{"id":6301,"date":"2024-11-13T07:41:36","date_gmt":"2024-11-13T14:41:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/?p=6301"},"modified":"2024-11-13T07:41:40","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T14:41:40","slug":"how-to-get-more-and-better-local-business-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/how-to-get-more-and-better-local-business-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Get More and Better Local Business Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Recently, we looked at <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/why-local-business-reviews-are-so-important\/\">the rainbow of six <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/why-local-business-reviews-are-so-important\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">outstanding<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/blog\/why-local-business-reviews-are-so-important\/\"> local business review powers<\/a>. Now that you understand the full spectrum of their potential to help you operate a better, more profitable business, you\u2019re likely wondering how to get more of this UGC (user generated content) treasure. So, today, we\u2019re going to cover:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">How <em>not<\/em> to get reviews<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">How to earn a competitive number of reviews, a steady influx of reviews over time, fresh reviews if your corpus is looking stale, and customer sentiment that includes keywords that assist with your local rankings<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The conundrum of scaling reputation management and how to solve it<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I\u2019ve got a very full list of ideas for your use, but before I roll it out, there\u2019s a simple principle that we can derive from all the review surveys that have ever been published:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><em><strong>Typically, you\u2019ll get more reviews if you ask for them.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">It makes sense, but <a href=\"https:\/\/moz.com\/local-business-review-survey-report\">a review survey I conducted a few years back<\/a> found that it had been years since some respondents had received a single review request from a local business. So, the first step towards earning a greater number of more effective reviews is to commit to actively requesting them. If we agree on this, we\u2019re ready to move forward towards your goals!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How <em>not<\/em> to get reviews<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"938\" src=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Screenshot-2024-11-12-at-14.39.04-1024x938.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6313\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Screenshot-2024-11-12-at-14.39.04-1024x938.png 1024w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Screenshot-2024-11-12-at-14.39.04-300x275.png 300w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Screenshot-2024-11-12-at-14.39.04-768x703.png 768w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Screenshot-2024-11-12-at-14.39.04-1536x1407.png 1536w, https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Screenshot-2024-11-12-at-14.39.04.png 1756w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Because of the significant impact of reviews on consumer behavior, local search rankings, and brands\u2019 bottom lines, some business owners exploit Google\u2019s system and violate their countries\u2019 legal rulings by engaging in review-related tactics with the goal of fooling the public. If caught, the business may not only find its Google Business Profiles labeled with warnings like the one captured above by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/mblumenthal_as-part-of-the-new-google-fake-engagement-activity-7245853134869209089-D8MM?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mike Blumenthal<\/a>, but it may also become subject to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/news-events\/news\/press-releases\/2024\/08\/federal-trade-commission-announces-final-rule-banning-fake-reviews-testimonials\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lawsuits and fines<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">To be sure you\u2019re acting in good faith when it comes to reviews and don\u2019t accidentally get lumped in with spammers and scammers, rigorously avoid all of the following forbidden practices:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Offering money, gifts, discounts, or any other type of incentive in exchange for reviews<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Posing as a customer to write a review or writing reviews on behalf of customers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Asking friends, family, current or former employees, or any other non-customers for reviews<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Negatively reviewing your competitors\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Engaging in review gating \u2013 the practice of only funnelling satisfied customers towards leaving a review while suppressing the content of dissatisfied customers<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Hiring a marketer or any other entity to engage in any of the above practices<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Reviewing your own business<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Honesty is the only policy that will protect your local community and your brand\u2019s precious reputation. Read <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/contributionpolicy\/answer\/7400114?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Google\u2019s Prohibited and Restricted Content guidelines<\/a> for a detailed explanation of what they do and don\u2019t allow in the review portion of Google Business Profiles.\u00a0 Happily, there are plenty of above-board ways to earn legitimate reviews, and we\u2019re ready to move on to my big list!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to earn effective reviews the right way<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Consider this your starter list for getting a professional review acquisition program up and running at your local business:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1. Collect email and SMS contact data at the time of service<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Use both mediums for review requests. A recent study from GatherUp found it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.searchenginejournal.com\/new-study-finds-that-review-requests-should-be-treated-like-customer-service\/527158\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">significantly increases the number of reviews you receive per request<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">2. Make it easy for customers to find your GBP<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Use our <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/google-review-link-generator\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">free review link generator<\/a> so that customers can move directly from a review request to the review section of your Google Business Profile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">3. Include instructions<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">If your customer base isn\u2019t super tech-savvy, be sure to write out instructions for leaving a review when you make a request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">4. Request detailed feedback<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">By actively asking for reviews, you are sending the message that you\u2019d appreciate detailed feedback, which could help reviewers be more thorough in what they write than if they just write of their own volition. Longer reviews will naturally include more keywords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5. Ask verbally<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">In scenarios where it\u2019s not possible to collect emails or SMS numbers, instruct staff to mention at the time of service that a review would be appreciated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">6. Make use of print materials<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Put review requests on menus, receipts, brochures, flyers, mailers, magnets, shopping bags, store signage, and other physical assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">7. Seed your website with review requests<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Put guideline-compliant review requests on your website. This might include on your reviews\/testimonials page, location landing pages, contact page, product\/services pages, and about page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">8. Make use of other digital materials<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Put review links on digital assets, such as email receipts and newsletters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">9. Make some review requests more particular<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">If there is a new or specific aspect of your business for which you\u2019re hoping to increase your local search results visibility, word review requests to let patrons know you\u2019d especially appreciate their sentiment on this topic. For example, if your restaurant has just debuted a new taco, let diners who try it know that you would be so grateful if they would review the taco, instead of just the business, in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">10. Experiment with