Review Management’s Low-Hanging Fruit: Getting Customer Reviews That Are Valuable AND Easy

Research shows 70% of consumers will leave a review for a business if they're asked. In spite of this, earning positive reviews from happy customers is still a major challenge for many small businesses. The concept of easy reviews can feel like an oxymoron sometimes.

The reason?

Obstacles. Customers aren't as motivated to write an amazing review when they're forced to deal with unnecessary obstacles. This is compensated by the fact that review sites aren't created equal. A review on Google, Facebook, or Yelp supersedes the value of a review on other sites. But it's still important for brands to focus on directory and niche sites.

A balanced review portfolio means you're less vulnerable to the unexpected (a wave of negative reviews on Facebook, for example). It also makes it easy for customers.

For easy reviews, it's all about reducing friction.

MecLabs defines user friction as "psychological resistance to a given element in the conversion process." That's basically what you're looking to reduce here. You'll want to minimize the amount of friction your customers experience at any given point in your review funnel.

Your customers experience friction in a variety of places.

1. Customers feel implicit pressure to leave a positive review

2. Some customers want (but are afraid) to leave a negative review

3. Happy and satisfied customers don't know what to say in their review

4. Customers prefer to leave their review with a directory or niche site of their choosing

5. You don't have a company profile on the review site they selected

6. Niche or industry specific review sites require a significant amount of time and attention

If you're looking to capture more of the low hanging fruit in your review management campaigns, you'll need to eliminate or minimize friction in these areas. This makes things a bit more difficult for you, but much easier for your customers.

With the right set of automation tools, you can earn the five star reviews your business needs to grow consistently. Using an email, text, or MMS autoresponder sequence, you can reduce a large amount of the friction that your customers feel.

Here are 144 review request templates that you can use to create your own autoresponder sequences.

You can customize these templates for your business. You can create a review request autoresponder sequence that's sent through your review management platform or integrated with your email marketing provider.

Here's what that looks like:

Subject: Have we been helpful today?

Hi [Name],

Thanks for choosing [business name]. How did we do? Would you take a few seconds to share your feedback?

Your feedback not only helps us, it helps other potential customers.

Takes 90 seconds or less.

Share your Review [review funnel link]

We wouldn't be here without you. Thank you for your business and support!

[Signature]

Here's an SMS template version you can send:

SMS version: Have we been helpful today? Would you recommend us to someone else? Why? Share your feedback here: [review funnel link]

If customers ignore your first email (you can see open and click through stats via the Grade.us platform), you can follow up with something like this:

Subject: Did we make you happy?

Hi [Customer Name],

[Your Name] here. You're one of our best customers. Can I get your thoughts on these 5 questions? Should only take 3 minutes.

1. What would have prevented you from buying [product/service]?

2. What did you find as a result of buying [product/service]?

3. What did you like most about our [product/service]?

4. What would be three other benefits to this [product/service]?

5. Would you recommend [business] to someone else? Why?

We love to make things better for you. These questions help us do that.

Will you help?

[Signature]

Here's the second SMS version you can send:

SMS version: Did we make you happy? Share your feedback here: [review funnel link]. Takes 90 seconds.

If customers still haven't responded you can work to uncover any hidden objections with a third and final email:

Subject: What do you really think about us?

 Hi [Name],

They want to know what you think. Our new customers are interested in your feedback. What do you really think about us? Would you be willing to share your experience with them?

Only takes 90 seconds.

Share it all, the good and the bad parts of your experience.

Share your Review [review funnel link]

[Signature]

Here's the SMS version of that third email template:

SMS version: What do you really think about us? Other customers want to know. Would you share your feedback? Only takes 90 seconds: [review funnel link]

See what I did there?

With this simple campaign, you've captured the low hanging fruit. Those easy reviews. You've made it easy for your existing customers to share amazing reviews.

Feel free to modify these templates (and the other templates I've linked to). You want to create a campaign that's relevant for your business and industry.

At this point, you've eliminated the first four areas of friction for your existing customers.

You're on the home stretch!

Now it's time to eliminate the last two objections, mentioned above.

5. You don't have a company profile on the review site they selected

6. Niche or industry specific review sites require a significant amount of time and attention

Step five is easy, simply follow the steps our review management checklist and your company will be present in the mainstream, directory, or niche review sites that matter to customers. This leaves the review sites themselves.

When a company asks their customers to leave a review on one of these sites, the customer is expecting the process of the review to be as simple as choosing a star rating and leaving a nice, thoughtful comment.

Most online review sites have goals of website traffic and user counts. At the very least, they need you to sign up for an account on their site in order to leave a review (there are actually a few exceptions!). Besides their own business goals, authenticating the reviewer adds credibility to the review.

Actual verified customers of the company increase the authenticity of the review further.

Authenticating themselves via their Facebook or Google account can instantly remove the painful barrier of the typical account signup process. As opposed to filling out a form with their contact details that may or may not be shared with other companies, using FB or Google to verify the reviewer feels less intrusive.

Let’s take a look at the review sites that are both valuable and easy for customers to leave reviews.

Can you see what's happening?

We've systematically removed the psychological resistance customers face during the review process. This increases the likelihood that your review requests will be received well. Want to make the process even easier for customers?

Reach out to customers personally.

If it's feasible for your business, ask customers for a more personal interview. A face-to-face, video, or audio conference call. Then, when customers agree to the call, get their permission to record it. Transcribe the call, then email it to them along with a link to the review site you’d like them to post it to.

Ask them to copy and paste their feedback into the form and viola! You have a review. Need to handle a large volume of calls? Send customers to a dedicated voicemail inbox via services like Twilio, and ask them to share their thoughts.

Follow the same steps.

This is how you get customer reviews that are enormously valuable and easy. It's consistent, low hanging fruit.

The majority of your customers will leave a review for your business if you're willing to ask. That's not really the problem here. It's the friction of leaving the review, the psychological resistance that's triggered by unnecessary barriers.

While earning reviews on Google, Yelp, and Facebook should still take precedent in our online review management strategy, ignoring the other various directory and niche review sites would be un-advisable.

Not only do some of these sites earn a ton of traffic, they may be just as easy for our customers to log into depending on their integration with Facebook and Google. Asking for reviews on these integrated sites helps develop authority and prominence across the web. Getting easy reviews on these sites are another tool in our local marketing toolbox.