How To Ask Your Customers for Reviews To Boost Business Reputation

Any business that’s dedicated to continued growth and staying competitive understands the importance of customer perception. Customer reviews are, perhaps, the single most powerful influence on how this perception is shaped. They’re also one of the best tools you can use to mold your business into perfect shape. Let’s take a look at more reasons you should encourage your customers to give you their feedback and how to ask your customers for reviews.

Why It’s Important To Know How To Ask Customers for a Review

Why should you bother knowing how to ask your customers for a review? Here are the reasons you should actively encourage customer reviews.

• One research found that personal recommendations from family and friends have more value to customers than do marketing and advertising.
• The same research revealed that 60% of consumers rated customer reviews as either trustworthy or very trustworthy.
• Another study found that 85% of consumers consider online reviews as trustworthy as personal recommendations.
• 73% of customers in the aforementioned study said they trust a business more and 57% visit the website after reading positive reviews about it.
• Positive customer reviews give you credible and free advertising, and most consumers are willing to provide feedback when asked.
• According to Online Reviews Statistics and Trends 2022 report, 4 in 5 Americans read reviews before making a purchase decision.
• Out of those who base their purchase decisions on reviews, 79% want to make sure the product or service is good. Another 61% look for assurance that the product or service works. And 53% want to avoid getting ripped off.
• Customer reviews can help you show up higher on Google Maps listings and regular Google search results.
• Positive customer reviews provide the kind of social proof that can influence potential new customers’ purchase decisions.
• A survey of 21,000 consumers found that 83% discover new products every month via reviews.
• Positive customer reviews can help your business build a good online reputation and stay more competitive and relevant.
• Knowing how to politely ask for a good review can encourage customer retention and loyalty.
• According to Review Trackers, businesses that know how to ask for customer reviews generate higher ratings, while 1-star ratings of come from unprompted reviews.

How To Ask a Customer to Rate Your Service or Product

What customers say about you can make or break your brand. And, these days, they wield more power over a business’ reputation than they ever had before, thanks to social media. While knowing how to ask a customer to rate your service or product may seem unwise and ill-advised, it can actually help you take control of the “narrative.” This becomes even more important when you consider that reviews have a longer relevance period than your run-of-the-mill social media posts.

Social media posts have a peak window within which they reach the highest visibility and engagement and after which their performance declines. According to one report, the average peak window for an Instagram post is 21-48 hours, 5 hours for Facebook, and 15-20 minutes for Twitter.

Two weeks is the average shelf life of customer reviews on sites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Google Reviews. So your reviews on Yelp will have a longer impact than what your customers say about you on Facebook. This also means that you need to regularly generate new reviews to get the most out of them.

Let’s jump into how to ask your customers for reviews to make bigger strides with your digital footprint.

How To Ask Clients To Leave a Google Review, Yelp Review, Etc.

With 97% of consumers going online to research products or services in their area, it’s not enough to just know how to add your business to Google Maps. You should know how to ask clients to leave a Google review or via any other review platform outside social media. Here’s your guide.

1. Let your customers know they can leave a review. Have a section on your website that’s dedicated to reviews. Make sure this section is displayed prominently on your home page and each of your product/service pages. A reviews section will benefit you in two ways. First, it will serve as a constant reminder to your customers that you welcome and appreciate their feedback. Second, it will give your brand more credibility among potential new customers.
2. Encourage your customers to leave feedback. Do this regularly on your social media pages; don’t forget to include a direct link to where they can submit a review. Ask for a customer review via automated email 2 or 3 weeks after a purchase is made. Make the process simple by including a Google Review URL in your email. Or use your WiFi marketing platform to automatically prompt customers to give you feedback.
3. Sign up to third-party review sites. These sites will make the review process convenient for your customers, and the tracking and management of reviews easier for you. Popular general review sites include Google My Business, Yelp, Trust Pilot, and Better Business Bureau. Industry-specific review sites include TripAdvisor for food and drink, and for travel and hospitality; Air BnB, TripAdvisor, Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com for travel and hospitality; and Healthgrades for care services and healthcare.
4. Keep the review process short and simple. Keep the questions to a minimum, and focus on the most important ones. Give your customers a simple yes-or-no questionnaire, or use a rating scale with options such as emojis or “excellent, very good, good, poor.” Give them the option to leave a longer comment, should they want to.

