You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t know how important customer reviews are for your local business. According to BrightLocal’s Local Consumer Review Survey 2022, 98% of people read online reviews for local businesses at least “occasionally.” And while Yelp and other review sites are great, there’s no better place to collect business reviews than Google, which gets 86% of search traffic.
But did you know that amassing Google reviews — especially ones with a high star rating — also improves your local search ranking? And every spot you move up in the search results increases your click-through rate by more than 30%, according to Backlinko.
One more reason to care about Google reviews: they don’t cost you anything! Small business marketing doesn’t get much better than that.
If you’re not already making an effort to get more Google reviews, you should start now. Reviews aren’t a bonus in today’s world — they’re a key metric that determines your search ranking and conversion rate.
1. Just ask: Be proactive in requesting Google reviews
According to Pew Research, only about 10% of consumers “always” or “almost always” review businesses they use. Don’t rely on customer feedback to happen automatically — your customers have their own busy lives to lead. Ask them directly.
It may feel awkward at first, but request a review as part of every interaction: at the completion of a job if you’re a service provider, or after a sale at your brick-and-mortar store — even on phone calls. You can say something like: “Online reviews are incredibly helpful for us. Would you please take a moment to leave us a review on Google?”
Your tech-savvy customers can open Google Maps on their mobile device right then and share their feedback with just a few clicks — but that isn’t convenient for everyone. That’s why you should incorporate review requests into your digital marketing campaigns: your audience is already engaged with their computer or smartphone, so they don’t have to go out of their way.
Create an email template that you can personalize and send to customers after a sale. Test different messaging to see what generates the best response, but it should always:
- Be friendly and brief
- Thank the customer for choosing you
- Explain why reviews are important for your business
- Mention that you read and appreciate all feedback
- Include a link to your Google review page
You should also regularly ask your social media followers to provide feedback with a direct link to your review page.
2. Don’t forget to follow up
Even after being asked to write reviews, people are likely to forget — remember, they’re busy too. A gentle nudge is all they need. According to data from Bazaarvoice, sending a follow-up email can increase your review volume by 50%. Just remember to be friendly — not pushy.
“Leave us a review” cards are another way to remind your happy customers to provide feedback post-transaction. You could even add the call to action and URL to your regular business cards.
Help your customers out by including a Bitly short link on your review cards. Here’s how to create one:
- Go to your Google My Business profile and click the Home tab. Find the “Get your first review” (or “Get more reviews”) card. Click “Share review form” and copy the link to your clipboard.
- Paste the link into Bitly and use the “Customize Back-Half” feature to make it memorable and easy to type.
Once you have your shortened URL, use it everywhere you ask for reviews. Bitly will track your clicks so you can see how many people are using your link to provide feedback for your business.
3. Make it easy for customers to review your business
To get more positive reviews, make the process as simple and frictionless for your customers as possible. Consider the difference between these two asks:
Option 1
“Would you mind leaving us a Google review? Go to Google Maps and type in our business name. Click on it, then scroll down to where it says ‘write a review.’”
Option 2
“Would you mind leaving us a Google review? There’s a link on our website.”
Put yourself in your customer’s shoes — which one are you more likely to do?
Be sure to put the Bitly link you created prominently on your website with a big, colorful button that customers can’t miss — not just for the people you ask to review you, but for any customers that visit your site.
You should also include the Google review link with a call to action in your email signature, so it’s a part of every correspondence.
Get more Google reviews and put them to work
Once you’ve started collecting Google reviews, put them to work as a promotional tool to grow your business.
Create a page on your business website for your Google reviews. If you happen to have a WordPress site, you can install a free plugin that pipes them in! This way, your reviews are right there, so prospective customers don’t have to leave your site to read them. And it demonstrates transparency, telling visitors that you’re confident in what your customers have to say about you.
Potential customers also want to see that you care about making things right when a customer is dissatisfied, so respond to any negative reviews in a polite and thoughtful manner. Thank the reviewer for bringing the issue to your attention and let them know how you plan to address it.
This enables you not only to build trust with prospects, but you might just turn an unhappy customer into an advocate for your business.
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