How to Acquire More Google Reviews for Your Business

Running your own business can be very challenging particularly amidst very stiff competition at every turn. Every business owner always wants to get customers no matter what it takes. Without customers to patronize your business, you can hardly make it out there. In times past, many small businesses relied solely on foot traffic and word-of-mouth to get customers. These days, many shoppers now depend on the versatility of the internet to do business. Even when looking for something in their local areas, many people readily turn to the internet as a matter of choice and convenience to search for what they’re looking for. Local business searches can be highly influential to grow a brand on the internet. Google reviews help to grow this influence and by extension the business. Even though a customer’s buy-decision is influenced by many factors, Google reviews are by far more influential than many of these factors.

 

Product-user reviews help to build trust and credibility for your business much better than other factors, the reason they serve your business interest better. For that reason, the more online reviews your business gets, the more influential it appears in search results of major search engines particularly Google.

So, if you are desirous to acquire more Google reviews for your business, these here tips can help you out.

Use Business Cards to Invite Digital Reviews

This method might be old-school but it still serves very well as a physical reminder to get digital reviews. The information you are providing in your business cards is really very important here. It goes well beyond simply providing physical contact addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses. It provides digital information as well inviting customers/clients to leave feedback via digital space with the right links provided in the business cards. For instance, it is common practice for most business owners to leave their business cards with new acquaintances or for customers to get in touch. You must explore ways to remind customers that sharing their experience helps others to take decisions. By adding Google review card to your business card, it can help provide a link and brief instructions for leaving an online review.

Claim your Google My Business Profile

Effectively claiming your Google My Business profile is one free way to get your business out there for Google reviews and search benefits. Your business profile on Google My Business is not only free, it helps to give you total control over the listing for your store that shows up on Google searches. Now, that’s one huge search benefit for your business! Claiming your business profile on Google allows you to easily update such basic business info as your business address, emails, telephone numbers, business hours and link to your website. You can also upload photos/images of your store. This basic profile info helps to tell users that this is an official Business Profile. That helps to make users/customers more likely to leave a review about your business.

Share Positive Reviews on Other Channels

As the saying goes, if you’ve got it, flaunt it. Whenever your business gets positive reviews, it is smart to widely share such reviews particularly on social media and other online channels. This is because most people always like to know that their opinions have been heard and are highly valued. This is why many reviewers like seeing their comments shared very widely. Doing so somehow helps to encourage even more people to leave reviews about your business. Customers who cannot easily discover your business through Google search results may end up discovering you through the positive reviews they come across.

Send Email Reminders to Customers

If you sell a product, many customers always need to fully experience the product before they can have sufficient info at their disposal to review it. That’s what recommends email reminders to such customers. They need to really experience the product before they can objectively review it. Sending them email reminders is what actually nudges such buyers to send a review based on their experiences using the product. With the use of smart in-store checkout devices on your website, you can offer the option to send digital receipts to a customer’s email. That email address becomes readily available for you to use later to request a review, say about a week or two later after selling the product.

Promise Less, Deliver More

On the internet, word usually gets around very fast particularly about extreme experiences. By nature, the internet tends to amplify such extreme experiences. So, what you must always expect are reviews from both extreme ends of the divide. Most people who are going to leave reviews for your business are those who were completely blown away by your product/service or those who were extremely disappointed in it. Be prepared to handle these two extremes professionally. If you habitually promise less and deliver more over and above what customers expect, such surprised customers are more likely to leave glowing reviews about your business on Google. Word about your extraordinary services easily gets around too. That helps to get repeat customers who pass on the word thereby helping to get more and more customers for your business.

Respond Professionally to Google Reviews

It helps to get settled for a true online business reality. No matter what you do, you will always get good or bad reviews at times in equal proportions. What stands your business out is your ability to respond to reviews professionally. The more the reviews you respond to professionally, the more reviews the business gets. So, you’ve got to be really very careful when responding to reviews, particularly if such reviews are negative and highly unflattering about your business. You must see all reviews as very good opportunities to learn and grow your business. Avoid arguing with customers or trying to prove them wrong no matter how caustic their reviews are. Instead, always offer to make things better with a view to satisfying them better. Doing so can actually help to change some negative reviews to more positive reviews going forward.