91% of consumers between the ages of 19 and 34 trust reviews, and consumers are more likely to trust your company if you have 40 or more reviews.
If you don’t already have a solid review presence, it’s time to get serious about building one.
The great news?
68% of customers who are asked to leave a review are willing to do so!
Here are 3 non-cringe ways to ask:
In-Person: If you’ve got a brick-and-mortar store, then asking for reviews may be the way to go. The trick is doing it in a way that doesn’t feel forced or put undue pressure on your customer. Start by asking the customer found everything they were looking for. Any customer who praises your store or products represents a positive review! But don’t blow it! It’s not a good idea to ask for a review as soon as a customer says something positive. Ask a few non-follow-up questions. Then as you end the conversation, continue with something like… “we really appreciate feedback from our customers because it helps more people learn about us. If you have a few minutes and would be willing to submit an online review, we'd so appreciate it!” You can plug in your platform of choice whether it’s Yelp, Google or Facebook.
SMS Messages: Text messages have nearly a 100% open rate. If you’re already sending text messages to your customers, then following up on a purchase with a request for a review can be a great way to generate more reviews! Since it’s a text message, it should be brief. You can try something like: “It was great seeing you today, [customer’s name]! If we provided top-notch service to you today, would you please consider taking a few seconds and leaving us a review? [Review Link]”
Ask Your Social Media Followers: Facebook reviews are important for local businesses since many people use Facebook to search for businesses near them. You have the option of asking for reviews in a Facebook post or using a chatbot in Facebook Messenger to ask. If you decide to use a chatbot, you may want to consider setting up a survey directly within the chatbot if you want to collect reviews to post on your site. Otherwise, you can simply ask people to leave a review elsewhere like Google and Yelp.
Tip: Be careful not to link directly to your Yelp Page for your social media pages as Yelp frowns upon asking customers for reviews.
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