We love open dialogue and feedback that starts conversations. That’s why we love online reviews. You may think you know what you’re doing well and what you need to improve on. But without regularly requesting reviews and feedback from recent customers, do you really know?
Failing to request reviews also means leaving money on the table. The more reviews you have, the more credible your business looks, and the more likely someone else will be to choose you.
Here are 3 business review stats that will hopefully convince you to start requesting reviews from customers.
Negative Outweighs Positive
How do you make sure you get the very important positive reviews? Well, first you offer the best experience possible. You make your service worthy of a positive review. Then you ask for a review. A wild concept, I know.
Make it as easy as possible for them by texting them your review request and including a link to the review site in your message.
Never attempt to hold “hostage” better service in exchange for a positive review. It’s a poor business practice and only serves to hurt your reputation. Some businesses feel comfortable and find success offering a special deal or free offer if someone leaves a review, but do not make it contingent on the positive nature of the review.
Quantity Matters
Obviously the more reviews a business has, the more people that have used the business. We like other people to do the trial and error for us. I know I’m grateful for those brave souls who try a new restaurant and then leave a review.
And with people much more likely to leave a review after a negative experience, you need to give your business the best chance.
Note that this stat doesn’t state that a business needs 40 positive reviews. As much as every marketing and customer support team wants only glowing reviews, negative reviews can still be helpful. Some consumers don’t trust businesses if they don’t have any negative reviews. Otherwise it looks a little too good to be true.
We Influence Each Other
For good or bad, reviews relate directly to people’s buying decisions.
When looking for new cooking tools, I rely heavily on reviews, reading closely to best determine whether or not the people reviewing the products have actually used them and used them correctly. I know I’ve come across negative reviews for products only to realize the people writing them didn’t understood the product or how it worked.
With reviews being so influential, not requesting reviews (and even not responding to reviews) really only hurts your business. Assuming you provide high quality service, there’s no reason to not request reviews. (And even if you don’t, those customers are going to leave negative reviews whether you like it or not.) Doing so shows you’re interested in what customers have to say and also contributes to your customer retention strategy. Hopefully these business review stats help you see that.
