Whether you operate a brick-or-mortar business or an eCommerce store, I think we agree that sales achieved through word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful forms of marketing. When you have people raving about your products or services, new customers will listen, look for information, and eventually hop onboard.

Word-of-mouth marketing essentially translates to online reviews in the digital world, which is critical to boosting sales and revenue.

In fact, more than 80% of consumers trust online reviews more than peer recommendations. Moreover, 9 out of 10 people will engage in a brand that responds to online reviews, implying the relationship between reviewers and businesses.

Earning tons of high-quality Google reviews is vital to your business’s success. In this post, we’ll discuss how you can get more customer reviews in 2022 and start a feedback loop of sales and positive reviews.

Get More Google Reviews By Asking Your Customers Directly

The most proactive way of earning Google Reviews is asking your customers at the right time.

Ask them to fill out a quick survey or review form after they reach the end of your blog post, check out their cart, or finish a conversation with your customer service representatives.

In other words, if you just helped make a customer’s day, they will gladly leave a review if you ask them.

Customise a Google Review Link For Your Customers

By directly adding a Google review link to your site, you’re creating a smooth and seamless user experience where people can engage with your page and give feedback without leaving. 

A custom link appears as a simple pop-up box that lets visitors leave a review without logging in or clicking through questions or obstacles.

To customise a Google review link:

• Locate your business and place ID on Google’s Maps Guide page.

• Copy your Google Maps Place ID. It should look like a string of alphanumeric characters, which Google uses to distinguish your place from others.

• Paste your business’s Place ID in this custom URL:
  http://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=

Actively Respond to Google Reviews

People will trust a business that quickly responds to Google reviews, especially if each reply is bespoke and taken to be genuinely sincere. If you reply to good and bad reviews with the same promptness and respect, you’re building confidence in your brand, even if some customers had a previous negative experience.

Furthermore, you can keep disappointed consumers from switching to your competitors just by responding to their reviews with an apology and resolving the complaint privately.

Resist from Responding Negatively to Google Reviews

When dealing with negative reviews, you must avoid:

• Responding negatively to a bad customer review
• Review-gating or curating only five-star reviews

Google frowns upon review-gating as this unethical practice manipulates reviews and may risk Google My Business removing all user and product reviews on your business site. 

Review-gating is a deceptive tactic where a website asks users about their browsing or shopping experience.

If a user ticks the positive button, they are then asked to leave a Google review which is published publicly. However, ticking the negative button will redirect them to a private website review without impacting Google’s review star ratings.

It’s important to note that responding to one-star reviews respectfully and providing a reasonable resolution will boost your brand’s image and display excellent customer service. 

Getting more Google reviews means accepting good and bad reviews and turning each review into a win-win situation.

Getting Feedback Through Email

Email campaigns are great for helping customers complete their buying journey. That includes product recommendations, newsletters, cart reminders, and asking for their feedback.

Executing an effective email marketing campaign shows your customers how much you value their satisfaction and your brand. Explain how their product and experience feedback helps your business, and include a Google review link to wrap up your message.

Additionally, always take your time before replying to emails. If you are in a confrontation with a customer, consult with your team members to send a response that can shift the argument into a win-win situation.

Include Leave-Behinds and Freebies For New Google Reviews

Leave-behinds are excellent marketing/promotional items such as pens, cards, or cups with your company logo and contact details. You can even include documentation slips with tips on how customers can make the most of their products.

Product freebies such as fridge magnets, keychains, and bottle openers are excellent in reminding customers about your brand. You can get more Google My Business reviews by complementing your Google review request with a leave-behind.

Request For a Google Review More Than Once

There is a fine line between reminding your customers to leave a review when it’s convenient, and outright annoying them. Sending emails and calling several times a day to ask for feedback may potentially lead to a terrible one-star review.

We recommend sending a feedback reminder one to three days after they complete a transaction and sending weekly reminders for up to three requests only. Anywhere above that frequency may become irritating for most customers and ruin your hard-earned customer satisfaction.

Focus on improving your email engagement strategy through a data-driven approach to finding the sweet spot of frequency and number of requests leading to a great user experience.

Automate Google Review Generation

There are tons of excellent Google review generation platforms that automatically ask your customers to leave a review. Some of them include NiceJob, Broadly, BirdEye, and Nearby Now.

By using review generation platforms, you don’t have to ask each customer to provide feedback. Without automating the process, you’ll miss out on late-night and weekend transactions – which typically take a significant portion of your sales and engagements.

Regardless of your business scale, operations, products, or niche, automating the review process takes massive work off your shoulders. Partner that with an SEO agency that offers online reputation management and you will have more time to focus on growing your business.

Besides, you can also customise review generation tools to notify you of negative results, so you can take action and discuss with your team as soon as a bad review appears.

Exhibit Outstanding Customer Service To Increase Chances of Getting More Google Reviews

If you want to get as much Google reviews as possible, you need to provide something that lasts to your customers. Aside from the product itself, we’re talking about customer service.

Here’s how you can ramp up customer service and encourage customers to leave a review:

• Minimise customer hold times between contacting your business and getting a response from your representatives.

• Attention to detail is crucial for your customer service representatives in listening to complaints and providing effective solutions.

• Keep a professional yet friendly tone so your customers feel a human and natural interaction.

• Educate and train your customer representatives to resolve technical issues, significantly cutting resolution time, and encourage consumers to leave a review.

Make it Easy for Consumers to Leave a Google Review

Regardless of what method you take to acquire Google reviews, the end goal is to establish a seamless user experience and make it convenient for your customers to provide feedback. Having to log in and navigate through pages is pestering enough for users who want to give short feedback.

Remember that your customers are busy people who are giving you a favour by leaving a review, so keep the experience seamless and simple. You can get tons of Google reviews in a day if users can complete the endeavour within a couple of minutes.

If you want to know how to make the most of Google reviews and ultimately have them contribute to boosting your website’s SEO, contact our SEO experts today!