Read time: 4 mins
In this week’s issue, I want to talk about how customer reviews are so incredibly powerful for local small businesses as a Local Small Business Consultant or Digital Marketing Agency Owner…
Customer reviews are an often overlooked lead generation strategy.
In fact, it’s a great way to easily attract new customers.
So with that in mind…
Let’s dive in!
Why Customer Reviews Are So Powerful
Nowadays on the “interwebs”…
There are so many options for consumers, even in the local space.
So one of the best ways to stand out from the crowd is from customer’s reviews.
Customer reviews are the lifeblood of most businesses these days.
Without customer reviews, it’s likely a local small business will be hurting for new customers.
In the beginning it’s like the old *chicken and the egg* scenario…
How does a local small business get customers without reviews?
How does a local small business get reviews without customers?
Very carefully…
That’s why it’s imperative that the local small business gather as many reviews as possible…
Even from the very beginning…
From their very first customer.
Because the more reviews a local small business has…
The more *proof* that they can deliver the goods so to speak.
But not just any reviews will work…
They must be *positive* reviews…
Preferably in the 4 to 5 star range.
But first, let’s talk about how to actually get customers to leave reviews.
How To Get Customer Reviews?
There are several ways to get customers to leave reviews.
Here’s a short list that comes to mind…
- Ask the customer to leave a review
I told you it was short!
The kicker is in how you ask for the customer to leave a review.
And believe it or not…
Most local small businesses miss this step altogether!
Meaning, they DON’T EVEN ASK!
So then how can a local small business have reviews if they don’t ask for them?
Simple.
By luck!
They were lucky that their customers wanted to leave a review on their own accord.
I do not recommend this strategy for obvious reasons.
Here’s how most local small businesses ask for reviews…
- Ask a customer via conversation after the delivery of a product or service
- Ask a customer via a small sign on the counter at the business
- Ask a customer via email through a 3rd party review/survey service
- Ask a customer via text message through a 3rd party review/survey service
While all of the above work…
The first one can easily be missed if the person working for the business forgets (or is afraid) to ask.
The second one can easily be overlooked unless the person working the front counter for the business mentions it and doesn’t just assume every customer will see it and take action.
The third and fourth ones can work well IF the customer realizes it’s for the local small business they just purchased from…
Meaning, sometimes these 3rd party review/survey services do a piss poor job of branding and come across as a 3rd party service…
Thus the customer doesn’t feel compelled to leave their review.
That’s why the best way to get customers to leave reviews is to do all four!
But strategically!
It’s best to set an expectation about leaving a review verbally either before or after a product or service is delivered.
Then to have a sign on the counter in the local small business store, while the receptionist reminds the customer to leave a review.
And finally to follow-up directly from the local small business via email AND text message to leave a review.
How To Get Customers To Only Leave Positive Reviews?
Remember earlier when I said not just any old reviews will work?
And how local small businesses need *positive* 4 or 5 star reviews?
Unfortunately, there’s no way to ensure that ONLY 4 or 5 star reviews will be left no matter what you do…
There’s always a bad apple in the bunch that will do everything in their power to leave a negative review on Google, Facebook, Yelp, etc.
However, the local small business can swing the odds in their favor.
How?
By filtering out the *negative* reviews and any average reviews that will hurt their overall average rating…
That might also include reviews with 1, 2 or 3 stars.
But how do you “filter” out the negative reviews?
And more importantly…
What do you do with the negative reviews?
I’ll get to the “how” in a minute…
But first let’s talk about what you can do with the negative reviews.
Most of the time, negative reviews can be turned into positive ones with the right approach…
Meaning, you need to be sincere and helpful with customers who are not happy or satisfied with the product or service they were provided.
Usually if you can get their initial feedback…
It will provide the local small business with enough information to make things right.
Of course there’s always going to be a bad apple in the bunch that no matter what the local small business does to make things right…
They’re just not going to change their mind for whatever reason.
However, most will likely change their tune if their problem is addressed and the local small business goes above and beyond to fix the problem.
In the next section, I’ll talk more about the “how” to filter out the negative reviews…
How To Filter Out The Negative Reviews
The secret to filtering out the negative reviews can be defined using one word…
Control.
What do I mean by “control?”
I mean if a local small business directs all customers to leave a review through their own means (i.e. their website)…
Then the local small business has control of the reviews being left by their customers.
By doing so, this allows the local small business to review all of its customer’s reviews *before* they’re posted publicly for the world to see.
That way when a customer leaves a negative review…
The local small business can be notified…
Which will allow the local small business to immediately follow up with the customer who left the negative review and see what they can do.
Then once the local small business takes the necessary action to resolve the customer’s problem(s)…
They can ask the customer to leave another review, which hopefully will now be a positive one.
All positive reviews are recorded and after they are left by the customer…
The customer is encouraged to post it publicly on Google, Facebook, Yelp, etc.
This type of system can significantly reduce the number of negative reviews that get posted publicly…
And more importantly, this type of system can ensure that any problems that a customer may experience will get resolved.
How To Implement A Reputation Review Program
So by now you might be wondering how to set up such a system as I described above…
And the answer is that normally you would have to develop it from scratch.
You would need a way to automatically send out emails and text messages to customers reminding them to leave a review.
Then you would need a website or web pages with a form or survey that allow the customer to leave a review.
Then you would need a way to be automatically notified when a customer left a negative review.
And finally you would need a way to remind customers who leave a positive review to post it publicly to Google, Facebook, Yelp, etc.
With that being said…
You can piece it all together using a combination of various software solutions.
However, I realized that there’s a need for a system such as this in the marketplace.
Which is why I took the liberty of developing my own solution inside of HighLevel (SaaS) called the Reputation Review Engine…
It’s the software solution that I prefer to use for all of my client’s needs.
And thus ensures that everything works seamlessly…
And the best part is that it’s all housed in one spot, one login…
I don’t have to deal with things like:
- Multiple software
- Multiple logins
- Multiple fees
HighLevel just keeps things…
SIMPLE.
I love it…
And more importantly, my clients love it!
So if you’re not using HighLevel yet…
I encourage you to do so.
I must warn you though…
Once you go HighLevel, you won’t go back! 😉
Give it a shot, I promise you’ll love it too…
And your clients will thank you for it.
See you next Monday!
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