How To Get More Google Reviews For Your Business
Not having enough Google reviews is killing your business.
Let me show you how to dominate your competition on Google maps.
Why do you need more Google reviews?
If you’re like me, any time you are trying to find a new restaurant, or hotel or any other business you haven’t tried yet, the very first thing you do is look at who has the best and most Google reviews.
That one simple thing literally makes up 90% of my decision making.
Let’s say you are on vacation and are doing a Google maps search to find a good ice cream shop to try.
Which of these ice cream shops would you choose to try for the first time?
The vast majority of us will pick option 3, even though it doesn’t have highest Google rating.
Why option 3?
The answer should be obvious.
We want to go to a place of business that we can trust.
1200 reviews at 4.7 stars is a ton of social proof that this restaurant is trustworthy and the ice cream is probably delicious.
It is such a simple thing and yet most small local businesses spend very little time or effort in collecting positive Google reviews.
Most businesses have low star reviews, or less than 10 reviews on Google because they don’t focus on it.
Google reviews are incredibly important and with the right strategy, not difficult to get.
How many hundreds of customers are you losing to a quick Google maps search where your business either doesn’t even show up in the top results or shows up with just a few reviews?
The good news is it is very easy to fix this problem.
If you run a good business and provide good customer service, within just a few months you can be well on your way to hundreds of 5-star Google reviews.
How To Get More 5-star Google Reviews
If you don’t have a Revive account, I will show you the manual way to request Google reviews.
If you are a Revive customer you can skip the following steps and go to the next section.
The first thing we have to do is create a link that you can share with your customers so they can leave you a review.
Step 1: Go to this page on Google to find your “place id”.
Step 2: Enter your business name in the top search box and hit enter.
Step 3: Copy the place ID.
Step 4: Add your place ID to the end of this URL:
https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=
So the final URL would look like this:
https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=ChIJKwVAmp49FYgRuZ7TJlBWmwY
And when you click on the link, it prompts the user to leave a review.
So that is the URL you would need to send to your customers so they can leave you a review.
Just know that if the review is negative it will go right to your Google account for others to see.
Ideally you would be able to get in touch with the customer and try to work out a resolution before a negative review gets posted to your Google My Business page.
How To Get Google Reviews Fast On Autopilot
That’s where Revive comes in.
Revive helps you to get more positive reviews, and filter out negative ones.
Our platform sends out Google review requests to your customers through text and email.
The way you automate this process is to add our review request links into a drip sequence (or follow up sequence) in whichever customer management software (CMS) you are using.
That way every single time you are done working with a customer your CMS automatically sends them a review request through text or email.
Before you get overwhelmed because this seems complicated, this is actually extremely easy to do in 98% of existing CMSs.
And what’s even better than that is we set it up for you.
This allows for the review generation to run on autopilot, so all you need to do is sit back, and watch the reviews come in!
If you like the personal touch, you can easily send review requests out to each customer individually, one at a time.
Sending review requests inside of Revive is extremely easy.
All you need to do is hit the “Review Request +” button on your dashboard and type in the client’s name and phone number.
Your customer will then receive a text message asking them to leave a review.
If they leave a positive review, our software sends them straight to Google.
Want to see a demo of Revive? Click here to book your demo.
What About Negative Reviews?
With Revive, if someone leaves an average or negative review, it is sent directly to the business owner to be dealt with internally.
This means you can mitigate the negative reviews that would normally kill your Google rating, before they ever happen.
You can set the limit of which reviews go straight to Google.
For example, you can set up your account so that if a customer leaves a 4-star or 5-star review the software will send them right to Google.
If they leave a 1-3 star review, the customer gets sent to a form in our software, instead of Google.
Whatever feedback they give (including their rating) gets emailed directly to your office.
This will allow you to reach back out to that customer to try to resolve the issue before they go public with their negative review.
This way it doesn’t get online and disrupt your business.
Getting more positive reviews on Google also has a big impact on where your business shows up in the search results.
A constant flow of positive reviews will lead to your Google listing pulling up higher than your competitors.
Our average customer pulls up in most local searches in spots 3-5 in the map!
What’s great about Revive is that we don’t stop at just Google reviews.
If you want to collect reviews for Yelp, or Facebook or any other platform where customers can leave a review, the software will allow you to do that.
A Warning About Buying Reviews
Now that you understand the importance of getting more positive Google reviews it will be tempting to try to find a company that you can just pay to get you fake reviews.
This is the easiest way to destroy your business.
Google is very serious about business owners never paying for fake reviews and if you get caught you will face many consequences that won’t be worth it.
Getting legitimate reviews is easy with the right tools.
Don’t try to take a shortcut.
How To Generate More Customer Referrals
We’ve talked a lot about why you need to get more Google reviews, but equally as important is getting referrals from your happy customers.
Most small businesses have a loyalty or referral program.
The question isn’t do you have a referral program, but do your customers KNOW you have a referral program.
And even if they do know about it, how do you get them to actually send you referrals?
And from a logistical standpoint, how do you collect those referrals and manage them?
Apart from collecting reviews, Revive Ratings provides a platform for both referral acquisition and management.
How it works is after each interaction with a customer, they receive a text message thanking them for meeting, and asking in a diplomatic and friendly way for referrals.
The result for clients has been incredible. We see that about 30% of people asked end up leaving a referral!
This is not only a great way to receive more business, but to find your brand ambassadors!
Potential customers trust personal referrals more than anything else. If you want to make the easiest sale you have ever made, get your happy customers to refer others to your business.
This is the secret to exponential growth.
Want to see how Revive can help your business grow to the next level? Click here to book a free demo with us.
I couldn’t agree more about the importance of having google reviews on your business and I love how you break down how to automate the process which for someone like me who is lazy is the key to success.
Hey Scott, I totally get it. None of us like to do the same task manually. This is why automation of review requests is so important.
Having good reviews grows your business and makes you stand out from your competitors.
Too true James.
Reviews about any service provider encourage other people to get services from that service provider. But the problem is that many companies in the world buy good reviews about their services to entice people to buy their services. However, your strategy can be a unique strategy to get rid of negative business reviews and bring positive reviews to any business.
Creating a positive customer experience is key to garnering more Google reviews. By consistently delivering excellent service, politely requesting feedback, and simplifying the review process with direct links or QR codes, you encourage satisfied customers to share their thoughts. Don’t forget to engage with customers online and respond promptly to existing reviews, demonstrating your commitment to customer satisfaction and valuing their input. Thanks.
Hey Kevin, well said. The key to getting positive reviews is to provide amazing service to your customers. Revive just helps remind your satisfied customers to leave the review.
I love the fact that this software doesn’t only allow you to get legitimate reviews from your customers but also helps you get referrals all the while keeping the onus on you to provide great service.
Hey Amanda, that is our goal for sure. Helping small businesses that deserve to grow get as many 5-star reviews and referrals as possible.