Show potential clients you take care of your customers
Reviews, especially on Google, are very important. Why? Believe it or not it’s not because it helps you rank better in Google, but for the simple fact that people research the company they are interested in before actually purchasing. What are people finding out about you when they Google your name?
Do a quick Google search for ‘Printing Peach‘. On the right hand side of the page in a great big infographic you will see our Google Business listing information come up along with our five star rating, several testimonials, and a link to our over 250 reviews. You better believe, that helps get new customers! Understand, people don’t just find your website and immediately purchase. They do go and Google your name to see If people love you, hate you, or have just never said anything about you (also not a good thing).
Interestingly, As I mentioned above, this doesn’t seem to be a big SEO factor. We’ve done the research and doesn’t seem to help you rank better in the Google search, or even in the local pack map results that come up at the top of the page. But… It definitely helps Drive online sales, so it’s very important. Also, you never know when Google is going to start using that information to improve their Google search results.
Lastly, at some point somebody’s going to leave a nasty review for you. It’s inevitable and happens to the best of us. Is that nasty review is the only one you have… It’s pretty devastating. If it’s one of many, nobody cares!
How to get great reviews on Google
Ask friends and family
A few reviews goes a very long way. Google wants to see typically a minimum of 5 reviews before they will show the ‘star’ rating so maybe set that as a minimum goal. Most of us, can achieve this goal simply by asking a few friends, family, maybe co-workers to leave a review. It doesn’t even have to be a dishonest thing. For instance, your brother could say:
I’ve known company owner, Josh for a very long time and I’ve always found him to be a very dependable person of Integrity. I would certainly recommend him to anybody.
Ask your clients!
There are so many review plugins and review programs right now and I think they are all totally unnecessary. All you need to do is ask your clients! Keep and add all your clients email addresses into a mailing list service such as Constant Contact. Then, Maybe once a year, reach out to them with an email address just kindly asking them to leave you a review.
Note: Most people don’t realize this, but if you’ve done business with somebody within the last 2 years it’s not spam to email them and they don’t have to have ‘opted in’. This is Canadian law and you’re welcome to research the laws in the United States. Additionally, Understand that spam laws are made for and enforced against people who send out millions of truly spammy messages. Nobody, and I mean nobody, runs into trouble for sending out messages to a few hundred past clients, or even several thousand for that matter.
Before you send the message, make sure it’s the very best I can be. Here’s my rules of thumb followed by an example message:
- Keep it short and sweet.
- Don’t use a newsletter template… People just delete those immediately. Make it a short to-the-point email that looks like it’s directly from you to them. It’s better if it doesn’t look like Mass mail.
- Make sure you have a link directly to Google where they can leave you a review. You can get your link here in 30 seconds.
- Offer them something back if you can. A discount, the offer to leave them a review, anything. If you can’t, just ask very nicely 🙂
A tried & true template
Below is the actual email we have sent on several occasions to generate most of the 250+ Google reviews Printing Peach has. Obviously, you can alter this for your business and for your customers, but it follows the points I’ve listed above and gives you something to use as a template for your emails.
Hey Darlynn! Jonathan here from Printing Peach.ca. Really appreciated your business with us. I'm hoping we can scratch each others backs a little. We are trying to encourage customers to leave a favorable review for us on our Google Business page. We are offering a $25 discount on your next order if you can help us out. Assuming you are 100% satisfied with our service (definitely let us know if there was any sort of issue) would you mind leaving a Google review for us here: https://goo.gl/ble0c8 You need a Gmail address for that... If you don't have one, maybe you could leave us a Facebook review here: https://www.facebook.com/printingpeach/ Thanks! Jonathan