Customer Review Tactics and Process

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One of the best sales tools a business can have is a collection of rave reviews from its customers: Over 70% of customers report that they check reviews before making a purchase decision.

However, collecting reviews and using them to one's advantage can be tricky, because you don't want to come off as too high-pressure on customers and clients, but you also do not want a good opportunity for positive feedback to get away.

Mastering the customer review process, although challenging, is a great way to get eyes on your business, build your brand, and gather a larger customer base.

Here are a few surefire tips and tricks to obtaining rave reviews and turning them into marketing tools.

Here's how you can ask customers for reviews

You may feel uncomfortable asking customers to leave a review of your business, at least initially, but customers who are happy with your brand may well be inclined to do so.

Prompting customers in an email or text for a review of your product or service after a purchase will also help them remember to tell others about their positive experience with you.

Whatever approach you choose, thank customers for choosing your company and ask them if they would kindly leave their thoughts in a review. Include a link to your review venue of choice, including your own customer service department.

Requests for reviews should be personalized; your follow-up email or text should address them by name and mention the specific services they received or items that they purchased. That way, the customer will feel more seen and valued.

Communication with clients and customers should include clear calls to action that prompt reviews from the very beginning. Language such as "Tell us how we're doing!" that links to a review site is more likely to prompt people to leave positive feedback on your business.

Asking is all about timing

When you request a review can be just as important as how, so requests for reviews should be done immediately following the purchase or rendering of service.

Sending review requests at the beginning of the day and in the middle of the week increases the likelihood of a response, studies show.

If you don't receive a response from a client or customer within a set amount of time, feel free to follow up, but don't harass customers to the point of annoyance. If they don't respond, move on to the next customer.

Gamification makes the process fun

Many businesses have implemented an element of gamification into their review process, which not only increases the chance of response from the customer but also makes the process more engaging.

Gamification can include prizes for a certain number of reviews, bonuses for more engagement on certain "top" reviews, or discounts on future products and services.

Use multichannel outreach

Businesses should use a variety of channels to reach out for feedback. Along with email and text marketing, businesses should employ their social media channels to prompt people to leave reviews.

Even old-fashioned "snail mail" can work, depending on your industry and your customers' demographics. Sending a thank-you card in the mail that prompts a review goes a long way in our digital age.

Standardize the review process

Asking for and receiving reviews should be a standardized process within your company's workflow.

Leadership should provide templates for emails that can be easily personalized to each customer and ensure the same language and tone are being used across all channels.

Standardizing the review process makes it easy to implement as part of the beginning-to-end service lifecycle, which will also help increase the number of reviews you ultimately receive.

Publicize reviews on your website

Reserve space on your website for your most glowing reviews, making the process of finding reviews easy for potential customers and clients.

Share great reviews on social media, and follow up the share with another call to action for other people to leave reviews as well.

Respond and engage

When you receive a wonderful review, respond to the customer with a genuine, heartfelt thank you. But not-so-great reviews should also be met with responses and engagement.

If you do receive a bad rating from a customer, respond to it by asking how you can do better next time. Also reach out to such customers privately to ask how you can improve their experience, and then follow up on your promises.

If done well, your engagement could even help turn a bad review into a good one in the future!

Involve all employees

The process of asking for, receiving, and publicizing reviews shouldn't just be delegated to a specific team only.

All employees should have a part in the review process with opportunities to give feedback on what they believe would work, talk about their workplace or their services online, and help act on review recommendations to give increasingly better service.

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By following a plan for collecting and using reviews, businesses can harness the full potential of customer reviews, improving their branding, reach, and customer satisfaction.