurl.com
https://bitly.com

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4. Create a short, friendly email, highlighting how much you value your customer's business and what it would mean to you if they could spend just three or four minutes leaving a rating and review on Google.

 

Do it soon. 

Don't expect a customer to bother leaving you a review if it's been more than one or two weeks after you delivered a product or service. You know that warm feeling you get when you receive great customer service? It doesn't last all that long, so you need to capitalise on any goodwill while it's still there.

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Do it a lot. 

If you have only one or two Google reviews for your company, people are likely to suspect you've just got a friend or relative to say nice things about you. It's far more credible if you've managed to get at least five reviews. Better still if you have over 10.

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Don't be too selective. 

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It's tempting to only approach the customers who you know have had a good experience with you. After all, we'd all like a full house of gleaming five-star reviews, right? However, since April 2018, Google has made it a mission to prevent what it sees as "Review Gating" - the practice of soliciting only positive reviews in order to paint an unbalanced view of your goods and/or services. It's therefore important to seek reviews from all customers - and the key here is that you respond publicly on Google to address the feedback - good and bad. Demonstrating that you can accept and respond to negative feedback is just as important as showing to the world you have happy customers. In doing this, you add credibility and reality to your set of reviews. Let's face it, in the real world, some people are never 100% satisfied.

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If you're looking for where else you can list your business, see our list of the best free business directories.

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To find out how we can help you get more from digital, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

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