Why is this so important?
It has never been more important than now to get your customers to review you on Google. Many companies are now learning about the importance of marketing their business online and are discovering that Google reviews are really vital for them, in helping their business succeed. But how do you get people to review you on Google?
It’s not the easiest thing to do and the most ideal way is to let it happen organically. But that doesn’t always happen does it! Customers always love to complain about services or products, but they don’t always jump at the chance to say something nice.
As we are in this industry we realise the importance of online Google Reviews and will review businesses who we believe deserve one. It’s an important part of being found for Local SEO and the more good reviews you get the better. You are more likely to be contacted if you have a bunch of 5 star reviews than your competitor, who may have none.
What are the next steps?
So start asking your customers! It’s as simple as that! Approach each one and personally ask them to post a quick review – it takes seconds to do, but can be invaluable to your business! Don’t just send out a generic email – make it personal so you are asking them – they may not do it otherwise. And even if you contact 20, you will still only get 2 or 3 – the conversion rate is never brilliant.
Any contacts who you have done business with or knows of your business and has had dealings with you could be asked. It really doesn’t have to be just your customers. It could be businesses who sell to you too – if they find you professional, courteous and downright brilliant then ask them too! It will give any potential customers a good overview of you as a business.
If you like reading our posts and have a Gmail account then please place us a quick Google review!
What to do if you get a bad review
Sadly, there will always be people who will run you down. It’s an annoying fact that as we said before, people like to complain. And, unless it is abusive, you cannot remove a bad review. There are two things you can do to combat this however:
- Respond to this review, explaining your situation in a polite way, so people can see you have taken action
- Gain loads of great reviews, so they more than outnumber the bad one and it will gradually drop down in the listings, the older it gets
What’s the downside?
You need to have a GMail account to place a review. Many people have them and they are totally free and very quick to set up which is ideal. And a company may still have a gmail account if they indeed, have claimed their Google My Business listing. But this is the frustrating truth – you won’t be able to place a review without one.
If you have a database of clients, probably the easiest way to start is sort them into a list of whoever has a Gmail account and contact these people first – you will get a higher response.
Ask Ask Ask
Remind people to write you a review – the more you have the better. At Sokada, with all our online marketing clients, this is something we consistently do for them – we ask their clients. Local marketing is vital, especially if you are targeting a local market. Don’t just stick at 5 reviews, get as many as you can. Whenever you gain a new client, then ask them to review you. Keep on top of it and it will become second nature.
Don’t let your competition beat you!
If you like reading our posts and have a Gmail account then please place us a quick Google review! (we have got to ask, haven’t we…)