Struggling to get reviews on Google? You’re not the only one. Google reviews are super important, mainly because they are crucial for local SEO and get shown in the search results so much compared to any other reviews on the web.
An article written by Myles Anderson found that 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. In other words, reviews online mean as much as word of mouth when it comes to attracting more customers and helping them to choose between your company and your competitor.
If you are searching for a plumber, a car showroom or even a restaurant, 9 times out of 10 you will see reviews in the local pack, and they look like this:
I don’t know about you but when looking for a company to use or even a product to buy, I usually choose the one with the most positive reviews. But Google reviews are also the most difficult to obtain. A majority of customers will not willingly leave a review (unless you have upset them), but will happily do so if you ask. The first place to start is actually asking customers if they will leave a review. It’s best to do this just after you have completed the service/provided the product, as this is when they are most satisfied.
You may already be asking customers for reviews. Many of my clients vent their frustration about customers agreeing to leave a review on Google but then they never do it. One thing I have also noticed is that some people struggle or can’t be bothered to jump through hoops just to leave a review.
To leave a review on Google, you must have a Google account and not everyone has one. It can be a very tedious task to go through the whole setup process for a Google account for something that you will never use again. So I can see that this would prevent some customers leaving a review. We can’t solve that issue, but we can make it as easy as possible for people to leave a review with just a few simple steps:
Method 1 – How to Use Email to Get More Google Reviews
A simple follow-up email is sometimes all you need to get that review. To help speed this process up, I’d suggest writing out a template email to send to each customer a few hours after you have finished providing the service/product. Within your template, you can include a simple Google review URL which takes them directly to the page and pre-selects the 5-star option to make it as simple for them as possible.
Email is great because it’s quick and easy, compared to method #2 (below), which involves a business card that could be misplaced. To get the Google review URL, simply head to this link and follow the instructions: https://whitespark.ca/google-review-link-generator/
Method 2 – How to Use Your Business Card to Get More Google Reviews
This method is pretty much the same as method #1. Using the Google review URL generator, create the URL for your page and get a basic business card designed asking for a review. You then have something you can physically hand to the client with the super short and easy URL for them to enter when they get back home (or even on their phone). Your business card could look a little something like this:
Method 3 – How to Use Your Website to Get More Google Reviews
Another way to simplify this process is adding either a page or a button to your website. It’s up to you where you wish to have it on your website, but a simple button in the footer of your website could help lead your customers right to the page where they need to leave the review.
When your customer agrees to leave a review for you, just mention that you have a button/page on your website and give them a rough explanation of where it is. Using the Google review URL generator as mentioned above, the button could take the customer right to the Google page where they need to leave the review.
However, I feel this option is probably the least successful out of the three. It has a slight disconnect in the process and could lead to confusion (if the customer can’t find the button/page) and they have nothing to remind them to do it once you/they leave.
If you have any other suggestions on how to ask customers for more reviews, feel free to leave a comment below, check out more or get in touch and I’m more than happy to include it in the post. Now, get out there and start asking for reviews!
