How to Get Customers to Leave Reviews

Have you ever spent hours reading reviews before buying something online? You’re not alone. According to Fera.ai, a whopping 93% of consumers do the same!

Reviews are powerful as they serve as social proof and help customers learn about the quality of goods and services a business offers. While positive feedback can convince people to buy something, a negative one can talk them out of a purchase entirely.

However, getting reviews can often be daunting for businesses as most people hesitate to leave reviews. This review gap can often be a matter of concern for businesses as this may hinder their chances of growth. So, how can businesses get more online reviews?

That’s what we’ll explore in this blog post. We’ll share proven tips and strategies to encourage customers to write reviews to help you turn those happy customers into raving online reviewers.

12 Proven Tips & Strategy for Businesses to Encourage Customer Reviews

Even though reviews can be great for the growth of a business, the question stands: how do you get people to review your business, especially the happy ones?

As Jonathan Aufray from Growth Hackers puts it, “Most happy customers will never tell you that they’re happy. Unhappy customers will let you know.”

To help businesses overcome such situations and get more authentic reviews, let us now discuss some tips on how to ask for reviews from your customers.

1. Ask for Reviews in Open-Ended Formats

When starting a review conversation with a customer, encourage them to share their honest opinions on review platforms by asking them open-ended questions. This helps you gauge their satisfaction before requesting a review. Some examples include:

• “How are you enjoying the [product/service]?”
• “Was there anything you particularly liked about your experience with us?”
• “Do you feel our product/service met your expectations?”
• “Would you recommend our product to your friends/family?”

Asking such questions in feedback forms, in-app surveys, or post-purchase email interactions will allow you to assess whether the customer is satisfied or not. Here is an example of how the brand “LOGO” incorporated open-ended questions in their customer surveys:

2. Sending Review Reminders

Most people are open to sharing reviews- all they need are a few reminders. So, how do you remind them? There can be two ways- direct and indirect, or you can also use a combination of both.

Direct reminders generally use clear prompts sent through messages or emails. Mails with subjects like: “Hey, we would love to know your feedback!” or “Leave us a review,” and with a “Leave to review” button can convince people to share their feedback.

Similarly, indirect asks involve subtly encouraging reviews in marketing materials or adding a call to action at the bottom of a menu, invoice, or receipt to remind your customers to leave a review. You may also hand out some flyers with instructions on “how to leave a customer review” or “how to use a review platform”.

For instance, including a link to a review site in a newsletter or a receipt email qualifies as an indirect ask. Similarly, simply mentioning “We’re on Trustpilot,” “We’re on TripAdvisor,” or “We’re on Yelp” without directly asking for a review also counts as an indirect ask.

3. Consider the Timing: Ask When They Are Happy

It’s important to gather genuine feedback, not just positive customer reviews. Businesses can increase their chances of receiving authentic ratings by asking for them when their customers are most satisfied. Timing is the key here.

For instance, when customers share positive feedback, ask them to post it on a review platform while still on-site. Invite them to your desk, provide access to a computer or tablet, and guide them through the process of leaving a comment.

For email review requests, try sending them a few days after selling the product. A study by Harvard Business Review shows that immediate reminders can often turn out harmful for businesses, so give your customers the time they need to evaluate your product for its quality and fit.

Here is when to send review requests to increase your chances of getting a review:

• If you offer immediate goods, ask for reviews soon after the sale
• If you are a seller of physical goods, ask for a review a few days after the purchase, depending on the time a customer needs to try and evaluate your product. For instance, a business selling fitness supplements must wait longer to send review requests, while one selling fashion accessories can ask for a review the next day.
• If someone is new to your subscription service, send them a review request on completion of their first month of usage.
• If a customer praises you or recommends your product/service on social media, ask them for a review.

4. Talking to Customers About the Importance of Reviews

Your prospective customers are most likely to share their feedback if they see the value associated with them. Explain how their inputs can help your business reach a wider audience.

Tell them how their online reviews help you improve your products or services and deliver a top-notch experience to your future customers. Highlight how review platforms guide potential customers in making informed choices and benefit the local community or economy as a whole.

5. Incentivizing Customers for Their Reviews

Encouraging customers to leave reviews can be more effective when paired with thoughtful incentives. By offering rewards, you create a win-win situation where customers feel appreciated, and you benefit from their valuable feedback.

