More than 75% people go through reviews before they decide to buy something. Yes, more than 3 out of 4 people. That’s how crucial customer reviews are. In fact, among millennials, 80% don’t even buy anything without going through online reviews.
But, how do you go about asking for reviews? If you have been a customer, you must have come across all sorts of companies coming at you with their requests for reviews. And obviously, at times, it might feel annoying. So, what do you do?
You don’t need to worry at all. In this article, we will discuss the best practices that you should always keep in mind when you’re asking for customer reviews through social media. We will suggest the things you should do for getting more reviews, and the things that you should steer clear of. So, let’s get into it!
Why Do You Need Reviews?
To understand why reviews are crucial, all you need to do is to look into your shopping behavior. When you want to buy a new product, how do you choose what place to buy the product from? Of course, if someone you know recommends you a place, then obviously you’re liokely to be convinced. And other than that, reviews can provide you a great help in terms of determining whether the place sells good products or not.
According to survey, 84% of the consumers believe that online reviews are as trustworthy as personal recommendation. So, you understand why reviews can help you sell more.
With better reviews, your sales will jump. Good customer reviews are gold.
How Do You Seek Reviews from Customers?
Of course, there are loads of ways in which you can ask for reviews from the customers. However, it’s important to know what to use where, and also what the proper ways are. In terms of some of the most commonly and successfully used ways of asking for reviews, these few stand out:
- Asking in person
- Seeking review over a text
- Opting to go for a phone call
- Using social media to send texts asking for reviews
- Publishing social media posts asking for reviews
- Getting the best out of thank you pages
- Mentioning in the receipts or invoices
- Using your website to ask reviews
- Reaching out to customers through emails
Asking for Reviews Through Social Media: The Things that You Should Do
So, before we discuss the things you shouldn’t do, let’s focus on the things that you should do. There will be a lot of temptations go extravagant, or pester customers for reviews, but those things are not what you should apply. There are far more effective ways, and also some basic etiquettes that you should be aware of.
Make Your Business Easy to Find
Of course, for your customers to post reviews, they need to be able to find you in the first place. And if finding you becomes a tough thing to do, then obviously they won’t toil through the whole process to post just a review.
Make sure if your customers look for you, be it through Google, Facebook, or any social media at all – you’re easy to find. Then your customers will have more reasons to post. Make it a convenient journey for your customers.
Create Appreciation Posts and Include Link for Reviews
This is quite an effective way of getting more reviews for your company. If you create a post where you talk about how important your customers are to you (of course they are!), and ask for the customers to leave reviews, then it’s likely that your loyal customers will put reviews out of love. So, that’s something that you can definitely do.
Use Existing Reviews to Create Engaging Posts
Among all the reviews that you’ll receive, there will be some that will stand out. There will be some where your company will be especially praised, or it will show how your product or service helped solved a serious problem in your customer’s lives, or how your company stands out in that particular area.
These reviews are absolute gold. Don’t let them go to waste. Create appreciative and engaging posts out of these reviews, and more people will get to see how great you treat your customers.
Always Respond to the Reviews You Get
Acknowledgement is crucial. You request your customers to leave a review, and they find time out to post a review for you. However, you forget to respond to it somehow.
That’s. Never. Acceptable.
You must remember to show your appreciation for the customers who care enough to leave a review even though they don’t have anything to gain from the post. So, it’s incredibly crucial that you always provide proper, grateful, and appreciative responses to the reviews you receive.
Asking for Reviews Through Social Media: Things to Steer Clear Of
So, let’s talk about the don’ts.
Never Buy Reviews, Never Incentivize for Reviews
Authenticity is absolutely crucial for your business to gain the trust of potential customers. Buying reviews are absolutely a big red flag. It’s not even allowed, according to the terms and conditions of platforms such as Google and Yelp.
Incentivizing is also not a good idea at all. This is once again in violation of the terms and policies, and more importantly, it just shows that you’re worried about the kind of reviews you’ll get, so you’re providing incentives for the customers.
Apologizing for Asking for Reviews
You’re not doing anything wrong if you’re asking for reviews from your customers. It’s completely normal. Be polite, of course, but don’t apologize.
The Final Word
Customer reviews on social media are crucial if you want your business to see more customers. So, obviously, this is something that you should seek for in the right manner. We hope our suggestions will help you get more reviews on social media from your customers. All the best!
We know incrementality is the name of the game in today's competitive market. So o ahead and check out our article on how to adapt incrementality.