How To Become The Most Trusted Business In Your Industry Online
November 25, 2019
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Today I want to talk about getting online reviews for your business, and the importance of actually getting out there and building up those online reviews.
Now if you look online at the local businesses in your area, I’m sure many of them appear to take a more passive approach towards getting online reviews.
Especially in Cairns, you’ll notice that the majority of businesses are just sitting there with no online reviews at all.
When you think about how you personally search for a business online, what do you do? When you search on Google or Facebook and see two different businesses in the same industry, and one has 50 reviews while the other one has none, which business are you going to choose?
You’re more likely to click on the business with all of that social proof already behind it. In our minds, all those positive reviews just provide proof that it’s a great place. All these other people have already had great experiences, so you’re more likely to think that you will as well. It’s just how it works.
What you then need to do for your business is to take an active approach to building those reviews up. Invest some time into implementing the following 3 strategies, and you will begin to see results.
The first and simplest form of building up your online reviews is to ask for them. However for many business owners this can feel a bit awkward and means getting out of their comfort zone.
Don’t be afraid! There is a way to ask without coming across as needy or rude. Not sure when to ask for a review? The best time would be right after they’ve had a great experience, and you know for a fact that you’ve delivered a great customer experience and service.
Ask something like, “Hey Bob, thanks for your time today! If you had a great experience with us and believe we brought you value with our services, could you please take the time to leave us a review on Google? It would mean a lot to us, and help us continue to grow our business and help more people.”
This leads into the second strategy. You want to explain to the customer why you want the review, rather than just asking for it, with no reason. When given a reason, your customer has more motivation to go ahead and help you out.
Explain that their review would not only help you continue to grow as a business, but would help you serve more people in the community.
It’s also just a part of human nature and psychology. Check this out:
Ellen Langer, a Professor of Psychology at Harvard conducted a study on the power of giving people a reason to do something, and the word “because.”
Langer got a group of people to attempt to cut in front of people waiting in line to use a copy machine. They used 3 different phrases, as follows:
Can you believe that? Using the word “because” and giving a reason resulted in significantly more compliance. So make sure you’re giving a reason, as to why your customers should even take the time to give you a review.
The final strategy you should focus on, to start building up those reviews, is trying to make it easy for your customers to leave them.
Trust me, I’ve seen this happen many times myself. I ask clients to leave me a review and explain that they just need to go to Google. Now can you guess what happens next?
I don’t get a review from them. Why? Because I haven’t made it easy enough for them to do it.
We’re all living busy lives and the last thing customers probably have on their mind, once they get home, is jumping onto the computer to write you a review.
Make it easy for them. You can bring your Google listing up in front of them before they go. Invest in an iPad or tablet, and have it ready to go whenever you’re finished with a customer.
You can also dedicate a whole page on your website, with a guide on where people can leave you different reviews. The point is to make it as streamlined as possible, for people to jump on, write a quick review, and get back to their lives.
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