How to get more reviews on Google

“How to get reviews on Google” is one of the most searched phrases when it comes to a majority of business ventures, and that’s the case for a reason.

Google reviews are very important in general. As much as 88% of consumers rely on online reviews – the same goes for personal recommendations – and 90% of consumers actually read reviews before deciding to buy something or to visit a business.

In fact, getting more Google reviews also holds weight in the current search algorithm, giving you all the more reason to ponder over getting more Google reviews. So, if you’re really interested and want to find out how to get reviews on Google, read the text below with the top review generation strategies you should incorporate into your marketing plan.

Ask for a review directly

The first strategy to get more reviews on Google is an easy one – just ask!

This is often the most secure and direct way to ensure satisfied customers receive your request. This strategy is something that needs to be communicated to all departments within your business, especially to account managers and other client-handling roles.

Whenever you or one of your employees is on the phone with a happy and satisfied customer, you should ask them to write a review to express their satisfaction, and help your business in doing so.

Follow-up on your review requests

If you were wondering how to get more reviews on Google My Business when asking your customers doesn’t seem to work – do not worry.

If it happens that your customer hasn’t left a review the first time you asked, that doesn’t mean they’ll never leave one and that you shouldn’t ask again.

We recommend you try sending follow-up emails three times, in addition to your first review request. You should try sending a new request once a week or every other week until you hit your max.

Of course, it goes without saying that some of your customers will never leave a review, no matter how many times you ask them, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t at least try.

Educate your customers and make it easy for them to leave a review

You can have a printout and make it available on your front desk, or, even easier, you can create a page or a blog post on your website, directing it with a question “Would you like to leave a Google review for my business?”. This tactic can be effective considering the fact that most people do not leave a review simply because they don’t know how to.

Which brings us to the next step – make leaving a review easy and simple.

The idea is to make it so your customers can leave a review in just a few clicks. If they are forced to hunt through your website in order to track down the review page or your Google+ Local page, they’ll turn away. So, in order to avoid a drop, and in order to generate as many reviews as possible, link as closely to the review form as you can.

Make sure your reviews are legitimate

Since you are already wondering how to get Google business reviews, one of the first things you need to avoid is faking or buying reviews.

It is highly important to make sure your reviews are legitimate, mainly because every veteran user knows what those look like and which reviews have been purchased. They can also notice when negative reviews have been deleted.

This refers to writing reviews for your business from your personal account/s or buying them from other personal accounts. The main downside of tricking your audience stems from the fact that faking or buying positive reviews means you have something to hide, and if you want your business to thrive – you have to promote the truth.

Another fault to this is that fake accounts can be purged, and your fake reviews along with them, and that is only one of the many ways you lose your credibility.

Use third party generation tools

One of the answers to the question “How do you get positive Google reviews?” is to utilize a review generation tool in order to make the whole process much more streamlined.

For instance, if you are operating a franchise model business or have several locations across the country, managing Google reviews can become very time-consuming. This is when you should consider utilizing third party tools, such as certain programs or even using smart wifi, that will help you expedite the entire process.

Address bad reviews personally

It’s completely normal and entirely expected that once in a while you will get a bad review.

It’s inevitable.

However, what you need to do in those moments is not to attack, or deliver excuses – you need to accept responsibility and promise you will correct the problem. Be aware that turning a one star review into a 5-star review is not an impossible task, but something you can achieve if you sincerely work on fixing the problem.

Most importantly – do not delete the bad reviews because the users will know and they will not forget. Once they see that you monitor the reviews and respond regularly even to the negative ones, they are more likely to see you as a company that doesn’t shy from fixing its mistakes and, therefore, choose to use your services once more.

Review your partners in order to generate your own reviews

If you’re wondering how to get more Google reviews from customers, one of the strategies suggests that instead of just generating reviews for your business, you should also try reviewing other businesses, so that they could do the same for you.

Your reviews don’t have to come from customers only.

Many businesses have partners in the industry. One trick you can use is to leave positive reviews on their pages so they can reciprocate by leaving the same on yours. This might not always work, but if you have firm relationships with others from the industry they might refer you to others and therefore help build relationships and reviews at the same time.

Private testimonials are your friends

Yes they are and you should encourage them.

You are probably well aware that nearly every business will receive an unsolicited review at some point. When these reviews are negative, they present you with an opportunity to up your game in customer service. However. the real question is what do you do if they are positive?

What you can do is reply and kindly ask them to post their review on your Google My Business page, which is a way to bring private reviews into the public spotlight where they can actually do you some good.

Ensure great customer service

This might be by far the best way to get more Google reviews.

If a customer or a client of yours is blown away by your service, or the product you manufacture, or the experience they had with you as a whole – they will feel more compelled to leave a review, and a positive one at that!

If you want to generate reviews, it is important you provide a review-worthy service. If no one is satisfied with what you offer, no one will leave a review, especially not a positive one. You need to make sure that your products are the best that they can be, so they can generate and inspire natural reviews.

Bottom line on how to get more reviews on Google

There is more than one way for getting reviews on Google but, before you start applying our tips, you should remember that updating your reviews regularly is of utmost importance.

How so?

Well, up to 85% of consumers do not trust the reviews that are more than three months old, while 40% of them only look at those from two weeks ago.

What does this mean?

It means that having a lot of 5 star reviews is not enough and that there is no point where you can call it quits. You need to keep your reviews updated continuously in order for your review profile to remain fresh.

Wondering how to get more Google reviews for your business and then going with some of these strategies shouldn’t be a painful process. In fact, it should be kept simple and well-communicated across your organization, so you can expect results in no time.