“The starting point for getting online reviews is simple?” you ask! Yes, it can feel weird and a little uncomfortable initially; however, if a client has told you how happy they are or emailed to say so, ask them if they mind putting it online.
Where should we ask for the review to be put?
Every business has its own personal preference as to where its reviews end up; we like ours to go here, but we have no aversion whatsoever if people want to put them on Google or Facebook.
Where you ask them to put the review is entirely down to the kind of business you are. Google My Business, if the client has access to a Gmail account (this can be a hurdle!), ranks as one of the more visually prominent for companies with a defined physical location like a shop or an office; Facebook is another popular choice, and both of these allow you to request reviews within their guidelines. Yelp, on the other hand, has a few restrictions which you should check before pushing reviews to that site. “Cherry Picking” is standard across the board; ask the customers that you know will leave a good review to do so. Asking a client who has already written a letter of complaint, shouted down the phone, etc., for a review is considered a poor idea.
Best Practices for asking for online reviews
- Ask as near as possible to the conclusion of the business transaction while the positive feelings are still strong.
- Do not tell or suggest what people should write.
- If you are unable to ask in person, send an email containing the customer’s name, direct links to the review pages, and a couple of different options in regards to the location of reviews, especially if you don’t know if they have a Gmail address. Be polite and offer advanced appreciation and thanks.
- Have the request come from the main point of contact the client had and not a generic address (unless that is the only one!). It looks and feels more personal.
We advise against incentivising people to leave reviews; it is against a large proportion of the platform’s guidelines, if you are found in breach of the guidelines, you can be kicked off permanently and named and shamed, this will do your business significant harm.
In the longer term, I would advise creating a process that can be followed by all within a company to roll out receiving customer feedback online continually.
