How To Ask Customers For Reviews: 7 Ways You Have Never Heard About

Who in this day and age can say that they’ve bought something without first investigating a handful of reviews?

Probably very few people can claim so. There are a lot of factors that go into a customer’s decision to purchase from your company. A customer’s decision to buy from your business is influenced by various factors – online reviews being one of them.

A staggering 90%  of customers check online reviews before visiting a store or making a purchase.

Most businesses understand the significance of obtaining more reviews, but many don’t know how to ask for them.

Positive reviews are more than simply an ego boost for retailers; they represent genuine positioning power.

You must learn how to request client reviews if you want them to provide insightful feedback. That’s why we’ve put together this guide on how to solicit reviews without having to chase them down.

Why Customer Reviews are Important

Here’s a thought-provoking fact: 70% of people are open to providing feedback  if asked. That’s why it’s important not to be shy about requesting feedback. However, the real question isn’t whether or whether you should ask for evaluations but rather how to go about doing it.

BrightLocal reports that 85% of consumers  believe online evaluations to be just as reliable as personal recommendations. This makes online reviews the most reliable and respectable kind of “promotion” available.

According to the same BrightLocal survey, 73% of consumers place more faith in a company after reading favorable reviews, and 57% go to the company’s website because of positive reviews.

That also means that in today’s competitive, online-first industry, businesses need satisfied customers to share positive reviews of their experiences even to receive visitors to their site for the first time.

How to Ask Customers for a Review

Now that we’ve broken down the importance of requesting reviews let’s talk about how to ask customers for feedback. What are the most effective methods to ask?

The following are seven suggestions for getting customers to leave reviews, as well as specific strategies that should be used in your various marketing campaigns:

1. Consider when to ask for reviews based on the buyer’s journey.

2. Choose a method that works for you at scale.

3. Ask the customer in person.

4. Get the most out of your customer’s positive experiences.

5. Start with an open-ended question.

6. Reduce friction wherever possible.

7. Let them know how long it will take.

1. Consider when to ask for reviews based on the buyer’s journey

It’s important to ask for feedback at an appropriate time in the customer’s buying journey with your business.

Business relationships go through natural ups and downs, from sticker shock or buyer’s remorse before a successful outcome to elation when their pain/problem is treated effectively.

Suppose you ask for feedback at the wrong time. In that case, a dissatisfied customer may feel compelled to leave a negative review, which might significantly impact your business’s reputation and the purchasing decisions of hundreds or even thousands of potential new customers.

Inquire about client feedback at key points in the customer journey, such as:

• Following their successful experience with your product or service

• When they make another purchase or reorder

• After they mention your company in a social media post

• If people spend time on your website looking at other items or services

• If they refer another customer to you

2. Choose a method that works for you at a scale

BigCommerce reports a 4.6% lift in sales conversions for products with 50 or more individual customer reviews. The most important point is that customers will have more faith in your product if they read positive evaluations. Furthermore, older reviews don’t carry the same weight as newer ones.

It’s important to make gathering reviews a regular part of your process so you can use them to power your flywheel and reap the benefits of social proof. Here are some common avenues to help you ask for reviews at scale:

• Train your team to solicit feedback after each successful project or service.

• Add requests for reviews to your automated email marketing campaigns.

• Use NPS to find all of your promoters (your happiest customers) and have your customer services build relationships with them.

• As a final step, you can add review links after checkout or on thank-you pages.

• Whatever you choose, it should be consistent and often.

3. Ask the customer in person

Customer success managers and account executives who have built strong relationships with their client base should not be shy about asking for reviews from clients in person.

Engage your customers in a casual discussion about your product or service when you take them out to coffee or lunch or invite them to one of your corporate events. (You should be able to tell from your regular interactions with them whether or not they are succeeding, so you can survey clients who are already meeting their needs.)

Tell your satisfied clients that you appreciate their honesty and loyalty and that you’d love it if they spread the word to people who might become new clients about how well your business is doing. Don’t forget the information presented at the beginning of this piece. If you just ask your consumers for feedback, most of them will gladly provide it.

4. Get the most out of your customer’s positive experiences

If you’ve just made a breakthrough for a client or received praise or positive feedback from them, you’ve just reached the point of customer happiness.

At these moments, they may not only be more inclined to give you a review as a way of providing reciprocity for good work, but they are also more likely to give you a good review.

5. Start with an open-ended question.

Don’t open the conversation by simply requesting a consumer review.

Instead, strike up a conversation and use an open-ended question to start things off.

By asking customers, “How do you like the product?” or “Are you ready to renew/purchase again?” or “How was your most recent engagement with customer support?” You can start a dialogue to determine their degree of satisfaction before asking for the review.

This is helpful in two ways:

• You can obtain valuable client feedback.

• You can prevent the unpleasant oversight of asking a consumer for a review before discovering they had a negative experience.

Utilize the open-ended question to honestly gather client feedback and covertly check to see if the consumer is content before giving them a reason to leave a review.

Negative reviews will appear on different websites regardless of your efforts, but if a customer is in need of a solution, focus on that before asking them to rate your company.

6. Reduce friction wherever possible.

Customers are less likely to leave feedback if they perceive a barrier to entry. That’s why, wherever possible, but especially when requesting an email testimonial, you should make the process as simple as possible for the recipient. The following are some suggestions:

• Include a variety of platforms so that clients can select the one that best suits their needs.

• Include a direct link to the page where customers may submit a review to reduce the number of clicks or steps they must complete.

• Give them a cue, so they don’t have to think about what to write (for example, “Will you post a review regarding your most recent store visit?”)

7. Let them know how long it will take

Time is a major source of conflict that needs to be addressed. A consumer who thinks they don’t have time to write a review isn’t going to write one.

You can redirect their thoughts while you still have momentum if you anticipate and respond to this potential argument within your initial query.

The phrase “It will only take 2 minutes” could be added as an afterthought or addendum to the request.

How Not to Ask for Reviews

Here are a few things you should never do when drafting an email to solicit feedback or choosing a headline for a review request:

• Most review platforms restrict incentivizing reviews and will remove them or your profile if they find out. This might lead to fines, a ruined reputation, and trouble growing your business.

• Providing clients with a script or outline to follow while providing comments. The similarity of your reviews may raise red flags with most review platforms, which may then choose to remove your profile altogether.

• Another technique to solve writer’s block? Review them before leaving! Businesses force clients to submit feedback before leaving, which backfires. Instead of moving them to review immediately, provide them a link to share their review.

Xoopah: A More Helpful Way to Collect Reviews and Increase Response Rates

You can use the Xoopah platform as an easy way to get more creative in how to ask customers for reviews and collect customer reviews. In addition to making the process of creating a testimonial easier for your happy customers, Xoopah also:

• Increases response rates to review requests.

• Allows you to view a review asynchronously.

• Automatically saves reviews so you can get them all in one place.

• It provides you with an easy-to-generate, shareable review link for your consumers.