The best places to ask for reviews are the places where your clients “live”, where they like to hang out and of course where they are most comfortable leaving reviews, such as Facebook, Yelp etc.
Make sure you always ask for reviews on your Google My Business listing.
Getting reviews and being active on Google My Business (GMB) listing is going to help your visibility, your online presence, which means the rest of us can find you through a Google search easier. It’s going to give your future customers a chance to get to know you and also going to give your business authenticity and legitimacy. It’s a good thing to ask for reviews.
How do you ask for reviews?
Asking for reviews is best done when you’re just finishing or still currently working for your client. So, strike when the iron’s hot. As soon as you’ve provided the service for your clients, you want to ask them for reviews. Ask when you are with the client, while you’re thanking them for their business and talking about whatever else you need to talk about, simply add:
“Hey, I would really appreciate it if you could leave me a review. It won’t take you more than 30 seconds. I can text or message you the link right now to your phone.”
This is a perfect way to do it, you’re with them, they can get it done and you can guide them if you need to. Don’t feel like you’re being too forward, your client can always decline and chances are you will only ask if you feel connected with your customer and know it’s ok to ask.
Another way you ask for a review is through your thank you email. After you’ve provided the service, you most likely will send a thank you email. Add the link to your review site for them so they can directly to it and leave you a review. You can ask them only for a Google My Business review or you can ask for one on Facebook too.
You can also build your reviews through your past clients. You probably have a list of former clients so if you want to build up your Google reviews (since Google reviews are a great way to boost your online visibility and trust factor) send out an email asking your great past clients to help you out. There’s no harm in asking. An email might look something like this:
Hey Jack,
I really loved working for you and hope my service/product worked out well for you. As you know, this business is my passion and I am really trying to get the word out about it. Something that really helps are great online reviews and I would appreciate it if you could take a quick minute out of your day and leave me a review. You have the option to give me a review on Google or Facebook, here are the links (the link should take you right to the page). Much appreciated.
Some feedback I get from clients when telling them to ask for review are the following: “Oh, they don’t want to leave me a review,” or “What if they leave me a bad review? I don’t want to leave myself exposed.”
You can’t control what other people do. If client is not happy with your service and they’re leaving a bad review, the best thing you can do after that is contact them and try to rectify the situation and see if they’ll change the review.
Never bribe your clients to give you a review.
Most review sites have policies against you offering money, gifts, percent off services. There is a difference between asking a client or bribing them.
Always make sure you publicly respond to the bad review in gracious manner, thanking them for the feedback, asking them what it is you can do to better serve them in the future. An example would look like:
“Thank you for your feedback and for giving me a chance to serve you with (insert service or product you provided). We always look for ways to improve. I’m going to make changes so that I can better serve you and my other customers in the future. Let me know if you want to further discuss the provided service/product. Please feel free to contact me directly.”
If you are left with a happy, amazing, five-star review, you also want to respond with a thank you. It’s good on multiple levels. It shows that customer service is important to you, and it also helps Google know that this business is legitimate and that they care about their clients, and they’re going to say thank you when they get a review. Trust me, Google knows.
Make sure that you are setting yourself up as best you can for your online presence, and that includes asking for reviews on Google My Business listing ideally and on your Facebook page as well.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
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