What’s the first thing you do when buying something online, visiting a restaurant, or booking a holiday package from a travel agency? It’s their online reviews. Reviews are incredibly important to your business as they influence customers’ purchasing decisions in many ways.
According to the 2024 Google Review, 73% of consumers only trust reviews written in the last month and 87% of customers engage with businesses having a 3-4 star rating on Google. Clearly, in today’s internet-powered era, Google reviews and other online reviews significantly drive the purchase decisions of consumers. Therefore, brands must understand how to increase reviews on Google and have more satisfied customers.
What are the Benefits of Google Business Reviews?
If you are not yet emphasizing Google business reviews, you are far behind your competitors. It’s the time to prioritize it in your local marketing strategy. Check out its benefits:
More Reviews Means More Leads:
The majority of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Building up your review management strategy is important. It also increases the likelihood that a Google searcher will engage with your business upon finding it.
More Positive Reviews Bring More Sales:
Consumers today research and read reviews before making a purchase. If they come across more positive reviews, they will automatically build trust and feel confident in making a decision. The more Google customer reviews you have, the more sales you will have.
More Reviews Means Higher Ranking:
Google rewards businesses with positive reviews. They play an important role in improving your SEO and online accessibility.
Cost-Effective Strategy:
There are no fees associated with reviewing posting or responding to them. Positive endorsements for your business on your Business Profile are free Google advertising for your business on the world’s most trusted platform.
How to Increase Google Reviews: Most Effective Strategies?
1. Create a Google Business Account
The first and most important thing you need to do to get more 5-star Google reviews is to make a Google My Business (GMB) account. As per a report, 58% of customers say having a Google business profile increases physical visits.
Businesses looking for ways how to post a review on Google must first register their business and complete their profile. Once the page is verified and created, your customers can start posting the reviews. Businesses with existing Google Places pages will have a solid starting point for a fleshed-out profile. One of the easiest ways to increase Google reviews is to appoint a professional local SEO company in India that helps in page creation.
2. Ask Customers to Share their Reviews
You’d be amazed to know that many customers would leave reviews if asked for. Also, if the review process is straightforward, customers will share their reviews. Sharing an informative guide related to how to post a review on Google is also beneficial. Most times, the easiest way to get more reviews is to ask for them. Often, customers purchase a product and have a satisfactory experience using it but never think of sharing their reviews if they don’t ask for it. Thus, engaging them to share their feedback is essential.
To make the entire review posting easy and how to increase Google reviews streamlined, you can place link shortcuts across your social media platforms. Also, you can include the same in weekly or monthly newsletters or in any other type of written communication that you send.
3. Avoid Buying or Faking Reviews
Focus on getting legitimate reviews only rather than purchasing fake reviews, as doing this can impact your brand’s image. Google can easily identify fake reviews and will push back your website when you’ve purchased positive reviews or when you’re deleting negative reviews. Posting reviews from your account or buying reviews are signs that your business has something to hide. Another risk associated with purchasing reviews is that when those false accounts are removed, your reviews will also be removed.
4. Include a Review Link in Your Email Signature
If you are sending marketing collateral or order confirmations to your customers through email, then you can add a review link in your email signature. This is the easiest way to boost the online visibility and accessibility of your review sites and give customers another avenue to leave a review of your business. Moreover, it’s quite easy to update your email signature to include a review link. Updating email signatures that are included in marketing and sales emails often takes less than a minute.
5. Consider Other Options as Well
Bringing in reviews through GMB is one thing, but you don’t have to rely completely on one source to get reviews. You can also conduct surveys to understand your customers’ sentiments and keep them engaged with the brand. To evaluate feedback through the standard metric Net Promoter Score, you can use NPS surveys. If the customers participate in your survey, they might want to write a review, especially if they are completely satisfied with your offerings.
6. Address Negative Reviews Professionally
Businesses must respond not only to positive reviews but also to every negative review posted on their business account. Businesses often get negative reviews as well as every user has different expectations or requirements. One or two-star reviews must be shown as they appear, which means you need to monitor your reviews frequently. However, don’t delete bad reviews, as it will hurt other potential buyers. Instead, address each negative review in the comments. Ask the customer service team to connect with the reviewer and address their queries.
So, as soon as you get a review, either positive or negative, appreciate customers for sharing their valuable feedback so that you can improve their experience with your brand.
7. Ask for Reviews on Social Media
Social media makes it easy to reach customers, which makes the brand more visible. So, along with using social platforms for advertising purposes, you can reach out to your customers to get Google reviews. Just add the link in the bio of your social media profile and share it through posts so customers and people who have interacted with your brand in some way in the past can share a Google review for you. Getting more reviews from your existing customers is worth it, as it helps a lot in building trust.
The Final Takeaway for Reviews Growth
Google reviews are essential for all businesses as they add credibility and trust. Businesses looking for ways how to increase Google reviews for their business must try different strategies, including optimizing their Google Business page, asking customers for help, sharing the Google review link through various methods, etc.
Also, businesses can connect with a local SEO company in Delhi to boost their company’s online visibility and online reputation. So don’t wait any longer, rather grow your business with a customized review strategy.