The Best Ways to Get More Reviews
Ask After a Positive Interaction
This seems pretty straightforward, but you’d be surprised how many businesses don’t even do this. You should be asking for the review right after you leave the customer satisfied and happy. You want to get them when they’re on their feel good high. Why would anyone feel compelled to give you a review weeks after service.
Make It Really Really Easy
This is equally as important as the first point. Make it EASY. Customers don’t like having to do work, especially when they’re doing YOU a favor. I recommend keeping QR codes in your store, sending the link on text or email, having a tap card set up, and creating a link from your website for someone to leave a review.
Make Sure They Know Why It Helps
If a customer knows how a review helps you, they’re more likely to leave one. Tell them how reviews help other Longmont residents find you, how reviews help you generate leads, and how you really appreciate their feedback as it allows you to provide better service.
Give Employees Incentives
Now this is an underrated one. Considering how important Google reviews are, it might be worth investing in getting new ones. Obviously you can’t buy them (unless you want to get suspended), but the next best way is through employee incentives. Tell them, “Hey, I’ll give you $x for every new review you get.” This works extremely well for any face to face service business where there is an opportunity for one of your employees to ask.
How to Respond to Google Reviews
Now, once you get all these new amazing reviews. You’re going to need to respond to them. This signals to other customers investigating your reviews that your business cares. That you appreciate your customers. You don’t need to keyword stuff the responses (that’s a myth), just make sure you acknowledge what they highlighted and give a quick thank you.
Also, make sure you respond to all reviews, even the bad ones. Potential customers are going to read bad reviews, and they’re going to want to know how you mitigated the situation.
Where Most Longmont Businesses Go Wrong
Asking Everyone at Once
Google loves consistency. Short bursts look suspicious, which could result in a loss or deletion of reviews by Google. This shouldn’t be an issue if you’re asking right after services.
Offering Discount or Gifts
Don’t do this. This is against Google’s guidelines, and although they likely won’t find out, if they do, you could be screwed. Google could penalize you and remove your hard earned reviews.
Why Do Google Reviews Matter So Much
Enough with me talking about how to get more reviews, respond to them, and what not to do. Let’s talk about why they matter. They matter for two reasons: rankings and trust. In Whitespark’s recent local ranking factors survey, high numerical review rating was found to be the #6 ranking factor locally. If you’re serious about ranking higher, you need to be getting consistent high quality reviews.
The second reason they matter is to build trust. People like to work with businesses that can deliver. They need to feel confident you can do what you say you do. Has anybody ever gone to a 2 star rated barber shop with 10 reviews, probably not. Customers need to see lots of 4-5 star reviews on your Google Business Profile.
What Google Looks For in Your Reviews
Google is looking for certain things in your reviews, and surprisingly it can actually make a really big difference. If a review contains keywords like the service or location, it holds much more value than one that doesn’t. If a review is more recent, it’s more valuable. If the review is 4-5 stars, it’s obviously a good signal to Google. Google wants quality, relevance, and recency in your reviews.
How Many Reviews Do You Need to Compete in Longmont?
This is a relatively common question, and the truth is, it depends. Different industries and location will have differing levels of competition. A doctor in New York has significantly more competition than a junk removal company in a small town. The doctor might need almost a hundred reviews to rank, while the junk guy might only need 5-10. The way I like to to figure this out, is look up your top three competitors, find the average review count, now that’s your number. If you hit that target, you’ll be golden.
Final Tips for Longmont Business Owners
- Ask consistently
- Make it simple
- Focus on real customer experiences
- Stay within Google’s guidelines
This approach will build both your visibility and your trust. Hope this article helped, and if you need someone to do your local SEO, you can book a free audit and review below!
