Reviews, testimonials, or whatever you call them are a fantastic way of attracting new business.
Potential customers are more likely to believe their peers about the level of your service and quality of your products that what you tell them on your website and in your brochures.
The problem is, getting your customers to rave about you.
Here are three ways you can encourage them.
Going over and above
Mediocre service won’t do it; poor service will lead to a flood of reviews, but not the type you want. That’s because it’s human nature to shout about shoddy service, but not to praise good.
It’s no longer good enough just to provide a product or service. Customers today want their supplier to go above and beyond, offering exceptional service. And that means their entire customer experience.
From start to finish, you have to be on top of your game if you want to motivate your customers to leave you rave online reviews.
Ask, nicely
If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
OK, there’s also a change that if you do ask you also don’t get, but you won’t know if you don’t try.
Of course, how you ask will determine whether you get them or not.
If you ask a loyal customer, who comes back again and again, in a respectful and polite way, you’re more likely to succeed than if you ask a new or infrequent customers.
It’s also not wise to ask for any sales that were as a result of a promotion.
So don’t just send out a generic email as soon as someone buys. Be choosey about how you ask and make a personal approach.
Facing negative reviews
Something will go wrong at some time; it’s a fact of life.
But what do you do when faced with a negative review online?
Launching into a defensive retort is not a good idea. It will only fuel the fire and make matters ten times worse.
You do need to engage with the aggrieved customer, just make sure you do it in a sensitive way. Apologise for the problem, recap on how you solved it (assuming you did) to illustrate to other readers you take such matters seriously and thank them for their custom and understanding.
A business that is seen not to shy away from such reviews, and to take the trouble of responding to them will be seen in a positive light.
It might even result in the unhappy customer updating their review in a way that shows you in a more positive light.
Gathering great reviews will really help your business, but it must be done sensitively. Hopefully this post has give you some ideas about how you can gain a few more.