Seven simple ways to get online reviews

Online reviews are incredibly important – they can shape the way potential customers view your business, influence people to buy from you, raise brand awareness and customer loyalty, increase online exposure and provide you with an insight into what's working and what's not.

Surveys have shown just how influential online reviews are. A Zendesk survey found that 90% of participants were influenced by positive reviews, whilst 86% stated that their buying decision was affected by negative reviews.

We all want positive reviews but it is important to understand that you can't please everyone. We have already written about the best way to deal with bad reviews, but one thing you can do is to fill your review site pages with lots of praise so those few negative opinions get virtually lost in a sea of positivity.

So how do you go about getting customers to leave online reviews? Here are our top tips:

1. Set up business profiles on leading review sites

Even if you're not necessarily in what you'd consider a 'review-driven' industry (i.e. pubs, restaurants, weddings, events etc), it is always a good idea to list yourself or claim your business on multiple review sites.

Search for Trustpilot, Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Local, LinkedIn, Facebook reviews, Amazon, TrustaTrader, Reevoo, Review Centre – there are plenty out there.

You are NOT too British to ask for help! By far the best way to increase the amount of reviews is to ask your current customer base. You don't need to be embarrassed – all it takes is a simple change in your business processes. Once you have sold a product or service, follow it up with a chat, call or email to ask them for their feedback.

As long as you are confident that you provide an excellent service, your customers should be more than happy to write a review.

Don't leave it for weeks before you ask someone to write an honest review. It's recommended that you ask within 24-48 hours of a customer purchasing a product or service (just make sure you wait long enough for the customer to take delivery).

Remember that you do need to make it as simple as possible for them to post a review. No-one is going to scour the internet on your behalf – basic psychology proves that the more difficult something is, the less likely a person is going to do it.

Put direct links in your email, any newsletter, website etc so customers can leave a review with just a few clicks. Making it easy means that people are much more likely to make the effort.

Ah, hashtags and @ symbols! No, not everyone gets it but it's important that you stay on the lookout for online brand or product mentions.

This is because you may discover that people are complimenting your business through social media and if you're not tuned into these type of platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram), you are probably missing a trick.

It may sound like overkill, but how many times have you meant to do something and then forgotten about it? A simple reminder or resend of your original request takes only seconds to do, but may jog people's memory – which means more reviews for you.

Not every online review site allows you to respond to posts, but if you can, make sure you thank each person who takes the time to review your business. This reminds your customers that you are a human being that appreciates their support, which, in turn, increases their loyalty towards you.

It may sound tempting to incentivise people to leave reviews but please be aware that if you are found to be actively incentivising reviews, you could get into serious trouble.

Some people find that offering discounts or random monthly prize giveaways encourages people to leave reviews. However, many review sites are very strict when it comes to the manner in which reviews are generated. You may end up losing all of your organic, honest reviews from the site and in certain cases, you could even get fined. It is always recommended that you look carefully at each site's rules before you consider incentivising your customers.