A shockingly effective method to get more positive reviews on Google:
Just ask the customer.
Easy, right? Well, there’s a bit more to it. Here are 4 things you should be doing:
- Ask the customer without really asking.
- Make it easy for the customer to leave a review.
- Remind them to give you feedback, in case they forgot to do it
- Funnel negative feedback properly.
Here’s the breakdown:
Ask the customer for a review without really asking.
Reviews are personal. Usually, people tend to only leave public reviews if they have a bad experience. It’s personal for them. So, when you ask someone to leave a review, it is a really big ask. Some people may feel deterred if you ask directly: “Please review us on Google!”. We’ve seen increased success when the brands we work with first ask: “How was your visit?” or “How did we do?”.
Also, reviews are personal to your staff. It hurts both your company reputation and your staff when people call them out by name in an ugly, tasteless 1-star review. But it doesn’t hurt if your staff is proactive and mentions to your patrons that feedback helps them individually. Some of our brand customers say that reviews impact their performance reviews or bonuses.
Make it easy for the customer to leave a review.
After you set up the stage for the customer to provide feedback, make it super easy for them to do so. Don’t make them fill out a form or jump through hoops. Some of our customers include a QR code in the printed receipt. Others include a button to leave a review on the digital receipt. One of the most effective ways our customers ask for feedback is by sending them a brief email or text message sometime after their visit concludes with a direct link to leave a Google Review.
Remind them to give you feedback.
So far your brand has made 3 attempts to get feedback from a customer:
• A staff member verbally asked them to provide feedback.
• You included a QR Code on the printed receipt
• You sent them an email a couple of hours after the visit concluded with a link to leave feedback.
Still, no feedback? Gently nudge them the next day or a couple of days after. Sometimes, people forget or don’t really care about leaving feedback. But if your service is above and beyond, chances are they will still leave a good review if you remind them to do so.
Funnel negative feedback properly.
“But what if they were rude customers and were adamant about leaving us a nasty review?” Negative reviewers are more proactive than positive reviewers. But there are ways to decrease the number of negative ones. For example, one of the wine brands we partner with tags the customer in Commerce7 if they had a bad experience. That way they don’t receive the automated email from our Channels app. Others set it up so the customer receives a different email with a link to a feedback form where the grieving party can vent even further. All without them coming even near to your Google or Yelp profiles.