Get more reviews for your company or brand.

How you position yourself in the market plays a major role when a potential customer is making the choice whether or not to buy anything from your company. A good reputation in particular can be decisive here. That’s why we give 7 tips to collect more reviews.

How do you request a review?

Many companies know how important it is to collect customer reviews, but it’s best to do it. Of course, a lot depends on what your company does AND how you come into contact with customers. That is why we have made it as wide as possible. You will probably find some tips that you can use in your business.

• Know when the right time is
• Choose an option that suits your business
• Ask the customer directly
• Take advantage of positive moments
• Ask open questions
• make it easy
• Let us know how long it takes

1. Know when the time is right

Knowing when is the right time to ask for a review is very important, this is the only way to achieve the optimal result. If you ask for a review after a negative experience, you can bet money on receiving a bad review, and that’s not the goal.

Ask for a review at key moments during the customer journey, such as: After a successful moment, for example after achieving a good result. With a follow-up order or order. When your brand or company is tagged on social media. If they are looking at other products or services on your site. After referring another customer.

These are just a few examples when it’s a good time to ask for a review; these are positive experiences that offer an opportunity for a positive review.

2. Choose an option that suits your company

In today’s ‘fake news’ culture, consumers are finding it increasingly difficult to determine who or what to trust. This year, Trustpilot saw an 11% decline in trust worldwide, with 29% of people saying they don’t trust consumer brands (anymore).

Some Trustpilot customers have done their own A/B tests and saw that using the right review tools resulted in an improvement in conversion rate. Obtaining and showing (new) reviews should be a natural process. The following options can help you get reviews on a large(er) scale:

• Train your employees to ask for reviews. Certainly after every successful project or service.
• Process review requests in your email marketing campaigns.
• Use NPS (Net Promoter Score) to recognize promoters (your most enthusiastic and satisfied customers) and deploy a service team for relationship management with these customers.
• Place review options or link when completing the process, for example after checking out or completing a service form.

Whatever you choose, make sure to apply it consistently!

3. Ask the customer directly

Do you have a position where you have direct contact with customers, such as a customer success manager or as a relationship manager, do not hesitate to ask for a review after a good conversation with your customers (portfolio).

Make sure it makes sense when you ask for it (see point 1). Are you on a lunch meeting with a partner, invited to a business event or something else of this nature, keep the conversation businesslike; asking for a review at such a time is very strange. Ask how things are going and how they experience your service and see if this is in line with the goals and expectations

If you get good news and let them know that success is being achieved, let them know that you appreciate this and also appreciate the loyalty. Then link this to the question that you personally appreciate sharing their experience with (potential) new customers; no you have, yes you can get, a positive-minded customer will not experience this as a problem.

4. Take advantage of positive moments

Have you just scored a success moment with your customer? Received good feedback? Then you have reached a moment of “positive customer success”. This is a perfect time to ask them to share this experience in the form of a review. It will not surprise you that a review requested at a time like this turns out to be (very) positive.

5. Make it easy

If it is difficult or inconvenient to post a review, your customer will be less likely to do it. That means you need to make it as easy as possible, especially if you’re asking them to post a review by email. Some ideas:

• Provide multiple review options on various platforms so that your customer can choose what they feel most comfortable with.
• A direct link to the review page makes it less work for someone to immediately post a review.
• Suggest what to say, for example “Would you like to leave a review about your positive experience?” or “Tell us about your success story in your review”

6. Let us know how long it will take

A big sticking point for many can be how much time it takes. If your customer does not know how long it will take, then the customer will not have time for it or will not make time for it. But if you communicate in advance “It only takes a few minutes” or “It’s done in 2 minutes” you have a better chance of convincing someone.

7. Ask open questions

“Don’t jump the gun”. Obviously, your first question shouldn’t be “would you like to leave a review?” Start the conversation with an open question, such as “what do you think of the product/service?” or “How is your recent experience with[afdeling] gone?”. By asking open questions, you can gauge whether your customer is ready to leave a review.

This is useful for two reasons:

• By asking certain questions you can select the right customer for a (specific) review.
• You prevent the possibility of asking a customer for a review, while their experience may not have been optimal.

