In a world where 84% of users trust reviews (and by the way, approximately the same percentage of online reviews is fake), honest, truthful and real reviews from your customers can be one more tool for increasing sales. It is all about human nature – people believe people. Therefore, it is important not only to receive a positive review but also to prove its veracity. Social networks will definitely help you with both of these tasks. Here are some simple things you can do right now to get more feedback.

Enable Facebook reviews feature

Paradoxically, some business owners disable the function to leave a review or like on their Facebook business pages. This is not a good strategy if you want to get more reviews and ratings, plus it helps you to stay in touch with your clients. The ability to quickly like or write a few good words about your company is like an automatic sales funnel. You do not need to do anything for this, except to give users the opportunity to do it themselves. To make the Reviews tab visible, log into your business page, scroll to the General section, and turn on the function “Allow Visitors to Review this Page.”

Run a contest with the requirement to leave a review

Modern users respond well to contests on social networks because this is a good opportunity to get a bonus in return for a simple action. Run a contest on a social network with the main condition to leave a review of your product or service. And make sure that the terms of the competition are clear to all users.

Before announcing the contest, think about which platform you want to get feedback on – on your website, Google, other aggregator sites like Yelp, or in personal correspondence.

By the way, here is one more idea for you! If your target audience is bloggers, for example, you may ask them to write a short review of your service or product on their website, plus add a link to your website. Thus, you will receive feedback and a backlink at the same time. And if you need more backlinks from reputable sites, you can easily get them using The Adsy guest posting service.

As for the prize, everything will depend on your capabilities. You can offer a small discount to each participant, or a more valuable prize that will be given randomly to one of the participants.

And note that in this case, the competition will be available only to those customers who have already worked with you at least once and who can express an objective opinion.

Offer a gift or discount

This strategy is a bit like the previous one. In this case, you offer a small bonus in exchange for a review. Typically, loyal customers easily agree to such conditions. Furthermore, when your product or service is exceptional, you can easily ask to leave a review without even offering anything in return. The next strategy is just about that.

Ask your loyal customers personally

As they say, there is no harm in asking. Try reaching out to your loyal customers, asking for a favor of writing a review for you simply because you are on good terms with them. However, in this case, you need to segment your users correctly and choose the most loyal ones.

Let’s say that you helped a particular client solve his or her problem. Subconsciously, everyone wants to thank the one who once helped them – even if the money was paid. In this case, the likelihood that your loyal clients will write a review for you just for thanks is very high.

Promote the reviews you already have

User reviews (of course, in the case when their veracity is not in doubt) work as strong social evidence. You can occasionally show and advertise your reviews to increase sales and attract even more reviews.

For example, you can add your reviews to Instagram Stories, and save them so that other users can see them at any time. You can also take screenshots from your correspondence with customers (with their consent), and periodically publish these excerpts on Facebook, Instagram, or simply create a carousel from the reviews. Most probably, many of your clients would not mind writing a review for your collection.

Personalize your response to each review you get

Modern customers are already accustomed to maximum personalization. It has become a normal practice when a brand knows the name of each of its customers, as well as the names and birthdays of customers’ children and much more. That is why the template response “Thank you, your feedback is very important to us” will no longer work. And most likely, it will even disappoint the client who left a review for you in the hope of more individualized gratitude.

Therefore, dedicate your time to processing each review and personalize your answers. Of course, it would be extremely time-consuming and difficult to process each review manually. Therefore, you can use automation solutions, for example, the one created by VBOUT. With its social media management platform, you can easily engage your audience, write personalized responses, schedule new posts, and track your analytics. By the way, you can get even more marketing tips on their blog.

Don’t delete negative reviews but respond to them right

Negative reviews also have the right to exist since it is impossible to satisfy everyone. Thus, avoid the temptation to get rid of them. Instead, use negative reviews as a chance to manifest an even more personalized approach, and show your ability to resolve conflicts and problems without ceasing to care about the client.
Your ability to recognize your mistakes and fix them while remaining polite and attentive will only strengthen your reputation in the eyes of existing and new customers. Moreover, your users will cooperate with you more confidently, understanding that even if a problem arises, it will be solved.

Real reviews that other users can easily read are strong social proof and one more sales promotion tool. What is more, collecting reviews does not require a lot of time or financial input. This is almost a free strategy with strong returns, so we recommend that you start collecting feedback through social networks right now!

About the author

Marie Barnes is a writer at Q-finder.com, where you can check LinksManagement reviews. She also does some photo retouching work at Photza. She is an enthusiastic blogger interested in writing about technology, social media, work, travel, lifestyle, and current affairs.