So like the millions of business owners across the country you are starting to feel the need to make sure you are on top of your Google Reviews. It is not just about having a great score on Google it is also about when was the last time your business got a review, and overall how many reviews you have.

Why Getting Reviews on Google Matters

So we all know that only reviews are important, but how important are they to your customer acquisition process. Well let's look at what the data shows:

90% of your customers are reading reviews before they ever call you.

72% of consumers believe positives reviews help them trust a local business more

85% of consumers don’t trust reviews more than three months old, over 40% only looking at reviews in the last two weeks.

So here are our 5 Tips for getting more Google Reviews

1: Actually Ask for a Review

I know most of you maybe thinkng that is a given, but my guess is you would not be reading this article on how to get more reviews on your Google Business Profile if it was. Surprisingly a large number of businesses don’t, in fact, a recent survey of 2000 medical practices in California found that only 38.7% of them were asking patients to leave them a review.

Now to do this right it requires training, yes you need to teach your team on how to do this. Help them feel comfortable asking. This may even include a little role-playing in the office. At the end of the day your team needs to be about to:

• Recognize when is the right time to ask for a review on Google. Pro tip it is not at the start of providing service or before the work is done.
• Have a format or conversation starter to make sure when they ask your customer feels privileged even to write a review for your business.
• Make sure when you ask for a review you make sure the customer knows how to leave you a review.

2: Make it personal with a follow-up Email

The advantages of providing an email to your customers can not be understated. The reality is that even when you ask an individual to write a positive review for your business on Google. They are then having to:

• Find your Google Business Profile
• Click write a Review
• Possible login to their Google Account if they are not already logged in.

The problem with this process it takes time, and 47% of consumers will not write a review they have to complete several steps. This is where a professionally designed email can be helpful. To help you get an idea of what an effective one should look like I have included an example to follow.

*Need Help Setting this up check out our Article on: Build a Google Review Campaign*

When you send this email to your customers it has everything they need to leave you a review on your Google Business Profile. All you need is your Google Review Link for your email.

There’s nothing wrong with asking your customers to do something that will help other future customers. Plus, if you have happy customers, you’d be surprised at how willing they’ll be to write a review. As long as the process is clear and you make it fast and easy to do, you’re likely to get some reviews out of your email campaign.

3: Respond to Reviews

If a customer takes the time to review your business and leave feedback it is important that you respond to them. Remember when a customer sees that the business owner regularly replies to the feedback left on Google by its customers, they are more inclined to want to provide their feedback as they know it will actually be read.

4: Add a Google Business Review Request in your Email Signature

If you like most businesses communicate on a daily basis with your customers via email, why not add a non -intrusive link to your email to get more reviews on Google without even asking them. Some great ways you can ask:

• Happy with [ Company Name ] ? Leave a review here
• Have we helped you? Help others to find us by leaving a Google Review!
• Think we provide great service? Tell others on Google with your Feedback

example:

Here is a great Email Signature Tool Created by Hubspot that can make the process easier and professional.

5: Don’t go it Alone, use Tools and Automate

So for most business owners this can seem like yet another task they just don’t have enough time in the day to work on it. So for our last tip we want to suggest created systems or using automation to help you get it done.

Automation Option:

This does require a bit of setup but once complete it can be powerhouse for get this completed. So the easiest way you can start using automation is to connect your current systems such as Quickbooks, or ServiceTitan to a platform that can handle automating the communication. The nice thing there are platforms that connect your billing software to your email marketing platform. We recommend you try Zapier to connect Quickbooks to Mailchimp for example. This way you can setup a rule to first add any need customer in Quickbooks automatically to your Mailchimp Account. Then when your create an invoice in Quickbooks it can update your Mailchimp List. Then using a Mailchimp Automation Trigger your Review Request Email will automatically be sent to your customer.

Get Help Option:

If you are looking to make increasing your Business Google Reviews a priority and improve your Search Engine Ranking, then professional help is the best way to go. Here are some common solutions currently on the market.

1. Broadly -- Provided by Exceleron.
• In connection with Broadly; Exceleron recommends Broadly it is the most effective tool we have found. As Broadly partner we are able to not only get you up and running quickly but do all the heavy lifting so that you can focus on your business.
2. Birdeye
3. Review Buzz
4. Podium
5. TrustPilot

 IMPORTANT: Follow Google Business Review Guidelines

Please note that you must follow Google’s guidelines when soliciting reviews. This means you should not offer any rewards and should ask your customers equally – whether they seem to have had a positive or negative experience.

Need Help Generating More Reviews? Give Us a Call

Creating a system to build steady reviews for your business isn’t easy. If you don’t want to go it alone, and want to leave your review generation to the professionals, our team at Exceleron is here to make it happen. Learn more about our review growth marketing services designed to help businesses like yours get as many leads and sales as possible from the web.

Ryan Kidd

Creative Director