Here are some incentive ideas you can consider:

• Offer them a discount on their next purchase.
• Enter them into a lucky draw where they get a chance to win.
• Provide your customers with a free gift or sample with their next order.
• Extend access to exclusive deals or promotions.
• Add loyalty points to their rewards account.

These incentives can motivate customers to share genuine experiences while fostering positive relationships with your brand. However, under no circumstances should a business buy positive customer reviews, as this can lead to legal action or even a complete suspension of their review account, further damaging their reputation.

6. Automate the Ask

As a small business owner, have you been spending hours sending manual review requests to your customers? Sending timely and personalized review messages manually and following up on them can be tedious and time-consuming.

That’s when you use a review automation tool like SocialPilot Reviews. The tool eliminates the hassle by automatically sending timely review requests via texts and emails. This automation ensures that your requests reach your customers at the right time, improving your chances of getting their feedback without much of a manual effort.

As 9Sail’s Kyle Kasharian puts it, “If you can automate your review process based upon specific actions, then it will be even easier to scale and ensure continuity for review requests.”

Here are some ways in which SocialPilot simplifies the process of review generation and management for businesses:

• Automate Review Requests: Set up campaigns to automatically send review requests via email or SMS to new customers, ensuring timely feedback collection.
• Import Customer Data Seamlessly: Integrate your CRM with SocialPilot to auto-update contacts, enabling prompt review requests to recent customers.
• Customize Branding in Communications: Add your brand’s colors and logos to review campaigns to reinforce brand identity and enhance customer engagement.
• Manage Multiple Brands or Locations Efficiently: Oversee review generation for various brands or locations from a single platform, streamlining operations.
• Address Feedback Proactively: Collect negative feedback privately to resolve issues directly, improving business operations and customer satisfaction.

Automating these tasks using SocialPilot Reviews can simplify your workflow, improve customer engagement, and increase the likelihood of receiving valuable reviews. Businesses can also generate personalized AI responses to better engage with their customers.

7. Personalizing the Review Request

While automation can save you some time and effort, sometimes sending a personalized review request can make a whole lot of a difference in encouraging customers to leave their feedback. Personalization tells people that you genuinely value their opinions.

Here’s our advice: Reserve personalized requests for customers who are most likely to leave positive reviews.

Here is how you can craft a personalized review request:

• Start with gratitude: Thank the customer for choosing your business and acknowledge their contributions.
• Highlight their impact: Talk to them about the impact of their Google or Facebook reviews or referrals and express appreciation for their anticipated support.
• Explain the value of their review: Share how their review helps local businesses grow and assists others in making informed decisions.

This approach fosters stronger connections and increases the likelihood of receiving thoughtful and positive reviews.

8. Follow Up on the Review Request

It is important to follow up with customers who haven’t responded to your review request. They might have intended to leave a review but simply forgot. A kind reminder after a few days (ideally 3) can remind them to leave reviews. However, restrict these requests to 2-3 times after the original review request mail, as constant pestering may annoy them.

9. Offer Multiple Ways to Leave a Review

Providing customers with multiple options for leaving reviews makes it easier and more convenient for them to share their feedback. Remember that consumers trust online reviews and these feedbacks can significantly boost your brand’s presence in SEO rankings.

Offer customers a variety of platforms to leave reviews, such as:

• Your own website for direct feedback.
• Yelp, Facebook, and Google My Business are the top review sites that are trusted for genuine feedback.
• Niche review sites relevant to your industry work great for local businesses (e.g., Capterra, G2, and TrustRadius for software, or TripAdvisor and Oyster for tourism).
• Amazon, if your products are listed there.

Expanding review opportunities across platforms enhances visibility and establishes trust with a wider audience.

10. Remove Any Friction in Leaving Reviews

Make the review process as simple as possible to encourage customers to leave feedback. Here are some things to consider:

• When customers reach the review page, ensure it lives up to expectations.
• Allow them to complete the review in just a few minutes. Time is often the biggest barrier to leaving a review, so make the process quick and easy to reduce hesitation.
• Ensure that the review request email templates are straightforward with a user-friendly interface.
• Keep text minimal and explanations concise to avoid overwhelming users and encourage more participation.

