How To Get More Online Reviews

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Standard Marketing - ebook - How to Get More Online Reviews Page 1
Standard Marketing - ebook
How to get
more online
reviews

Table of contents
1. Doing it the Right Way - 3
2. Rules - 5
3. Guidelines - 7
4. The Good Stuff - 9
5. How Standard Marketing can Help - 15

1. Doing it the Right Way

Online reviews are growing in popularity and
that means two things. First, online reviews are
becoming more important for businesses than ever
before. And second, there is an increasing amount
of fake reviews and deception emerging on review
platforms. The latter is growing into such a problem
that the State of New York is collaborating with
various businesses to curb deception and punish
those that post fake reviews.
In a 2011 study, Harvard Business School discovered
restaurants that improved their ranking by just
one star, increased their revenue up to 9 percent.
Even though the results are tempting, it’s highly
recommended that businesses do not partake in
submitting fake reviews. Eric T. Schneiderman, the
New York attorney general, called the fake reviews
and deceptions “worse than old-fashioned false
advertising.”
So now that we got that out of the way we wanted
to share some tactics for getting more bona fide
online reviews without becoming an internet outlaw.
However, first to reiterate some ground rules we’ll
introduce some rules and guidelines that you should
keep in the back of your head while building up your
reviews.

2. Rules

No incentivizing reviews
You can’t offer discounts or
giveaways in exchange for reviews.
No in-store kiosks
You can’t have a computer or
tablet in store for facilitating
reviews. This is because Yelp and
other review based websites
track referral URLs for suspicious
activity.
Filters for the Over Enthusiastic
Review platforms have filters in
place for hiding reviews that seem
suspicious or overly enthusiastic.
321

3. Guidelines

Provide your customers with options i.e. yelp, G+, yahoo,
Facebook - This helps to encourage reviews because if
someone has a Yelp account and no Gmail it’s likely they will
opt to review you on Yelp and not Google+. This also helps
to encourage variety in review platforms and it seems more
organic if your business has reviews on multiple channels.
Don’t have big expectations – Building up your reviews takes
time so don’t get upset after asking 100 customers to review
your business and you only receive 10. Focus on wowing your
customers and eventually they will be sure to spread the word.
Don’t Wait too long before you ask – Make sure to act quickly
after the transaction because people are less likely to review
your services a month later. Try to reach out for feedback as
soon as possible so the experience is fresh in the customer’s
mind.
Encourage more reviews by listening – Don’t ask your
customers for reviews if you aren’t going to pay attention
to what they are saying about their experience. Reply to
their praise and criticisms on the same platform that they
initially used. Do not become offended if someone gives
you a poor review, turn their problem into your opportunity
by encouraging them to come back. Use this opportunity to
exhibit outstanding service and turn that frown upside down.

4. The Good Stuff:

Yelp provides information in their privacy policy
that states they monitor referral URLs (section II A).
There is speculation that Google does the same with
their reviews. This applies to the rule of not having a
review kiosk in your store as mentioned above.
Include a Feedback Page on your Website
We recommend introducing 3 to 5 options for your
visitors to choose from with instructions on how your
visitor would make their review.

Offer Free Wifi in Exchange for Email Address – If you offer free
Wi-Fi make the landing page an opt-in form that simply asks for
their name and email address in exchange for internet access. This
allows you to follow up with them afterwards and ask for a review
via email. The request should be coupled with specific instructions
on how to submit the review for each review platform presented.
Don’t Wait till they’re done, Ask Beforehand – Introducing the review concept to customers before
or during the transaction can plant the seed that reviews are important to your business. Of course, you
need to be the judge on whether or not the situation is right for requesting a review or not.
For example: “We’ve been working on improving our customer experience and we’ve been told that
getting more reviews is the best way to do this. We really take our customer’s feedback seriously and we
would appreciate it if you could let us know how we did.”

Advertise with Signage
Placing a simple Yelp or Google
Reviews sticker in the window of
your business could help introduce
that fact that you welcome
reviews. Placing tent cards on the
front desk can also help remind
customers that you are active
on review platforms and would
appreciate feedback.
Display old reviews
Print either your favorite or old
reviews and proudly display them
on your bulletin board, by the front
door or even in the bathroom.
Try to place them in a place
where your customers are idle to
encourage reading.
Add reminders on receipts
Including a reminder on the
bottom of your receipts or invoices
is a good way to remind people
that you welcome their feedback.

Encourage Check-Ins
Giving incentive for reviews is off
limits but no one said anything
about giving incentive for checking
in via social media. Offering a
discount for checking with your
smartphone via Foursquare could
encourage people to check in
which could also lead to new
reviews.
Include a review of the month in
your social media
Publicly thanking your customers
via social media is a good way to
show appreciation to those that
took the time to review your
business. It also provides the
opportunity to showcase your
favorite review of the month.
Provide handouts to curb
confusion
Sometimes explaining how to write
reviews can be tricky especially
to those that aren’t familiar with
social media or online reviews.
Print out instructions to help
customers write reviews without
confusion and in a timely manner.
Once your customer becomes
confused they are more than likely
to lose interest and not write a
review.

Be Smart about Email
To kick off the process send feedback requests after
the service or product has been purchased. If you have
a bunch of Gmail addresses make sure you include
Google+ reviews at the top of your list of review
platforms. This will help make the review process easier
for some of them. As mentioned above, when emailing
customers with the intention of seeking reviews, make
sure to include more than one review platform so they
have options. Even though they have a Gmail address
they may be more active on Yelp.
Include Review Widgets in your Web Design
Including a review widget in your website’s
footer will reinforce the fact that you appreciate
feedback. It will also serve as a reminder to
current customers that haven’t already reviewed
your business.
For emails in general, you can also try including a link in
your email signature to where customers can review you.

5. How Standard Marketing can Help

We Get To Know Your Business - First we get a good
understanding of your business, your clients, your needs
and goals. We’re not here to reinvent your company but
to build on your strengths.
We Look At Your Entire Internet Presence - Then we
look at your whole internet presence – your website,
your social media, your current rankings on Google, and
every link on the internet that points to your website.
And we look at your competition. We look at the whole
picture.
We Show You What’s Right For You - So many people
make Internet Marketing complicated saying things like
“You need Facebook”. We say “Maybe you do, maybe
you don’t”. It’s a traffic strategy. That’s all it is, one of
many. We look at all the possibilities - all the traffic
strategies, all the contact information strategies, and
all the closing strategies for your particular business,
for your target clients, and for this particular time. And
if it’s appropriate we fit Facebook into your strategy in
terms of priority, and how it works with all the other
parts of your strategy.
We Do The Most Effective Things First - Then we pick
the Traffic, Contact Information, and Closing strategies
that will make you the most money in the least amount
of time, and we do those first.
604 722-9375604 722-9375
info@standardmarketing.cainfo@standardmarketing.ca
Let’s talk about how we can help your
business grow.

By Anthony Baisi
Anthony Baisi manages social media & customer
relations at Standard Marketing. He’s also
responsible for developing clients’ content
strategy and carrying out their Search Engine
Optimization.
He strategizes each client’s content to address the
needs of their target audience while establishing a
professional and consistent persona for the brand.
He’s an important part of our marketing strategy
team.
Written by Anthony Baisi
Follow me on Twitter
@anthonybaisi

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