It’s no secret that reviews play a big part in the buying choices of customers. After all, from TripAdvisor for booking hotels to Yelp for finding restaurants, reviews are everywhere. Reviews help us know which businesses are trusted and reliable, which businesses deliver quality products and service, and which businesses will satisfy our wants and needs. In fact, according to a 2023 PowerReviews survey, 98% of consumers say that reviews are essential when making purchasing decisions.
So, it’s clear that businesses should be taking advantage of reviews! But, it can be confusing how exactly to ask for reviews and even what a review is. So, we at TextP2P are here to help you. Keep reading as we discuss how to maximize reviews for your business!
Table of Contents
The What and Why of Reviews
We’ll start at the very beginning. What exactly is a review? A review left by a customer is a statement of thoughts about how that customer feels that their experience with your business/product was. In other words, it is a testimonial about your business from a customer.
Reviews are helpful for many reasons! Here are just a few of them:
- Reviews allow customers to actively engage with your business. This is especially true if you regularly respond to reviews and make product changes based on feedback that customers give!
- Reviews build up your company’s reputation. By having customers testify to your benefits, you help other customers feel more secure that they are buying from a trusted and liked business.
- Reviews help your company get recognized. Reviews help your SEO by connecting your business to specific phrases and words that customers put in reviews. For example, if customers leave many reviews with the phrase “best messaging app,” your business is likely to come up when users search for “best messaging app” in their search engines.
- Reviews provide valuable feedback for your business. Some sites like Capterra and GetApp allow customers to report specific pros and cons, which you can use to make active changes to your products and services!
- Reviews give your business more opportunities to build brand awareness. From sharing testimonials on your social media platforms, to adding star graphics on your website, reviews provide a concrete, quantitative way to show your business’ appeal!
Liking our explainer so far? After you’re done with this one, be sure to check out this blog post for a brief guide on email marketing!
Stats, Facts, and More of That
Now, it’s obvious that reviews are incredibly valuable for your business. We’ve described some reasons why, but maybe you’re still skeptical. So, let’s take a look at some statistics regarding customer reviews!
As mentioned before, 98% of customers say reviews are an essential resource for purchasing decisions, according to a 2023 PowerReviews survey. This is especially true for online shoppers, with 91% of online shoppers always or regularly reading reviews.
In general, 93% of shoppers say ratings and reviews impact whether or not they purchase a product. And, nearly half – 45% – of consumers won’t purchase a product if it has no reviews.
If you are concerned about whether or not customers are actually leaving reviews, rest assured because 95% of consumers left a review in 2022, or would at least consider doing so, according to the BrightLocal 2023 Local Consumer Review Survey. These are mostly left on Google (used by 87% of consumers surveyed), Yelp (used by 48%), and Facebook (used by 46%).
Getting reviews is important, but so too is the content of those reviews. According to an Invesp article, 86% of people will hesitate to purchase from a business with negative online reviews. So, to help encourage positive reviews, businesses should ensure that customers have an exceptional experience, as 81% of consumers say that they are likely or highly likely to leave a positive review if they feel the business went above and beyond, according to the BrightLocal survey.
All in all, it’s becoming more and more evident that reviews are essential for every business!
Top Tips and Tricks
Now, you might be wondering how to actually get these ever-important reviews–and how to do so well. After all, a quick Google search of “how to ask for reviews” reveals that people also ask “How do you politely ask for a review?”. Here are our top tips for requesting reviews from customers. We’ve made sure to add in some examples and templates, too!
1. Be friendly and kind.
Customers are more likely to respond to businesses that they feel connected to, so it’s important for you to establish real connections with them. First and foremost, make sure to thank your customers for supporting your business! For example, sometimes you may want to send out a more general message like the one below:
Thank you for being a customer! If you enjoyed your experience with us, could you leave a review at [LINK]? We’d really appreciate it. Thanks again!
To level up your messages, you can also make use of references–to the time of year, to a recent event, and/or to the customer themselves–to make the request seem more personal and fun. Around Christmas, an example could look something like this:
Hi [FIRSTNAME], thank you for your recent purchase of [ITEMS]! 😊 It’s the giving season, so could you give us a minute of your time to share your thoughts? You can do so at [LINK]. Thanks in advance, and enjoy the holidays! 🎁
Here is another idea for after a seasonal sale:
Hello [FIRSTNAME], thank you for stopping by during our recent [SEASON] sale! 🍂 We hope you enjoyed what we had to offer. If so, would you leave us a review at [LINK]? Thank you, and we hope to see you again! 😀
Even without any emojis or other things like that, you can still write short and sweet messages like this:
Hi [FIRSTNAME], your support of [BUSINESSNAME] is always appreciated! To send us any feedback, please visit [LINK]. Thank you!
To get more messages like these, be sure to check out this blog post to learn all about our aiD feature powered by ChatGPT!
2. Thank your customers and let them know they matter.
We mentioned this earlier, but we’re here to emphasize it again. Thanking your customers and making sure that they feel valued is of utmost importance. In a similar way, you can also motivate customers to leave reviews by ensuring they feel that their reviews are valuable. Here are some ways you can do that:
Hi [FIRSTNAME], thank you for your business! Would you give us a minute of your time to share your experience? You can do so here: [LINK]. Your feedback is always appreciated!