By simplifying the review process and emphasizing ease and speed, you can significantly increase the likelihood of customers leaving feedback.

11. Help Them Write a Review:

Make reviewing even easier by assisting customers with writing part or all of their reviews.

• Provide a template that highlights key aspects of your business relationship to help them get started.
• After a satisfied customer agrees to leave a review, offer a prewritten sample based on their past feedback. Present it as a way to simplify the process and encourage them to edit it as they see fit.
• Use review prompts to guide all customers, suggesting topics they might cover, such as delivery timeliness, customer service quality, or product performance.
• While customers don’t have to use your suggestions, these tools can serve as a helpful guide and make the review process more manageable.

12. Engage With Your Existing Reviews

Lika Djukic from Best Response Media suggests that the most effective way to encourage customers to write reviews is by actively engaging with those who have already shared their feedback.

Here are some tips that can help businesses with better engagement:

• Be prompt with your responses: Start by thanking your reviewers for their feedback, whether positive or negative, to show appreciation and attentiveness.
• Resolve issues as early as possible: Acknowledge concerns in a professional and empathetic manner and offer solutions for improvement.
• Encourage further interaction: Invite reviewers to try some of your new products/services, join loyalty programs, or share additional thoughts to keep the conversation going.

Why Are Customer Reviews Crucial

75% of customers believe that business review sections are as helpful as personal recommendations and can help establish the credibility of a business. As more and more consumers read online reviews before their purchases, it becomes increasingly important for businesses to get a good number of them.

A strong review presence not only builds trust but also influences buying decisions. That’s why many businesses focus on why customer reviews are important to strengthen their reputation and attract more customers. Here is what makes customer reviews so crucial.

1. Reviews Build Trust and Credibility

Positive reviews play an essential role in shaping a brand’s reputation by harnessing the influence of social proof. They inspire trust among potential customers, turning hesitant prospects into confident buyers.

On reading customer reviews, people tend to subconsciously believe that the experiences of others reflect the quality and reliability of a business. Reviews reduce the perceived risk and create a sense of validation, as humans tend to trust peer experiences over direct marketing.

In today’s competitive market, these positive reviews set your business apart from its competitors and attract new customers. Without reviews, your business risks losing credibility, especially if your competitors showcase their reviews. The more reviews you gather, the more likely you are to attract leads.

2. Reviews Influence Purchase Decisions

Research shows that showing customer reviews and testimonials can boost the sales of a business by 270%. While positive feedback can convince your potential buyers that a product is a worthy investment, negative reviews can deter them.

Having detailed and genuine customer reviews makes it easier for your customers to trust your product or service. Moreover, research shows that customers tend to trust companies that have a higher volume of reviews for their products. On average, a person reads around 10 reviews before they begin to trust a brand.

3. Reviews Boost the SEO

Reviews have a direct impact on your website’s SEO. Simply put, the more positive reviews you have for your business, the better your website’s ranking will be. When search engines find quality content, they reward it with higher visibility.

For example, if McKensy Burgers has stellar reviews, Google is more likely to rank its website higher when someone searches for “good burgers near me.” More five-star reviews lead to more website visits, which signals to search engines that your site is an authority, ultimately driving more traffic and generating leads.

4. Provide Businesses with Valuable Customer Feedback

Reviews offer businesses essential insights into customer experiences- both good and bad. They highlight what your business does well and identify areas for improvement. By analyzing this feedback, businesses can refine their products and services to better meet the needs of their customers.

Not to mention, taking customer feedback seriously and genuinely working on the shortcomings can help a business improve its brand loyalty. Ultimately, these reviews help businesses adapt, grow, and stay competitive in an ever-evolving marketplace.

5. Helps Build Powerful Brand Advocates

Loyal customers or the ones providing positive feedback can be your business’s powerful brand advocates. These satisfied customers can help spread the word, provide more reviews, and refer others. Their endorsements act as authentic, peer-driven testimonials that potential customers trust.

By engaging with these positive reviewers, businesses can forge long-term relationships that increase customer retention and advocacy. Recognizing, rewarding, and leveraging these connections creates a mutually beneficial relationship, turning them into a reliable source of new customers.

