Running a business doesn't end when your customer finished purchasing your product. You'd still have to maintain a good relationship with your customer as it would turn them into loyal customers and give many benefits to your business. One of which is earning a good local review.
Your customer review isn't just merely used as feedback to improve your business. It could potentially be a subtle way of marketing your products. Word of mouth is one of the strongest ways to grow your business. Many studies have shown that reviews from customers across many platforms could shape the general opinion about your business and their purchasing decision. Furthermore, this way of marketing your business is beneficial for small businesses as it doesn't require a huge amount of money.
Earning local reviews could be a tricky job because it could significantly hurt the business if most of the reviews are negative. Earning a good review needs a little bit more effort than just providing high-quality service. Something as simple as being a little pushy when asking them to leave a review could upset your customer, resulting in bad reviews. As many have said, it's harder to gain a review from a happy customer than an unhappy one.
Fret not, as we will discuss four easy steps you could take as a business owner to earn a positive local review from your customer.
1. Directly ask them
It might seem like a no-brainer, but many business owners fail to ask their customers directly for a review. The simplest way to ask is through phone calls, texts, or face-to-face requests.
Another alternative way of asking for a review is by giving a thank you note each time the transaction is complete. You can simply remind them to leave a review or add a call-to-action button at the bottom of the invoice email.
Use whatever method you prefer, for you won't earn any review if you don't ask for one. Remember that the main rule of thumb for this approach is to be as straightforward as possible while remaining polite and friendly.
2. Provide Simple Template for Review
To encourage a happy customer to leave a positive review, you should ensure the process of giving the review to be as easy and quick as possible. One of the ways of doing so is by providing a fixed template for a review.
You could design a simple form that allows customers to leave reviews easily by answering short answers, a score, or multiple choices. It is easier to be done compared to writing long paragraphs for a local review. Furthermore, the chances of your customer leaving a review would become higher, but you can also subtly direct and highlight the things you want your customer to say about your product.
3. Opt for Social Media
Using social media to garner customer reviews should be an option for business owners. According to DataReportal, in January 2021, there will be 170.1 million social media users in Indonesia, with Facebook and Instagram as the two most used social media. Your customer might spend more time using social media rather than checking out your website. Hence it would be easier for your customer to leave a local review on these platforms.
Reviews in social media could raise the exposure of your business potential customer as one review post from a satisfied customer will appear on the feed of their mutual friends. It could generate higher traffics to your business social media account that could result in higher conversions.
Raising brand awareness in social media has gained more significance as many social media platforms nowadays perform as commerce platforms. It could be another solid reason why you should encourage your loyal customer to leave their review on social media.
4. Personalized Interaction with Customer
Designing personalized interactions with your customer would make them feel appreciated. These personalized interactions could be done simply by addressing your customer by their name in all the emails, answering their feedback on the dot, or giving thank you note each time they finish a purchase or leave a positive review. It would result in a solid customer relationship.
Not only would loyal customers be more likely to always leave positive reviews about the product they purchased, but they would possibly come back to repurchase your products in the long run, which would lead to a higher number of sales.
There are many other ways that business owners could do to earn positive customer reviews. However, these four are the simplest ways that are cost-efficient and considerably effective. Simply by creating thorough planning that centers around customer satisfaction, even small businesses wouldn't have a problem gaining as many positive reviews as possible.
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