7 Best Ways To Get Reviews: How To Ask For Reviews + Examples

Top Ways To Ask And Get Good Customer Reviews

Online reviews and testimonials are invaluable to your business.

As reputation is everything.

And word of mouth remains the most dominant #1 form of marketing.

In 2021, 87% of consumers consulted online reviews to help them shop for local businesses. And 77% said they “always” or “regularly” did so.

You never get a second chance to make a first impression.

So make every customer interaction count.

Know the best ways to ask for a review.

What service or product attributes you want to be rated for.

Go above and beyond to deliver an exceptional experience.

And know what single review site you want to direct them too.

7 Best Ways To Ask For Reviews

Identify The Right Moments To Ask
Pick The Review Site That Works For You At Scale
Personally Ask The Customer
Leverage Moments Of Customer Happiness
Begin With An Open-Ended Question
Reduce Friction Where You Can
Let Them Know How Long It Will Take

1. Identify The Right Moments To Ask

Timing is everything when it comes to asking for favors from your past and present clients.

So understanding your buyer's journey is paramount.

Broadly speaking, the right moment to ask the first time is upon delivering your service or product to the customer.

If they don't do it at that time, then follow up with a reminder a week later.

Along with a second reminder a week after that.

Beyond that, don't keep nagging them.

Not everyone is going to write a review of your product or service.

That's just how it is.

So keep your expectations low.

If they write it great.

If not, stay focused on impressing your current or next client.

2. Pick The Review Site That Works For You To Scale

In it's most simple and strategic form this means choosing the single review site you are going all-in-on.

This can be determined primarily by your business's industry and location.

You can choose google business, yelp, trustpilot, facebook, trusted stores - whatever.

We'll cover more of the review platforms further below in this post.

But for now, pointing your customers to a single review site compared to a few review platforms works to your advantage in many ways.

It simplifies and removes friction from the review process.

Making it easier for your customer to leave a positive review.

It allows you to automate it, by setting up email actions triggered by purchases.

Thereby, increasing your conversion rate of getting a review.

And most valuably, it allows for compounding to work in your favor over time.

You're better off having 50+ on a single review site, than 10 reviews across five review platforms.

Often times, once you reach a specific number (ie; 25, 50, 100 reviews) on a single review site, this unlocks added organic SEO benefits for your business in google and bing search.

So in the long run, this strategy works more to your advantage.

As you're reputation will compound faster.

Additionally, there are a few review platforms which allow you to automate the review process.

Which is a huge business benefit and time saver.

Being able to automate the review process with a series of review emails triggered upon each new purchase.

You can then schedule reminder emails so as to automatically follow up if unsuccessful upon the first ask.

This allows you to have some form of digital leverage and have compounding work in your favor over weeks, months, and years.

3. Personally Ask The Customer

If you don't ask, you don't receive.

In business and in life.

It's really that simple.

So personally ask your customer, or personalize your ask if your review process is automated.

Either way, have a review ask template.

Just like you would with a pitch template.

Asking for a review/referral triggers the customer to actively reflect on the positive or negative experience you delivered.

A client that has been prompted to identify the positives is more likely to recognize them and keep you and your business top-of-mind the next time they need your service or product.

These reflections on a positive experience become the seeds of customer-loyalty.

Additionally, you can incentivize the customer with a discount offer for leaving a review.

10% - 20% is usually a fair place to start.

4. Leverage Moments of Customer Happiness

This can come in many forms.

At what points in the process or attributes of your product and service did you exceed expectations or overdeliver on?

Is the experience quick and easy for your customer?

Do you overdeliver on quality or quantity?

On Speed?

Functionality?

Customer service?

A list of service and product attributes are more thoroughly outlined in the section below.

5. Begin With An Open-Ended Question

How helpful would a review have been for you as you were looking to make a purchase decision?

Or asked another way.

Would a review have significantly aided your purchasing decision-making process?

This encourages them to reflect on the details of their experience with you and to pin-point specific areas of customer happiness along with areas you can improve upon.

Feel free to tailor this open-ended question to your specific business, product, or service.

6. Reduce Friction Where You Can

It's critical to make it as easy as possible for your client to leave a brief review.

Asking them to post a review on multiple review platforms only creates more friction in the review process.

They should not have to sign up or create an account to leave a review.

Include a link directly to the review page you would like them to write a referral.

Give them a loose prompt.

Ask them to specifically mention the service and / or product they purchased and used.

Point out the top 5 attributes you would like them to rate you on.

Using any and all of these methods, removes friction from the process and increases the chance of the customer to leave a positive review.

7. Let Them Know How Long It Will Take

Last but certainly not least, is letting them know exactly how long the referral process will take.

Be very specific.

Ask for a brief review, no longer than 2 - 3 sentences max.

State that it will not take any longer than 2 mins max.

Keep it short and sweet.

Let them know you value their time and feedback.

So to recap.

Ask upon completion of the service or product.

Send them the direct link to the review page.

Prompt them with an open-ended question about the specific service or product you would like them to review, along with the attributes.

Let them know exactly how long it will take.

Lastly, follow up 1 - 2 times a week or two later if the first attempt is unsuccessful.

Combining and using all of these 7 best ways to get reviews, will dramatically improve your conversion rate when asking for a review.

Examples Of How To Ask For Reviews

This is an example of effectively incorporating as many of the 7 best ways to ask for a service review.

This is a similar but different example of how to ask for a product review.

Now, let's get into the list of attributes you want to be rated for.

Product & Service Attributes

Highlight the right things about your services and products. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but here are some top product and service attributes you can ask for specific feedback on:

Quality
Value For Money
Accommodation
Capacity
Cleanliness
Comfort
Compatibility
Customer Service
Delivery / Delivery Time
Design
Discretion
Durability
Ease of Assembly / Installation
Ease of Purchase
Ease of Use
Effectiveness
Fit
Freshness
Fun
Functionality
Location
Maintenance
Materials
Packaging
Performance
Portability
Product Meets Description
Reliability
Safety
Staff
Style
Sustainability
Taste
Usefulness

Best Review Sites

There are many review sites customers can use to share their voice.

You want to select the one that is best for your company, based on the industry, location, visibility, ease, and ability to automate.

It's important to make sure your profiles on these sites are up-to-date and accurate.

As a general policy, you should respond to all reviews, positive and negative, in a timely manner.

Here is a list of 10 3rd party review sites you may want to have a profile on:

How To Respond To Reviews Objectively and Unemotionally

Responding to reviews in a timely fashion helps show customers that you care about your business and that you're willing to address any issues customers may have.

That said, avoid getting into lengthy back-and-forth with customers who claim a bad experience.

Not every review is going to be a glowing positive 5-star review.

That's just the reality.

If they have a fair point - own it, fix it, and grow from it.

And say that in your reply to the review.

Give your side politely and succinctly, then leave it be.

Focus on improving whatever issue(s) they had.

You won’t win an argument with someone about their negative experience – but you can display fairness and a openness to the feedback.

However, in the long run, staying focused on delivering the highest quality products and services you can with the best customer service and over time your 3rd party reviews will be an accurate representation of your positive reputation.

We hope you’ve found this article on the 7 Best Ways To Get Reviews: How To Ask For Reviews + Examples to be useful and practical.

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