Use open ended questions to collect actual feedback from your customers – and to see if your customer is “ready” to leave a review. You will always receive negative reviews, there is little you can do about that, but if there is a customer who needs attention to solve a problem, focus on that first before asking for a review.

Receive customer reviews

There are several ways you can collect reviews to empower your branding and business. Good reviews ensure a good impression and you only make a good first impression once.

• Use multiple platforms to leave reviews.
• Optimize your content.
• Create incentives.
• Match your review request with your content.
• Respond to any review, even negative ones.
• Share positive reviews you’ve already received.
• Give your customers a positive review first.

1. Use multiple platforms to leave reviews.

There are several platforms where you can collect reviews for your product(s) or service(s). It is of course logical that as a service provider you do not collect reviews on Amazon, for example, if you do not do business there. Therefore, make sure that your service/product matches where you collect reviews. Do you sell products or services on your own website? Think of Google reviews, Trustpilot, Kiyoh, etc. Do you use third-party platforms, such as Amazon, Bol.com, Marktplaats, Thuisbezord, etc? Try to get reviews on these platforms.

2. Optimize your content.

Your review comes in from (hopefully) satisfied customers on third-party sites, but if someone does end up on your website, make it easy to leave a review.

Optimize your website, blog posts, social media profiles and email to easily leave a review by: Using badges, icons and links to direct people to the right platform or page optimize your website for mobile use, for when someone is redirected to your website on a mobile basis. Keep your questions short and to the point, but always friendly, when you ask for reviews by e-mail.

3. Create Incentives.

“Time is money”, everyone knows that proverb. This applies to you as an entrepreneur, but also to your customers. Give them a reason to take the time to leave a review.

Think of incentives where leaving a review is also good for your customer(s). For example, thank them with a discount code, coupon, access to a win/giveaway, a (starbucks) coffee card, etc. Be creative.

4. Match your review request with your content.

If you send a review request, make sure it makes sense. Be specific and send (direct) links to where they can post a review, and not “go to google and search for..” etc. Do you collect reviews on Facebook? Send your message via Facebook Messenger. Do you sell on Bol.com or Amazon or a similar platform? Then use their messaging/mailing system.

If you use multiple platforms, make it simple and transparent by means of links, buttons or similar options. You can place this in your signature or in the content itself.

5. Respond to any review, even negative ones.

Nobody is perfect and everyone makes mistakes. It is entirely possible for someone to leave you a 1-star review, on whatever platform, but don’t leave it at that. Handle it discreetly and professionally.

That’s not to say that you should ignore, critique or simply delete the message, learning from mistakes and admitting those mistakes is what makes a business grow. Then show this too.

Also read our 8 tips for responding to negative reviews .

6. Share positive reviews you’ve already received.

Have you received a very enthusiastic review or do you already have a small collection of positive reviews, do not hesitate to share this. Certain platforms have the option to highlight reviews or mark them as positive or helpful.

You can also share positive reviews on social media platforms. Share the positive experiences with your customers and followers on, for example, Facebook, Linkedin in the form of a quote.

“Social Proof” is a powerful tool to deploy. The idea behind “Social proof” is that customers copy or take experiences from other customers. In addition to asking for new reviews, you also promote previous positive experiences on your social channels.

7. Give your customers a positive assessment yourself.

To get the ball rolling, you can also first leave a review with your customer(s). Depending on your product, service or industry you work in this may not be possible, but in many cases your action can provoke a response to get the same in return.

Linkedin is a great tool for this, especially if you work in a position where you have a lot of customer contact, such as as an account or relationship manager. If you have been in contact with a customer for a long time, leave a “recommendation” or “endorsement” to emphasize the good cooperation.

Not only does this help with your customer’s personal branding, but it can also provoke a response to do the same for you. If they thank you for leaving an “endorsement”, kindly ask if they can do the same for you on your platform of choice.

How to ask for a review therefore depends a lot on what kind of business you have and how you interact with your customers. The platform where you get the reviews is also very important. That is why we always include reviews in the discussion of the marketing strategy.

Do you have any questions or would you like tips and advice? Then contact us !