If you had a business a decade or two ago, for promoting your business, all you needed was to deliver great services for people to sit and share their experience that they had with you.
The deal was known as “Word of mouth” but coming back to present, the story remains the same, it’s just the means of delivery that has changed.
Be it then, or now, a person would any day trust a recommendation from a friend or family over an expensive branded commercial and you couldn’t agree more to that! (I totally loved that show on Netflix. Yes, we are going to binge on that)
The only difference is that now those casual chats in real time have largely moved to the online social and web platforms. (P.S: They make all the difference.)
When you start seeking reviews, it might seem a bit intimidating at first but as you go along & procure a few, going further isn’t as hard as you must have thought.
To help your business get those much-valued reviews, here are few steps that you can practice and enjoy those lead and sales worthy rehashes.
1) Request Customers For Contact Information
Easiest way to extract a review out of a purchase is by asking your customers for their personal details like email address and contact number.
There are two major implications that these details have, first is that there is a high possibility that the experience these clients had with you are satisfactory and secondly, they are likely to let you knock on their phones in order to share their experience with others.
So, now that you have their emails, drop them a friendly follow up in an email or text and ask them for their honest review.
2) Make The Most Of Google My Business
If you are one with the mindset that online stuff cannot affect your business just because you are local & not online, then my friend this guide won’t be of much help to you.
But let me break it to you, you are practicing a wrong chord for your song.
Online reviews are one of the most important factors in determining where your local business shows up on Google search.
Google My Business is the starting position for any online review marketing strategy and the rating here determines your rating on not just Google maps but also its local pack.
3) In-Store Placards Work
From having a little section for feedback on those brochures, flyers or bill receipts to having a modern day kiosk with an in-store application that could guide the customers to drop a review on the web.
You can have all those cues that could explain the customers, for how much their review or feedback means to you and encourages them to drop one.
4) Leverage Social Media
Social Media by default what people assume it to is not just for those fancy posts and comments on your friends feed but there’s more to that.
Social Media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, twitter can be used to post those specific questions that have a thing to do with the performance of your business and the best part is that the interested followers can easily drop their review on a platform of their choice.
5) Reply To Your Reviews
No matter how busy you are, if there’s someone who has bothered dropping a review for your business, be it something all sunshine or something that’s pungent, consider it as an obligation to revert back in a thoughtful manner.
This gives out a clear message that you care about all opinions (good or bad) and experiences that people have had with your business & are sincere to make your business better with each passing day.
(P.S: It’s always better to have an element of personalization to those reverts than bland auto generated texts.)
6) Ensure Customers Have A Great Experience
When it comes to an experience, it’s the most impactful in a store.
So, make sure that you give your best in all possible aspects. This way, your customers may feel obliged to drop a review for you.
(P.S: A happy customer is a key to bigger and better reviews.)
7) Share Reviews
Social Media is not just a play card in the game of reviews but also a platform where these can be shared, the key is to do it in a tactful way.
When you repost or retweet your customers review, make sure it’s more about that customer and less about your company.
This is to have the element of true experience and real customer connect.
8) Acknowledge Issues Publicly
When you receive a review or feedback that basically talks about some issue, wherever possible make sure that the resolution is public.
Avoid asking them to connect with your customer care facility unless mandatorily required. While you resolve issues, follow obvious code of conduct such as not revealing their personal information, reverting in a respectful way, etc.
Remember it’s very important to cater to their needs in public. Your future customers & prospects get a gist of how they can expect to be treated by you.
9) Verbally Mention The Importance Of Feedback To You
Your in-house employees should be trained to communicate the importance your brand holds for all honest feedback that comes from the customers.
Right tactics need to be employed to request for a review because a person on the counter asking every person would not give out a healthy message.
Compared this with a friendly staff member asking for feedback that sounds important and heartfelt rather than just being “pushy.” (or let’s say robotic & processish)
Now that you have learnt about review generation for your business, why don’t you try our software free for 14 days.
GreyMetrics helps local businesses like yours put all your marketing data on one dashboard.
And, don’t forget to leave us a review here.
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It’s time to put this knowledge to use. Getting the most by not bothering your customers should be your goal.
A customer review is not just a statement but a fine social proof of the performance of your brand in the market.
Make sure you’re delivering the best, to hear the best from your customers 🙂