Reviews are crucial to any business – regardless of its size.
From a customer perspective, they provide a platform to share someone’s experience and as a result, they act as a form of accountability for a business. If they aren’t serving their customers well, people will know!
From a company’s perspective, they work as a digital form of word of mouth promotion. For potential customers, they have a source of genuine feedback and comments on your business. They can be a powerful tool to encourage new customers to come through your doors and buy your products or they can be just as effective at turning new business away.
Now, this may sound rather dramatic, so let’s focus on the positives – as any business should. Having positive reviews of your business is an excellent way to grow your business. But where do you start? As we’ve already touched on the benefits of positive reviews, we’re going to give you our top 5 tips to encourage your customers to sing your praises online!
But…
Before we begin, one thing that is worth mentioning is the authenticity of these reviews. We can not stress enough that you should not be posting fake reviews online. This is easily spotted and will create a lack of transparency with your current and future customers. Simply put, don’t post fake reviews on your Facebook page. Also, don’t push customers to only give positive reviews. As much as we may want only 5-star reviews, this can also seem disingenuous.
Now let’s take a look at our top 5 tips for encouraging Facebook Reviews:
Make sure customers can leave reviews
This might seem like a given, but you need to make sure customers can actually leave reviews.
On your own Facebook, you may have noticed that some pages or businesses don’t have any reviews. This is because they have this feature turned off and you might be in the same situation without realising!
To turn this on, head to settings and under the general tab you’ll find reviews. You’ll be able to activate and deactivate the feature from here.
Here’s how to turn reviews on.
Ask and you shall (hopefully) receive
Much like our first point, this may seem like a given. However; if you don’t ask your customers for reviews, you’ll be far less likely to get them!
This is a chance for you to get a little bit creative. If you approach your customers in a friendly way, you’d be surprised at how many will actually be more than happy to do this for you.
How you go about this is up to you. You can do so in-store directly with customers at the point of sale, through your social media channels or even approach people via email.
This leads us nicely into our next point.
Make it as easy as possible
Reviews take time – even if it is only a few moments. So to help your customers, you want to make the review process as easy as possible. Instore, you could have flyers directing customers to your Facebook page with a QR code linked directly to the page. At point of sale, you can ask customers to like your company and leave a review if they are happy with your service.
Social media is another easy way to approach your customers. If they have already liked your page, it’s fair to assume they have shopped with you in the past and are a fan of your business. This means they are more likely to not only leave a review but leave positive feedback.
Another easy method is through email. Include a link in every email that is sent to your customers and database that gives customers the chance to leave a review. We recommend targeting customers who’ve made repeated orders as they’ve had the most experience with your business.
Incentivise
A proven tactic to get Facebook reviews is to offer people something in return for their time. The incentive you choose will depend on the kind of business you have. One suggestion, if you run an online store or company, is to provide a limited discount code after writing a review.
Alternatively, you could also offer entries into a prize draw that’s either regular or a one-off. If you do so, be sure to announce the winner on your pages to show the legitimacy of the draw. Be creative in how you connect with your customers and you’ll certainly see results.
Respond
Make sure you respond to every Facebook review – that means the good, the bad, and the ugly. This engagement is great for positive reviews as it deepens their positive experience with the business. For those with not so kind words, its shows that you care and are willing to take on feedback.
Even if you simply like the negative reviews, that’s enough, but address anything that may be brought up as best you can. This shows that your business is willing to grow and adapt which is what customers want to see in response to criticism.
Conclusion
Reviews are crucial to any business. They can be some of the most effective forms of promotion or a red flag causing people to avoid a company. Follow these tips and you’ll be sure to get plenty of reviews from your customers! Remember, no matter how good or bad the review is, always respond graciously.
For more advice on how to grow and manage your businesses social media presence, get in touch with our team!