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.