Hello [FIRSTNAME], we hope you enjoyed your experience with our business. As a small business, we rely on customers like you to help us grow. Could you kindly leave us a review? Here’s where you can do so: [LINK]. Thanks in advance!
Hi [FIRSTNAME], thank you for visiting us! We’re always looking to hear from our customers, so we can improve our business. Please leave us any feedback you have at [LINK]. Thanks again, and have a good one!
Hello [FIRSTNAME], we hope you enjoyed your purchase! If you have any comments or suggestions, don’t hesitate to leave them at [LINK]. We always value your opinion!
Want more copy-and-paste templates? Be sure to also check out this blog post for 18 customizable templates for business reminder messages!
3. Ask in a timely manner.
It’s important to request reviews both close to when a customer interacts with your business and farther from that time. On one hand, you need to be close enough that the customer still remembers your company. On the other hand, you also need to be a fair distance away so as not to seem desperate or overenthusiastic.
A 2020 PowerReviews survey revealed that few (8%) customers submit reviews the same day that they use/receive their product, with most (92%) submitting a review within two weeks.
Additionally, a 2023 study published in the Journal of Marketing found that review reminders sent the next day lower the likelihood that customers will post reviews, while reminders sent 13 days later increase the likelihood. Sending requests early can interfere with customers’ sense of autonomy that they can submit reviews whenever they like, which researchers found was especially important for Gen Z customers who have grown up around online platforms. They also found that the “right time” depends on the type of product, as food and hygiene products can be evaluated more quickly compared to, say, furniture and appliance products.
In general, there’s no clear-cut, one-size-fits-all solution for businesses. You’ll have to take a look at your customers and your products to determine how long you should wait. But, to help you out, here are some moments you can use as starting points, moments you may or may not wait after depending on how your business works:
- When a customer completes a purchase
- When a customer makes a repeat purchase
- When a sale / event ends
- After an order is delivered
- At the end of a conversation
- When a customer visits your website or store
If you run an eCommerce businesses, be sure to check out this blog post too for more marketing ideas!
4. Offer incentives.
Everyone loves free things. Whether it’s discounts or free items, customers are more likely to leave a review when there’s an added benefit. Incentives motivate 76% of customers to write reviews, according to a 2022 PowerReviews survey. Here are some key incentives that business can offer:
- Free product samples or free products
- Discounts or coupons for future sales
- Sneak peeks of upcoming products
- Reward points for customers in loyalty programs
- Entries into giveaways, drawings, or other contests
- Cash back on purchases
You might also conclude that these incentives motivate customers to leave better reviews. But, in reality, customers often leave genuine reviews regardless, with 65% of customers saying that incentives don’t affect the content of the reviews they submit. So, businesses can’t fully rely on incentives and still need to focus on providing customers with great experiences.
Also–a word of warning–some review sites have policies against incentivizing reviews. Check with the services you are using–whether it’s Google or Yelp–and remember that transparency is key.
5. Make it easy and convenient.
The easier it is to leave a review, the more likely a customer is to do so. In general, there are two main ways you can ask for reviews: directly and indirectly. On one hand, you can directly send customers messages requesting reviews. The earlier examples were direct asks that you can send out as texts or emails.
And/or, on the other hand, you can leave around more passive calls-to-action for customers to leave reviews. Here are some ways you can more indirectly prompt reviews:
- Add a QR code to business cards, flyers, and other promo handouts
- Add a button on your website with “Find us on Yelp!” or something similar
- Add links to your newsletters, text campaigns, etc.
- Add a QR code or link to product tags and receipts
- Post customer testimonials on your social media platforms
- Leave out a designated device in-store for customers to leave a review on
All in all, you want to reduce the barriers that customers have to pass through if they want to submit a review for your business. Efficiency is key!
Bonus Tip! Use automated workflows.
A great way to improve how you ask customers for reviews is to utilize workflow automations! Workflows make following up with customers easy and efficient. By using TextP2P’s workflows, you’re able to send texts, emails, and ringless voicemails in custom intervals. Here’s how it works:
- Using the left sidebar, navigate to the Workflow Automations page (Main to Workflow Automations).
- Click the Create Automation button in the top right, and fill out the fields that appear.
- In the list, click on the name of the automation you created. In the workspace that comes up, add text, email, and ringless voicemail actions to your workflow. You also have the option to import from another automation or export your own automation!
And that’s it, easy as 1, 2, 3! Once you publish your workflow, it will automatically send the messages at the intervals that you chose. So, in the example above, it will first send out a text message to everybody in the My List contact list. Then, a couple of days later, it will send out an email to those people. A couple days after that, a ringless voicemail will be sent, too. Through this, you’re able to more effectively communicate with your customers in various ways.
To learn more about workflow automations, be sure to check out this blog post for answers to FAQs and a more in-depth tutorial & this blog post for an explainer video and even more info!
Conclusion
Reviews are everywhere, so we hope this guide has helped you learn how to take advantage of them for your business! Speaking of reviews, be sure to check out our 5-star reviews on Capterra, GetApp, and Software Advice! And, to get started with business text messaging using TextP2P today, visit this page on our website. Thanks for reading!