How To Use Customer Reviews for Reputation Management

Just as important as knowing how to ask your customers for reviews is knowing how to manage them and use them to your advantage. Here are some tips.

• Monitor your online reviews. Even with an automated review process, make it a point to keep track of your online reviews on a regular basis. This is one way to stay up-to-date with your online reputation, as well as stay on top of issues.

• Respond to customer reviews. This is a crucial step because 89% of consumers have revealed that they read businesses’ responses to reviews. This is your opportunity to engage directly with your customers. Whether you’re just saying “Thank you for your feedback,” or addressing a negative feedback/experience, your customers will appreciate your timely response.

• Share your online reviews. Customer feedback does not only serve as user-generated content and free advertising. Sharing your reviews shows transparency and lends your business credibility.

  Make sure to share both positive and negative reviews. Again, take the opportunity to address the negative ones to show readers that you care about their concerns.

• Use positive reviews to promote a product/service. Share a snippet and/or direct link to the positive review of a particular product/service when promoting the same product/service on your social media, website, online ads, etc.

How To Ask Your Customers for Reviews: Message Templates

If your main concern about how to ask your customers for reviews is the messaging itself, here are some message templates to get you started.

How To Ask for a Review via Email

Here are ideas for email subject lines and a couple of sample messages when asking for a review via email.

For subject lines, you can use or modify any of the following:

• How did we do?
• We’d love to hear your feedback!
• How are you liking the product?
• Got a minute to share your experience with (Company Name)?
• How was your recent interaction with customer support?
• We want your feedback.

For message templates, check out these examples for how to ask your customers for reviews. You can also use these on your social media pages and for private messaging.

1. “Hi (First name of customer),

   Thank you for choosing (Business Name)! Reviews help us improve the quality of our products and service, and help others learn about us. Would you be willing to take a few minutes to leave us a review? You can click this link (direct URL to review page) to leave us a review. Thank you in advance for taking time to share your experience. We appreciate your business!”

2. “Hello there, ((First name of customer)!

   I hope you had a pleasant shopping experience. We would appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to share your experience on our website/about our product. Your feedback helps us improve our ability to provide our customers with the best service possible.

   To write a review, click on the link of your preferred review website below. Thank you again for your support.”

   (Insert direct URLs to your review website profiles)

3. “Hi (First name of customer)! Thank you again for choosing (Business Name).

   Thank you again for choosing (Business Name). It’s our priority to continue providing top-notch service to customers like you. Please leave us a review on our profile, on (insert direct URL to review website profile). It will only take a minute, but your valuable feedback will help us improve so we can make more customers happy. Thank you!”

How To Ask a Customer for a Review via Sms

Here are sample messages when you want to ask a customer for a review via SMS. Take note that your customers must have agreed to receiving SMS marketing communication from you.

1. “Hey (First name of customer), thank you for visiting (Business Name) today! To help us best serve you and others, could you click on this link (review website link) to answer one question about your experience today? Thanks!”

2. “Hi (First name of customer), thank you for doing business with us. Do you have 1 minute to leave a review about your experience with us? Just go here: (review website link). We appreciate your time!”

3. “Hello (First name of customer), thank you for your recent visit to our location in (City). We want to make sure that everyone at (Business Name) provides our customers with the best experience possible! This link (review website link) will take you to a quick survey with 3 questions. We appreciate your help!”

Build Relationships by Proactively Asking For Feedback

Apply all these tips for how to ask your customers for reviews to help you build a great online reputation for your business. Proactively asking for feedback shows customers that you care and helps build and strengthen customer relationships. Directly engaging with your customers by asking for and responding to their reviews also contribute to growing customer loyalty.

Did you know that you can use your guest WiFi to make the review process easier for your business and your customers? With the help of an all-in-one WiFi marketing solution like Beambox, you can improve your brand’s online reputation on autopilot. Beambox lets you customize your guest WiFi platform’s captive portal. Automatically ask your guests to leave a review after they visit your venue for the first time to make the feedback process convenient.

Beambox also allows you to manage all of your reviews from one dashboard. Your review pages are automatically synced every day so you can have a bird’s-eye view of your online reputation from a single vantage point. Track and automatically publish positive reviews on TripAdvisor, Facebook, or Google Reviews. Deflect negative feedback with an internal feedback form and address them in private. Grow your online reputation and your business through your guest WiFi. Start your Beambox free trial today!

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