4 ways to ask for customer feedback

“A customer talking about their experience with you is worth ten times that which you write or say about yourself.” – David J. Greer

Customer feedback is a valuable asset to your business. It can provide you insights into your business’ strengths and weaknesses, boost your business’ SEO, and help you understand the customer experience. However, you cannot enjoy any of these benefits if you are struggling to collect customer feedback in the first place. In this article, we will discuss the importance of customer insights and how your business can ask for feedback.

Why is feedback important?

Getting customer feedback is crucial for your business. Here are some reasons why.

• Boosts your SEO. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is how high you rank in relevant internet searches. The better your SEO is, the higher you will rank. Customer feedback, specifically customer reviews, is an important part of this equation. Google likes to show searchers the best results, and when your business has a lot of recent reviews, Google will see your business as a good resource. In fact, Google gives 15% weight to customer reviews, while assigning ranks on search.
• Builds credibility.  When prospective customers see your business online, chances are they will look at your reviews before making any purchase decisions. People view online reviews like personal recommendations. These personal recommendations are social proof – they assure prospective customers that if many customers are happy with your business, they will be, too. You can advertise your business all you want, but the most effective advertising will always be happy customers. If your business has multiple positive reviews, then prospective customers will trust that your business is credible.
• Reviews help you get more sales. Great reviews could be the determining factor between your business and a competitor. Good customer reviews have an impact, and influence a prospective client’s decision. When a prospect is deciding between you and another business, having numerous glowing reviews will tilt the scales in your favor. Use reviews to stand out from the competition and make more sales.
• Helps you understand the customer experience. Reviews give you valuable, rich insights into the customer experience, and it doesn’t cost you a thing. Reviews from happy customers tells you what your business is doing right. A bad review helps you gauge the areas that need improvement. Having a few bad reviews should not worry any business. Not only is it almost impossible to assure that every customer will be happy, but customers also rarely trust a business that only has positive reviews. By having a few bad reviews in the mix, customers will trust that your business is not paying for fake reviews or filtering out the bad ones. Through understanding customer feedback, your business will have a continuous cycle of improvement,
• which grows your brand loyalty and creates a great customer experience.

How to ask for customer feedback

Now that you understand the importance of customer reviews, here is how you can ask for it.

#1: Make it convenient

Keep in mind that when your customers write reviews for your business, it is ultimately a favor to you. The customer is taking time out of their day to provide you with valuable content. Because of this, it is imperative that you make the process of writing a review easy for your customers.

To achieve this, first reach out to your customers via a platform that is convenient to them. Text and email work well for review requests because it reaches customers where they are. Next, be sure to include the link to the review site within your request. If the customer needs to do research to figure out how to leave your business a review, you are putting too much of a burden on them. Shoot your customers a quick text or email, providing the review link included so that all they need to do is click!

#2: Make it timely

Time is of the essence when it comes to review requests. The longer you wait, the more likely the customer is to forget about their experience. Maybe, they’ll remember the overall feeling they had, but they won’t remember specific details. In order to get the most valuable information, send your customers review requests right after their interaction with your business.

By sending timely review requests, you also increase the chances of getting a response. If you wait too long, the customer may think that their opinion isn’t important to you. The sooner you send that review request, the more likely you are to get new reviews from your customers.

#3: Make it clear

Use precise language so the customer knows exactly what you want. Don’t say something like, “It would be nice if you could leave us a review some time.” The passive and informal language makes the customer feel like their review is not valuable.

Be clear in your intention when requesting a review. Try saying something like this:

• “Thank you for shopping with us! Customer experience is one of our greatest values. Because of this, we would greatly appreciate it if you could leave us a review at your earliest convenience. Every review provides us with valuable feedback to keep making our business better. Thank you for your time! [insert link here].”

#4: Automate the process

Help your business get valuable, timely reviews by automating the review request process. Through a review management system, you can send customers a review request via email or text – right after they’ve interacted with your business. Create a seamless review request process, monitor your customer responses, and get notified when customers leave new reviews. And, last but not the least, make sure you respond to reviews in a timely manner.

And, with that, you have all of the information you need to help you start collecting customer reviews. So, what are you waiting for? Start collecting customer feedback for your company today!