review request timing<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">In 2023, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nearmedia.co\/when-is-the-right-time-to-ask-for-customer-reviews\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NearMedia<\/a> summarized the findings of a <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1177\/00222429221143329?mod=ANLink&amp;ref=nearmedia.co\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">university study<\/a> which discovered that businesses which requested reviews within 24 hours of a transaction actually received fewer reviews than those which made no requests in that time frame. It\u2019s possible that immediate requests might cause annoyance for the consumer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Meanwhile, the same survey found that review solicitations that occur 9-14 days after a transaction prompted the most reviews. These are extremely interesting data points, but they should be taken as an incentive to do your own proprietary research on the best review request time window for your brand. Every industry and community is unique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">11. Plan for 100% responsiveness<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Be sure you are responding to all your reviews as a signal to your community that you read and value their UGC. In fact, if the brand you\u2019re marketing has neglected its reviews in the past, you can start to turn over a new leaf today by responding to past reviews, even though they are old. This will immediately send the message that someone has turned the lights on at the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">12. Go beyond Google<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Don\u2019t only focus on Google Business Profile reviews. Wherever your requests are present, include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/darrenshawwhitespark_reviews-on-other-sites-are-activity-7234947302614818816--g_6\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a variety of review platform options<\/a> so that reviewers can leave feedback wherever they are most comfortable. Just be sure you\u2019ve read the guidelines of any review platform with which you\u2019re engaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">13. Earn reviews that you control<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Don\u2019t only focus on third-party reviews (reviews left on third-party platforms). Acquire first-party reviews in multiple formats, including text, video, and audio reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">14. Earn other forms of reviews<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Don\u2019t overlook the value of being reviewed by both professionals and hobbyists. If your industry or community includes professional review publications, blogs, podcasts, video channels, or influencers, being reviewed by these entities can contribute to the renown of your business and the desire of the public to experience and review it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">15. Show care for your customers&#8217; linguistic preferences<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">If you serve a multilingual community, be sure that review requests are present in appropriate languages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">16. Focus on review-worthy customer experiences<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Multiple surveys suggest that a key motivation for writing reviews is to reward businesses for having provided great customer service. If your review stream is stagnating, it may be time to re-examine whether your brand or particular locations of your business are providing exceptional customer experiences worth writing about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">17. Set franchisees up for success<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">In a franchise scenario, be sure franchisees have access to all the tools, tech, guidelines, and policies they need to effectively request and respond to reviews for their locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">18. Practice review watchfulness<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">To guard the review volume you\u2019ve achieved, actively monitor your Google Business Profiles to be sure you are aware if review loss occurs so that you can investigate whether a temporary bug or a more serious problem like a suspension has occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Scaling reputation management<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The scope of my list of review acquisition and management tips makes it pretty clear that a great deal of work is involved in this aspect of local search marketing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">If you\u2019re the sole proprietor of a very small business, budget may dictate that you\u2019re having to manage all aspects of your online reputation manually. This can be feasible, but it is time-consuming and the risk is that you may find yourself sometimes neglecting core review-oriented tasks because you are simply too busy. This can result in an erosion of your average Google star rating over time, because of liabilities like neglected negative reviews. Meanwhile, you may be leaving profits on the table because you aren\u2019t finding the necessary time in your schedule to commit to a full reputation management program. It could be that, when your business first launched, you were only having to cope with a small number of reviews, but as you\u2019ve become more successful, the sheer UGC volume is growing unwieldy and customers are going un-thanked or unaddressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">In the larger local business setting, you need a reputation management strategy that scales across multiple locations, departments, practitioners, franchise branches, and service areas. It\u2019s serious work that shouldn\u2019t be lumped in under the broad heading of \u201clistings management\u201d. It requires a variety of nuanced customer service and marketing skills and lots of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The more competitive your market or complex your business model, the more an investment in <a href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/reputation-builder\/\">professional reputation management software<\/a> makes sense. Having an organized dashboard for requesting, responding to, and analyzing reviews makes scaling these activities so much easier for multi-location brands, and can motivate you to build this vital form of marketing into your daily planning. Whether your business is large or small, there is a good chance that reviews could be doing so much more for your reputation, rankings, and revenue with a more professional and committed approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Rounding up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Today, we\u2019ve learned that you\u2019ll typically get more reviews if you ask for them, but that there\u2019s a right way and a wrong way to approach online reputation management. Google\u2019s struggle to catch review spammers is ongoing, but countries like the US are becoming increasingly serious in their legislation surrounding review practices that are designed to mislead consumers. Fortunately, you have a plethora of options for honest review acquisition that respects your local community and the law.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">High-quality reputation management tools can help you organize and optimize review-oriented tasks and prevent the kind of neglect that can lead to reputation erosion. When professionally managed, online local business reviews are an evergreen gift that keeps on giving to brand owners and local search marketers who learn to unwrap full UGC potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-16018d1d wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-fill has-medium-font-size\" style=\"font-style:normal;font-weight:500\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-white-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color has-text-align-center wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/reputation-builder\/\" style=\"border-radius:33px;background-color:#06052b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Try Our Reputation Builder Software for Free<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently, we looked at the rainbow of six outstanding local business review powers. Now that you understand the full spectrum of their potential to help you operate a better, more profitable business, you\u2019re likely wondering how to get more of this UGC (user generated content) treasure. So, today, we\u2019re going to cover: I\u2019ve got a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":6322,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"How to Get More and Better Local Business Reviews","_seopress_titles_desc":"In this article we cover 18 ways to earn more reviews consistently, to get keywords in your reviews, and to scale your reputation management.","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"classification":[],"class_list":["post-6301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6301"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6321,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6301\/revisions\/6321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6301"},{"taxonomy":"classification","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whitespark.ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/classification?post=6301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}