59 Unique Email Templates for Requesting Online Reviews

In our recently updated post, we cover the ins and outs of how to get reviews. It’s a comprehensive post that’s perfect for experienced professionals who are looking for a systematic method they can use to train their team.

Today we’re focused on something different.

We’re focused on the methods or channels used to ask for reviews. There are basic methods you can use to ask for a review.

• Face-to-face: A face-to-face request is the most effective method you can use to ask for a review. These can be in-person or online, in an individual or group setting.
•  Email: Asking for reviews via email is incredibly effective. Customers are highly responsive, especially if the review request is made shortly after a conversion event (e.g. sign-up, purchase, opt-in or follow).
• SMS / Text Messages: Consumers are increasingly comfortable engaging with businesses via text. What does this mean? Text messages give you immediate access to customers.
• Social media: For better or worse, social media has built-in virality. Do something amazing or legendary for your customers and it spreads like wildfire. Do something bad and it spreads even faster. As far as review requests go, social media is a double-edged sword.

Here’s the problem.

These four methods aren’t equally effective. There are pros and cons to each and they come with serious consequences when they’re misused.

But which one is best?

Vanessa Bohns of Cornell University and Mahdi Roganizad of Western University found face-to-face requests were 34 times more effective than emailed requests. Face-to-face requests don’t scale all that well though (or do they?).

Doesn’t this mean email isn’t effective for review requests?

Not at all.

Over 4 billion people worldwide use email and it has a 90% penetration rate among US internet users.

But are people using their email accounts?

Absolutely.

In the same article, Hubspot, Campaign Monitor and Mailchimp show an average open rate around 20%, click rates of 2.5-3% and conversion rates of 1.2%.

We know email works.

What about text messages? The statistics are pretty clear on this as well. The Pew Research Center found 85 percent of Americans owned a smartphone. Surprisingly, 98 percent of mobile users will read a branded/business SMS message and 90 percent will read all messages within 3 minutes! Even better, SMS boasts a 45 to 98 percent response rate (compared to email’s 2 to 20 percent).

So which one is better?

That’s the wrong question. It’s not about better, it’s about different. Using any one of these channels will prove effective. Layering these channels together – that’s when you begin to see dramatic results.

How would you do that?

There are lots of ways to layer these channels. Here’s one idea you can use as part of your template.

First, you segment and stagger your text requests asking for a review first. You don’t want to add a large number of reviews to your review profile first, only for those reviews to be flagged as “suspicious” or spammy.

Next, you segment your email users into several relevant categories. You send emails out asking for a review, but you do it on a staggered schedule. Here are several criteria you can use to segment your list.

• Repeat sales: Customers who are infrequent but repeat customers. They come to you with opportunities to earn their business first. They’re willing to spend more provided that they have a compelling reason to do so.
• Revenue per customer: The 20 percent of your customers that produce 80 percent of your revenues and/or profit. This is an overall measurement and is tracked on a per-customer basis.
• Spending by customer: Which customers spend the most money per cycle (e.g. annually, quarterly, monthly, weekly, etc.)
• Product consumption rates: Which customers are fully using and absorbing your products and services? Customers who actually use your products or services are typically the most qualified to review them.
• Purchase frequency: This is different from “spending by customer” as this refers to the actual number of purchases rather than a specific dollar value or financial threshold. These customers purchase consistently, often like clockwork.
• Profit margin: Customers who have purchased products or services with the highest profit margins. As a group, these customers produce an extraordinary amount of cash for a business.
• Customer evangelists: These are your believers, the customers who champion your business. They defend your business against attacks by naysayers, they attend your company events, and they’re active participants in the process.
• High engagement: These are your vocal customers, the often irritating but well-meaning bunch that will tell you the truth in love. They truly believe in you, your product, or your service, and they’re willing to hold you accountable when you fall short.
• Admiration: These customers love your business and display many of the same behavioral markers as the highly engaged group. They’re loyalists who are focused on serving and supporting your organization.
• Strong relationships: These customers are your rock. They spend often, pay on time, and are givers by nature themselves.
• Anniversaries: (e.g. purchase, sign-up, introduction, etc.) and special events that remind customers of the reasons they chose you. These dates are significant because they trigger nostalgia or dread depending on a customer’s relationship with you.

Finally, create a list of your super customers, you know, the people who meet three or more of these criteria. You’re still going to ask for a review, but you’ll ask these customers for a face-to-face review as well as the usual review.

Wait a minute!

How is this supposed to work? We all know that face-to-face reviews don’t scale. How are you supposed to make these review request types work?

You don’t.

If you have an email and text autoresponder sequence in place, you don’t need your face-to-face interviews to scale.

It’s actually the opposite.

You don’t want these face-to-face interviews to scale. Instead, these interviews should be reserved for the upper echelon of your customers.

The very best of the best.

The customers you have an incredible, trust-driven relationship with.

Why?

These customers will take the time to go above and beyond for you. They’ll hop on a video call to share their experience with your business. They’ll go to the trouble of posting their review online for you.

Average customers won’t do this for you.

This is why you need a layered strategy when you ask for reviews. If you’re a larger business or you’re dealing with an enormous customer list, automation is a must. You’ll need an autoresponder sequence that layers these strategies in a way that maximizes results. Don’t forget, in terms of this layered strategy, you can also use text template review requests.

An autoresponder sequence that enables you to ask for reviews from:

• Customer all-stars who are eager to reciprocate
• Happy or satisfied (but average) customers who will leave a review if asked
• Unhappy customers who will give you the chance/opportunity to make things right
• Unhappy customers who are encouraged to vent via an internal feedback form
• Neutral customers who are open to being persuaded

See the difference?

If you’re running a bulk campaign to ask for reviews from neglected or forgotten customers, you’ll want to segment and stagger your email list. If you’d like a natural, consistent stream of positive reviews, you’ll need a multi-layered autoresponder sequence (SMS, email, social media and face-to-face).

Here’s why this matters.

Large blasts sent to past customers can be risky. Sure, you may get a ton of reviews from older customers. But you’re also more likely to trigger red flags with Google, Yelp or Facebook.

Why?

Your account history.

It’s suspicious if you go from little to no reviews to a ton of reviews all at once. If you plan to ask older customers for a review, the segment and stagger strategy is an absolute must. It’s a fantastic way to attract a large number of reviews without the suspicion that typically comes with it.

Here’s another problem.

You’re not sure what to say. If you’re like most people, you don’t have a set of templates you can use to ask for reviews.

What do you say?