How To Ask For Customer Reviews

By William Powell

eCommerce competition has never been this strong. With hundreds of competitors vying for the top spot, often on the same platform, differentiating yourself is the best thing you can do for your business. Reviews are a great way to get ahead but asking for them is a challenge all on its own. Use these tips to make asking for reviews a hassle-free process.

Make The Most Of Google

Google is your best friend. If you haven’t yet, strengthen your Google Business profile and wait for the reviews to trickle in. This might take a bit of time, but you’ll eventually be able to spot regular customers and shoppers that are enthusiastic about your store. You can reach out to them through Google and ask them to leave a review for your website.

Got a bunch of negative reviews? That’s an opportunity too. You can easily contact them by leaving a comment on the review and getting in touch to find out what you can do to improve their experience. In most cases, satisfied customers will be more than happy to change a negative review to a positive one.

Social Media Testimonies

Google’s great for long-term growth through reviews, but building word-of-mouth through social media can put you on the map much faster. Platforms like Facebook make this easy with in-built review tabs for each business page. Let your customers know where to find you on social media, and they’ll be sure to seek you out if they’ve got a review.

You can be a lot more creative depending on the social media app you’re working with. Tons of businesses are shifting to an Instagram and TikTok-centric strategy for the higher engagement they offer. If you’ve built a presence on Instagram, for example, you can easily ask for customer reviews by including a card with the product that mentions your Instagram page. If they like it, they can put up a story and tag you in it.

The secret to naturally asking for reviews on social media is to create a sense of community. Incentivize your followers to contribute to the discussion by giving them a platform. Use polls, create challenges, and be active in highlighting their reviews on your page.

Go The Extra Mile

Show them you care about what they think. Being creative with the way you reach out to customers for reviews can make all the difference. For example, smaller businesses will often include handwritten cards with each order, wishing the customer well and asking for a review if they end up enjoying the product. Notes are a rare sight in a digital world and will leave a lasting impression on your shoppers. If your product or service is entirely online, consider using automated email templates for outreach instead.

We were curious about how professional agencies manage customer satisfaction, so we reached out to a popular agency for their take:

“When it comes to the best online reviews platforms, it depends on what kind of business you're in. For example, if you're a restaurant, Yelp should certainly be one of your top choices. Coalition Technologies is an online marketing and web design agency. For us, the most beneficial online review platforms to use are Google, Facebook, Clutch, and UpCity. Most of these platforms authenticate reviews before posting them, which makes them extra trustworthy.

Our best strategy for getting online reviews is to work hard on our clients' projects until we achieve tangible and impressive results as well as a great relationship, and then kindly ask the clients if they're willing to spend a few minutes to share their experience in an online review. Happy clients are always open to leaving reviews! The key is not to hurry, force, or make it your sole goal.

For example, one of our reviews on Clutch is from a client whom we worked with for 2 years before we asked them for a review. But the review we received is so thorough and excellent, it’s worth more than 10 ‘forced’, quick reviews.”

Best Practices

• Get To The Point: Beating around the bush never helps if you’re looking for a customer review. Respect their time by getting to the point with your request and make it easy for them by providing a link or QR code to scan.
   
• Business Reviews: Building a foundation of good product reviews can be tough if you’re just starting and don’t have much word-of-mouth to rely on yet. Businesses that have worked with each other in the past often opt to leave reviews for each other. Everyone wins, and you’ve got a great base to build on.
   
• Timing Matters: Immediately asking for a review is usually not the best move. Give customers a bit of time to use your product and reflect on it before requesting a review. Some shoppers might even be irked by receiving a request too quickly and leave a bad review in return. Of course, if you wait too long, even enthusiastic customers might not feel very strongly about your product and choose to ignore your request.
• Another great tactic is to ask customers for a review when they’re in the middle of sharing a positive experience about your product. It’s safe to assume that they would be more than happy to leave a review since they’re already talking about it.
   
• Be Humble: You’re counting on your customers, not the other way around. Being arrogant in pointing out how your product has been helping shoppers can quickly turn them away. If you’re reaching out to people, be warm, welcoming, and humble. This will in turn result in a great number of positive customer reviews.

Every Review Counts

If you haven’t been following these tips for customer outreach, you’ve been missing out. Asking for customer reviews doesn’t just help your business grow faster, it also improves the overall customer experience by showing you how you can do better. Be creative in how you reach out, and your customers will be more than happy to leave a kind word.

About The Author

William Powell is a writer and educator with a passion for marketing. He enjoys learning about the latest business trends and analyzing how global