Since the beginning of business, word of mouth has been one of the strongest forms of marketing and promotion. 

Word of mouth is the process of actively influencing and encouraging organic word of mouth discussions about a brand, business, organisation etc. 

  

 

In todays world, word of mouth has extended past ladies gossiping at the hairdressers, into also being online in the form of reviews.

 

REVIEWS DRIVE CUSTOMERS TO YOU

🙏🏼 REVIEWS BUILD TRUST.

🥇 REVIEWS BOOST YOUR SEARCH ENGINE RANKING. (ie Google is more likely to place you on page 1, 2 or 3). 

📈 REVIEWS INCREASE SALES.

💰 REVIEWS ARE AN EXTREMELY CHEAP FORM OF MARKETING.

👍🏼 REVIEWS GIVE POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS RELIABLE FACTS ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS. 

ONLINE REVIEWS

 

84% of people trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendations and 87% of people say they need a business to have a 3-5 star rating before they will use them. 

  

The quality and quantity of reviews on Google is one of the most important ranking factors in SEO (Search Engine Optimisation - technical things which help your website etc rank higher in search engine results). 

Also when the potential customer scans the search results, the business listing that includes Google customer reviews present a greater chance to get more clicks. 

 

 REVIEWS DON'T JUST GROW ON TREES

Most businesses have some idea of the power of reviews and word of month, but not many actively encourage customers to leave reviews instead they just cross their fingers and hope customers will. 

You have to stand out from your competition by actively influencing your customers to review.

Reviews are a numbers game. You want a lot of them and you want those to be 3 to 5 stars. 

Most customers will not go online especially to review a business unless they are asked to. And that is the key to receiving many reviews…is asking and encouraging. 

 

• Set up an iPad in your business and each time you have a happy customer politely ask them if they wouldn’t mind writing a review right there and then. 
• Set up a system where you email or text a customer after their service reminding them of any recommended aftercare and also ask them to review your business (giving links). 
• Have a loyalty system with your customers; they refer someone and get a reward/discount/treat/free something etc

 

 

 

Avoid offering discounts etc in exchange for positive reviews (it’s totally fine to offer discounts etc as an incentive to refer their friends). It is unethical and most reviewing websites will punish you if you are found out. Often, also you don’t need to do that to get reviews. 80% of people love to help others, so by simply asking for their help is typically more than enough incentive. 

 REMEMBER...

Make it EASY for them to review. If you email or text asking for reviews, make sure you add links and simple instructions to all the places they can leave a review. 

 

AFRAID OF NEGATIVE REVIEWS? 

 

 

If you have a consideration that you don’t want to open up your business to potentially receiving a negative review, then have an honest look at what aspect of your business you feel MAY receive a negative review about and fix that internally within your business. 

If you feel confident with your customer service, quality of product you’re delivering, price points etc and deliver 100% to every customer, then you should receive only wonderful reviews. 

You should strive for these high qualities in your business anyway regardless of reviews!

Furthermore more people have read positive reviews (69%) of customer service online than negative reviews (63%.)

So it will be fine!

 EXTRA USE OF REVIEWS

 

Use your reviews in your additional marketing! If you have a customer leave you a wonderful review, screen shot that baby and tell everyone how people think you are awesome. 

Promote your positive reviews!

Places to list your business for reviews;

• Facebook
• On your website (can upload an app to allow you to do this)
• WOMO
• Yelp
• True Local 

 

Lastly it is so important to thank each reviewer and reply to them. 

(see below an example of when we get lovely reviews on Google and how we ALWAYS make sure we respond with lots of love because this beautiful customer/student took time out of their day to post this ❤️)