Online reviews play an important role in the modern user journey.
Getting good reviews is a necessary part of any modern marketing strategy.
But if you want to control and make the most of your consumer voice, where do you start?
Let's talk about the best review platforms and the best ways to take advantage of them.
1. Google My Business
Google My Business (GMB) is the latest version of what was formerly known as Google Places and Google Local and is the starting point for any online review marketing strategy.
The ratings here will determine your Latest Mailing Database star rating in Google Maps search results as well as the Google "local pack", the list of map results displayed when users perform a local search.
Reviews are the most important factor in determining a local business' presence in Google search results, and Google My Business is the most trusted source for these reviews.
If you think this won't affect you because your business is online and not local, then you are dead wrong.
In a study involving 30,000 websites, Investment Review increased organic traffic from 5,500 to 8,000 in nine months.
However, knowing that your Google profile needs to be reviewed and that is not the same thing as actually getting it.
It goes without saying that an excellent product and top-notch customer service are a must here.
The high emphasis on customer service should be reiterated, as poor customer service is more likely to lead to scrutiny than positive customer service.
In addition to overhauling customer service and developing the best possible product, there are extra steps you can take to get the most out of Google My Business.
Let's start with the obvious: you should set up your Google My Business profile, not leave it unclaimed:
Visit https://www.google.com/business/ .
Choose or create the Google Account you want to associate with your business.
Enter your name and address to search for your business.
Click on the appropriate location.
Click "Send me my code". Google needs to verify where your business is located. This is the easiest way.
Add high-quality photos to your profile and emphasize the advantages of communicating your business and products most effectively through visual media.
Update all fields and descriptions and list your profile in the same way as your own website.
Now that you need to encourage your customers to leave reviews, the most effective way is to provide them with a direct link to where they can review your business. That's it:
Go to PlaceID Finder.
Put your business name in the "Enter Location" field.
Click your business name. If you are having trouble, please enter your location.
On the map, below the business name, above your location ID.
Copy your place ID and paste it into "<place_id>" at: https://search.google.com/local/writereview?id=1 placeid = <place_id>.
Follow the link and it should take you to a page where a Google comment form will pop up.
This is the link you need to share with customers at common points of interaction, encouraging them to leave reviews, especially in interactions where you have reason to believe you have happy customers.
A Few Tips for Getting GMB Reviews
Integrate your Google My Business review link into your email marketing campaigns. Use your email signature to ask your customers to leave a review.
Segment your audience, look for quantifiable correlations between interactions and customer lifetime value, and request reviews from those in your audience who are most likely to become long-term customers.
Make it part of your training and teach all customer-facing employees to ask customers for their opinions, especially if the customer seems satisfied.
Where it's impossible to provide direct contact, there are ready-made materials to teach customers how to leave reviews.
Write a personal email asking for a comment. The context of a personal email should make it clear that the email is not mass produced.
2. Industry-specific review sites
While industry-specific review sites don't directly affect your star rating in Google Maps and Google Local search results, they can affect your ranking in search results and, prior to clicking, non-local Star ratings are often visible in search results.
On top of that, 97% of customers say they are influenced by customer reviews.
By all accounts, the more reviews available, the better, which is why you want to earn as many reviews as possible in as many places as possible, as long as your products and customer service meet customer expectations.
Angry customers are the most likely to comment - they can have a serious negative impact on your brand's reputation.
Therefore, it is important to strive to encourage reviews from a more representative sample of the customer base.
Industry-specific review sites are sites built or commonly used for a specific industry, such as Yelp for restaurants and TripAdvisor for hotels.
You can use the tips above to get Google My Business reviews and apply them to other platforms.
You can find lists of industry-specific review sites here and here, but you can also find industry-specific review sites by performing a Google search:
[your industry name] comment/comment
[your competitor's name] reviews/ratings
The list of industry-specific review sites you'll come across will be far larger than any list of review sites you should point customers to via a single email or interaction.
It's important to focus on deciding which review site to send customers to.
If you think it's important to send your customers to a wide range of review sites to avoid getting low or low scores on certain sites, it's best done by rotating your review links rather than giving customers too many choices.
3. Product Review Sites
Product review sites are third-party sites designed to help businesses get reviews while auditing for accuracy.
More reviews on these sites because customers are more likely to leave reviews because they know the information will be reviewed and published by a third party, and customers are more likely to trust those reviews rather than those picked and manipulated by the companies themselves Likely to lead to conversions and positive brand sentiment, rather than using your own local system to comment on your own website.
Of these, Trustpilot is arguably the most important starting point -- rankings on product review site Yelp -- largely because Google believes they're good enough to incorporate their product ratings into Google Shopping ads.
Since the platform is "open," meaning reviews are not modified or moderated, giving brands a biased positive score, they are likely to affect brand awareness and search engine rankings in the long term.
One of the most useful features of third-party review platforms is the ability to add reviews directly on your website (specifically how to do this with TrustPilot).
A good product review site will also include the Schema markup necessary to get star ratings listed in Google search results, and building enough trust with the search engine can increase the visibility of those stars.
With a product review site, you can master your brand's story and become part of the conversation.
If you're concerned that authentic reviews will inevitably point out imperfections, consider the following Bazaarvoice stats:
Product page visitors who read and interact with online reviews have a 58% higher conversion rate.
When a site goes from zero reviews to 30, it can lead to a 25% increase in orders. 100 reviews can lead to a 37% increase.
As we discussed above, review volume has a stronger positive effect on sales than review scores, and scores in the range of 4.2 to 4.5 are generally better than higher scores (usually fewer overall reviews)
Adding user reviews typically results in a 15% to 25% increase in organic search traffic.
4. Social Media
The launch of Facebook Local has cemented the need for brands to think of social media as a marketing channel, not just as a place for customers to review their business.