How to Easily Generate Google Reviews as a Local Business to Great Effect
Getting reviews on Google as a local business literally carries a lot of weight. This is in terms of highly boosting your online reputation, ranking in the Google Maps lucrative 3-pack and highly influencing consumers’ purchasing decision to spend money with you. And if you regularly generate reviews on Google, the more you will catch the attention of a localised prospective customer as compared to your competition.
Besides, as you’ll discover through the link in this paragraph, Google reviews alongside online reputation marketing now have a major impact within the local business space.
Hence, it makes great sense as a local business to be getting reviews from your customers via your ‘Google Business Profile’ page.
Create Past Customer List
Create past customer list that you can contact. This is indeed a very quick way to easily get reviews, as you can simply get in touch with some of these past customers of yours to request a review, regarding the service you previously or recently provided to them.
Presumably, you already have a record of past customers, which could be in some kind of CRM or database. If this is the case, you need to identify the customers that have done business with you in the past 6 months to a year – and based on this selection criterion, you need to put together a list.
Upload List Into An Email Server
Once you put together the past customer list that fits the above selection criterion, you then upload the list (with their email addresses) into an Email Server. Make sure the Email Server that you use gives you permission to import the email addresses and to send the list an email.
Some examples of reputable Email Server Providers include Aweber, Get Response, Mailchimp, Constant Contact. If you already have an Email Server, you of course use that to send your (compiled) past customer list an email…
What if you don’t have ‘Email Addresses’ of past customers?
Assuming you have ‘Home Addresses’ of customers that have done business with you in the past 6 months to a year, you can still specifically put together this past customer list (with their home addresses). Then you would be able to contact them by sending them a letter by post.
Send a Review Request Message
This is a simple message to send (by email or by post) to your past customer list that you put together – asking them politely to leave you a review via Google.
This ‘Review Request Message’ that you would send must also include a link to your ‘Google Business Profile’ page where these past customers can easily leave you a review.
Did you know that 70% of people will leave a review for a business when asked?
So, if you politely ask customers for reviews, you will highly receive.
Structure of your ‘Review Request Message’ that you send to your customers (by email or by post) should include the following:
Intro – With the introduction, you need to say how much you appreciate them as a customer and how much you would appreciate it if they were to leave a review for you on Google.
Body – The body of your message should include ‘the link’ to your ‘Google Business Profile’ page where customers can leave you a review.
Close – To close or conclude your ‘Review Request Message’ to customers, you need to mention your commitment or mission – such as what your business is committed to in serving them.
P.S. If you are sending print format of a ‘Review Request Message’ (such as a letter) by post, also provide a QR Code as an added option for a customer to easily scan with their smartphone and quickly be directed to your Google page to leave you a review.
Give New Customers a Review Request Card
Have an (A5 size) Review Request Card designed, and give one away to every brand new face-to-face customer – immediately after they do business with you.
Just ask every new customer you served (in person) if they would be so kind to leave you a review as soon as possible when they can spare a minute in their own time, and once they say ‘yes’ then give them your Review Request Card.
About the message to include on your card, simply put one together by using the ‘Review Request Message’ structure described above.
On your ‘Review Request Card’, you would also need to include ‘the link’ to your ‘Google Business Profile’ page, which is where your new customers can leave you a Google review.
Don’t just ‘verbally’ ask a new customer that you come (face to face with) to leave you a review online – without giving them something handy like a ‘Review Request Card’.
Making a verbal request to a customer to leave you a review is just not enough. As they are probably busy with other things going on in their lives, and they can therefore easily forget to leave you a review when you are no longer with them, once you have finished providing your service.
Giving a new customer a ‘Review Request Card’ is something handy that is also obvious and eye-catching.
More importantly, the customer will have your review card in their possession even when you are no longer with them – which can serve as a constant reminder for the customer not to forget to leave you a review. This approach really works!!!
What if you couldn’t personally meet a customer to give them a review card?
What if you forgot to give your review card to a customer after serving them?
You can still make your review request by email if you have the customer’s email address or by post if you have their home address.
You can also send a text message review request to the customer, providing you have their mobile phone number.
As aforementioned, if your review request is in print format such as using a ‘Review Request Card’, don’t only provide a link, but also a QR Code for customers to leave you a review on your ‘Google Business Profile’ page. By also including a QR Code as an added option, a customer can simply scan it with their smartphone and quickly link to your Google page to leave you a review.
Respond to the Google Reviews you Receive
Write a response message to the reviews you receive on Google. This is a very powerful way of using your existing reviews as a leverage to easily get more business and additional reviews.
The point is when customers leave you a review (whether positive or negative), always respond directly to all the reviews you get, as part of providing an excellent customer service. Just don’t ignore your reviewers.
Especially if someone leaves you a positive review on Google, show your appreciation. People have made the effort to leave you a positive review, so the least you can do is respond by thanking them.
Did you know the fruitful effects it will have on your business if you thank your reviewers?
Doing this will really help you capture more customers. As new prospects would be impressed to see that you are providing an excellent customer service and interaction by responding to all the reviews you are getting.
This will also boost your rankings in Google local search results and Maps listings, which means you will have more visibility online to get found by more prospective customers.
The more prospects that find you and read your great ‘responses’ to your reviews, the more you easily gain new customers that easily leave you additional reviews.
Furthermore, those customers that left you reviews and you responded to their reviews, you will go up in their estimation. So, you would be opening up opportunities to effectively generate referrals and more business from those customers.
Hope you can now see that as a local business, when it comes to generating reviews, doing it via your ‘Google Business Profile’ page is as good as it gets. To grow your online reputation, achieve ranking positions in the lucrative Google Maps 3-Pack and highly influence consumers’ purchasing decision to spend money on your offers, then you really need to be getting reviews on Google. Besides, discover from this link here the impact of Google reviews in relation to online reputation marketing within the local business space.