How to Respond to Customer Reviews

Getting customers to leave reviews for your business is only half the battle. The other half lies in how you respond and engage with those reviews. According to recent studies,88% of consumers would more likely buy from businesses that actively respond to their positive or negative reviews. This makes reviews one of the most influential tools in shaping a company’s reputation and credibility.

Here are some ways in which businesses can approach positive reviews:

• Gratitude and Validation: Start by thanking the reviewer for taking the time to post their genuine feedback and acknowledge their experience.
• Appreciation with Reassuranc: Avoid using generalized, standard responses. Use the customer’s name along with particular details. Start by expressing appreciation for their feedback and then reinforce the value of their support.
• Encouraging & Forward-Looking: Start by talking about their feedback and then end with a positive, forward-looking message to encourage future interactions.

Here is how businesses can reply to their negative reviews:

• Empathetic, Solution-Oriented: Tackle unfavorable feedback by recognizing the problem and expressing regret. Start by apologizing for any inconvenience caused and then offer them a solution/support to resolve their issue.
• Apologetic and Reassuring: Regardless of the severity of the review, stay composed, courteous, and oriented toward solutions. Start by apologizing and then ensure the customer that their issue is being looked into and will be resolved soon.
• Constructive and Improvement-Oriented: Start by thanking the customer for their feedback and then suggest methods to address the issue or encourage the reviewer to discuss the problem privately.

Common Challenges in Leaving/Managing Reviews

Although reviews have a significant influence, getting the right reviews and handling them well can be difficult. Let’s analyze some typical challenges and ways to tackle them.

Large Number of Reviews

Managing numerous reviews on various platforms can be daunting for small teams.

Solution: Use platforms such as SocialPilot Reviews, Yext, Birdeye or Podium for streamlined review handling. These tools assist in monitoring and addressing reviews from a single dashboard, simplifying and organizing the process. They make review management seamless by importing the review from different directories and keeping you notified in real-time.

Handling Adverse Feedback

Negative feedback can seem personal, and if not managed properly, it could harm the reputation of your business.

Solution: Understand that negative feedback is an inevitable part of running a business, but how you handle it can make all the difference. Begin by genuinely apologizing for any inconvenience caused, and view negative reviews as a chance to improve your services and demonstrate outstanding customer service. Create replies that recognize the problem, show empathy for the customer, and provide options for resolution.

Ensuring Uniformity

Different employees responding to reviews can lead to inconsistent messaging and tone.

Solution: Develop a brand messaging tone, a review response policy, and a template bank. Provide the team with the necessary training to ensure consistent communication across the board. Use tools like SocialPilot to streamline the process by centralizing responses and ensuring team collaboration. Regularly review and update guidelines to address recurring issues or changes in customer expectations. By maintaining uniformity, you present a cohesive brand image and build trust with your audience.

Fake Testimonials or Malicious Reviews

Businesses may also encounter reviews that are fake or designed to intentionally harm a brand’s reputation.

Solution: Platforms like Google review allow businesses to report their fake reviews. Just be prepared to provide evidence that helps you disprove false claims. Meanwhile, respond calmly to maintain professionalism. Simultaneously, genuine reviews from real customers should be encouraged to outweigh any fake ones. This can help safeguard your business from harmful misinformation by staying proactive and transparent.

Getting People to Leave A Review

Most of your happy customers may refrain from writing reviews, making the overall ratings of your business go down.

Solution: Request reviews in a proactive manner and automate this process using SocialPilot. Reach out to your customers via email or SMS, expressing gratitude for their purchase and providing a link for them to submit a review. Don’t forget to remind customers by using all the tips and strategies mentioned in the blog above to encourage your customers to leave a review for your business.

Conclusion

Getting customers to leave reviews is not just about boosting your online presence, it’s also about building your credibility, improving your offerings, and fostering a loyal customer base.

When happy customers share their experiences, it creates a ripple effect. One review turns into another, creating a wave of trust that draws new customers straight to your door.

But remember that the journey doesn’t end with collecting reviews. Actively responding to both positive and negative feedback demonstrates your commitment to customer satisfaction.

However, generating a constant stream of reviews can be easier said than done.

This is where SocialPilot Reviews helps you with its automation functionalities, from review collection to management and engagement, ensuring that your business never misses a chance to build trust and customer loyalty.

Ready to boost your online reputation with review automation? Try SocialPilot Reviews today and experience the difference.