Best practices for encouraging customer reviews

There’s a familiar saying that notes, “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” But when it comes to your business, you want to make sure that your good reputation is well-deserved. Today, 62% of consumers read online reviews before selecting a service, and 38% believe that it’s important to read reviews before a purchase. If your business doesn’t have any reviews, you could already be at a disadvantage.

Customer reviews are essential, but you might be wondering how you can encourage your customers to leave them. Of course, you want to optimize the customer journey to make it as easy as possible for customers to leave reviews, but you also want to make sure you’re asking for them at the right time.

Here are a few best practices for encouraging customer reviews.

Ask for reviews

Consider the customer journey and look for opportunities to ask for a review. The best time to ask for a review is when the customer has just had a positive experience with your business.

If you own a restaurant, you could ask a customer to leave a review after paying their bill. If you own an e-commerce store, you could email customers a few days after they’ve received their purchase, asking them to leave a review.

Be sure to ask for reviews in the right way. Be specific about where you want customers to leave their reviews, such as your Facebook page or website. And make the process as easy as possible.

Create a process for asking

When asking for reviews, ensure the process is smooth. The last thing you want is for customers to get frustrated and leave a negative review because the process was too difficult.

Moreover, it should be implemented across all channels — not just online. For example, if a customer has a good experience in your store, they should be able to leave a review on your website, and vice versa.

Here are a few tips for creating a process for asking for reviews:

• Follow up with customers after they’ve made a purchase. You can do this via email, social media, or even through a pop-up on your website.
• Personalize your request. In your follow-up message, thank the customer by name.
• Include a call to action. Make it clear what you want the customer to do, such as, “Click here to leave a review.”
• Further product education. If you’re selling a product that requires assembly or has special features, consider sending a follow-up message with instructions on how to use it. You can also include a link to a video tutorial and your review page.
• Make it easy for customers to find your review page. Consider adding a link to your review page in your email signature and your website’s header or footer.

The best way to encourage customer reviews is by integrating them into your post-purchase process.

Evaluate and refine your process

Even if you’re doing everything right, there’s always room for improvement. That’s why it’s important to continuously evaluate and refine your review process.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Track the number of reviews you’re getting. This will help you gauge your process’s effectiveness.
• Monitor the quality of the reviews you’re getting. Are customers leaving positive or negative reviews? If you’re seeing a lot of negative reviews, that may be a sign something’s wrong with your process.
• Pay attention to customer feedback. If customers complain about your process, make sure to address their concerns.
• A/B test your process. Try different approaches and see what works best for your business.

By tracking your progress and listening to customer feedback, you can ensure you’re constantly moving in the right direction.

Choose your moment(s)

Asking for customer reviews is a great way to get feedback on your products and services. But it’s important to choose the right moment to do so.

The best time to ask for a review is after the customer has had a chance to use your product or service. That way, they can leave a detailed review that will be helpful to other potential customers. You can facilitate this through personalized web experiences for online shoppers or personalized emails for those who buy in-store.

Ideally, ask for a review after the customer has had a positive experience with your business. This could be after they’ve made a purchase, received excellent customer service, or had a positive interaction with your brand.

Asking for reviews at these moments will give you the best chance of getting positive reviews. If you wait too long, they might have forgotten about their positive experience — or worse, they might have had a negative experience in the meantime.

Engage customers when they are satisfied

It’s important to encourage customer engagement when they feel satisfied. This is an opportunity to get a positive review and build a stronger relationship with the customer.

There are a few ways to identify when customers are feeling satisfied, including:

• Monitoring social media channels for positive sentiment about your company.
• Sending post-purchase surveys to customers and looking for high satisfaction scores.
• Looking for customers who frequently purchase from you or make positive referrals.

Customer engagement, whether in person or online, is key to getting positive reviews. When you engage with customers, they’re more likely to leave a review, and the review is more likely to be positive.

Ask for reviews in person

In-person interactions are the most critical moments for customer reviews because you have the opportunity to create a personal connection with the customer. When you’re ringing up a purchase, ask the customer if they would be willing to leave a review. If you have a physical location, place signs around the store or office asking customers to leave a review online.

Engage with reviews

Customers leave reviews to give their honest feedback about your company. Therefore, it’s important to engage with both positive and negative reviews to show that you listen to your customers.
When you engage with positive reviews, you have the opportunity to thank the customer. This is a great way to build relationships with customers and encourage them to continue doing business with you.

Negative reviews provide an opportunity to improve your business. Take the time to respond to negative reviews professionally and helpfully.

A few tips for responding to negative reviews:

Do:

• Thank the customer for their feedback and apologize for their negative experience.
• Offer to make things right by providing a refund, exchange, or another remedy.
• Encourage the customer to reach out to you directly so you can resolve the issue.

Don’t:

• Argue with the customer or try to justify the negative experience.
• Threaten legal action or leave negative comments in response.
• Ignore the review or delete it.

A few tips for responding to positive reviews:

Do:

• Thank the customer for their business and for taking the time to leave a review.
• Encourage the customer to continue doing business with you.
• Invite the customer to contact you directly if they have any questions or concerns.

Don’t:

• Try to sell the customer something in your response.

Make sure to respond to all reviews, positive and negative to show your commitment to providing a great experience for all your customers.

Incentivize leaving reviews

You can also incentivize customers to leave reviews. Offer discounts, coupons, or other rewards if they leave a review.

There are a few different types of incentives you can offer:

• Discounts/credits: Offer a percentage off their next purchase or a certain amount of credit on your website or in your store.
• Charitable donations: Making a charitable donation for each review is a great way to give back while raising brand awareness.
• Free publicity: Offer to feature customers who leave reviews on your blog or website. This is a great way to get more exposure for your business and help your customer in return.
• Coupons: Give customers a coupon code to use when they leave a review.

You can also enter customers into drawings or contests for leaving a review.

When offering an incentive, be sure to make the offer clear and valuable for your customers. Additionally, always encourage them to be honest, even if that means leaving a negative review.

Simplify the process for your customers

Make it easy for customers to leave reviews by providing links to review sites on your company website. You can also include instructions on how to leave a review, such as a rating scale and what type of feedback you are looking for.

Other best practices for streamlining the review process include:

• Sending post-purchase follow-up emails.
• Including links to review sites in post-purchase confirmation emails.
• Making it easy to find contact information for customer support.

Overall, customer reviews are an important part of running a business. It’s essential to engage with customers at all stages of their journey, from purchase to post-purchase.