Building an online reputation takes time and requires careful planning. There is an unspoken protocol on how often to talk to your customers about leaving online reviews and how to phrase your request when you do.
A sudden influx of positive reviews looks like spam to search engines, and looks suspicious to potential customers. On the other hand, if your business goes for an extended period without any new reviews, that’s also cause for concern. It’s vital to strike a balance between the two. On top of this challenge, you have to make sure you aren’t alienating any happy customers by being too pushy with your request for feedback.
Let’s tackle some common questions on when and how it’s appropriate to request online reviews.
Should I Ask Every Customer for a Review?
Take a look at your business’ online profile. If you have no reviews in Google Reviews or Yelp, you need to correct that ASAP, but without going overboard. The best way to get started is to find five happy customers, current or previous, and ask them for a few minutes of their time. Five positive reviews are a great foundation on which to build boost your online profile.
Going forward, it might not be realistic to ask every customer for a review, especially if you have many every day. Here’s a tip: Instead of trying to get feedback from everyone, make it your goal to ask one person per day. Or, if you spend Fridays wrapping up your books for the week, send out your weekly requests at that time to your most satisfied customers.
The exception to this rule is businesses that only serve one customer at a time for months at a time, such as building contractors. When you only have six customers per year, you need to ask all of them for feedback.
When Can I Send Requests?
When you use Accrue Reviews, you can log in to the online platform, input basic customer information and send a text message or an email with a link to a survey to be sent out any time between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. This survey is specifically designed to test customer satisfaction levels with the services or products your business provides.
If your customers give your company high ratings on the survey, then they’re redirected to Google, Yelp or another platform and asked to leave a public review.
Happy customers are your best brand ambassadors, and Accrue Reviews makes it easy to ensure the right people are posting positive reviews on the right platforms.
How Should I Phrase My Request?
Keep in mind that your customers don’t owe you anything — they’re doing you a major favor by participating in your quest for positive reviews. Because of this, you always want to be as polite as possible.
Always ask them beforehand for their permission to send a survey request. Then, make sure you maintain a professional and pleasant tone.
Avoid: “Here’s the survey. Thanks.”
Instead: “You’re a valued customer of (company name) and we thank you for your business. Would you mind taking a few minutes today to share your experience? Your feedback helps us grow.”
Avoid: “Please fill out this survey as soon as you can.”
Instead: “Thank you for agreeing to fill out an online survey. Your review helps future customers learn what to expect from (company name). We look forward to reading your comments.”