Google reviews are essential for prospects looking for background information. Having an abundance of Google reviews give them an overall feel of what you do and how you do it. These reviews are testimonials of the people you do business with.
It becomes even more important today because it’s very easy to receive a couple of bad reviews from complaining and unreasonable customers. It takes work, time, and effort to ask for and receive good reviews from your valued clients.
This means it is easy to receive a bad review. It takes intentional and focused effort to obtain the great ones, and even more to outweigh the unreasonable customers that decided to broadcast their experience to the world even if it was unjustified.
Furthermore, the impact of a negative review with a score of 1 magnifies this challenge. If you have:
- 5 reviews – All are 5’s and 1 is a 1. Your rating would have already dropped to 4.2
- 10 reviews – All are 5’s and 1 is a 1. Your rating would have already dropped to a 4.6
- 20 review – All are 5’s and 1 is a 1. Your rating would slightly dip to 4.8.
- 40 review – All are 5’s and 1 is a 1. Your rating would be 4.9.
If you only have a few reviews and just one person leaves a bad review, you can see the impact on your rating. Regrettably, when they have a great experience, you usually have to ask them to share it or go a couple of extra steps to capture it!
We’ve listed a few strategies for asking clients for a google review.
- Anytime your customers are happy with you, you complete a service, or help them with a challenge, recognize it as an opportunity to ask.
- Initially, ask by stating, “Have you ever shared a google review with us?” The customer would typically respond with no.
- Ask them “Can I send a link to you for you to share a review with us?” The customer would typically respond with yes.
- If applicable you can also state, “I would be happy to give you one as well” or “I already shared one with you”.
- If you don’t see a response, you can easily send them a reminder.
This strategy is worth a second look. First, they are keeping an eye out for opportunities after they added value, helped, serviced, or fulfilled the customer’s needs, especially when going above and beyond or providing them with relief. And secondly, they are asking a no-oriented question.
No-oriented Questions
A no-oriented question is when the answer you are looking for is No (not Yes). People can be afraid to say yes because they can unconsciously be afraid of what they are committing or saying Yes to.
Asking a no-oriented question can make it safer for them to answer because the No is the Yes in this case, and the No is the answer you are looking for, not Yes! The first question is anticipating a No, allowing them to feel safe.
This is a quick and effective strategy for asking for google reviews. For additional insight around asking for google reviews, contact us at EWH University for Small Business.
Connect and Add Value First
Most importantly, give before receiving. Share a google review with their company if they have one. Check in with them, see how they are doing, if there’s anything they need, or if there is something valuable to share with them, pass it along. That tells the people we serve the most important thing: we have your back, and we are here to take care of them.
To learn more on how to obtain and navigate Google reviews, schedule a complimentary strategy session with us!
