From influencing decisions to building trust, reviews shape how buyers view and interact with businesses.
- 93% of customers say online reviews have an impact on their purchase decisions.
- When considering a new business, 91% think reviews are important enough to sway their purchasing decision.
- About half of surveyed consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
- And 87% of buyers won’t even consider a business with fewer than three stars.
The bottom line: Your business needs reviews online.
What makes a customer review informative and influential? You want reviews of your business that report a good customer experience, sharing honest, positive details about not only the product itself but also about the buyer journey. It should be obvious that the review was written by a real customer – while the writing doesn’t need to sound like it’s from an English major, it does need to be coherent. You also want to get customer reviews on as many platforms as possible. Most businesses will benefit from:
- Google seller rating
- Google Business (formerly Google My Business)
- Facebook reviews
- Reviews on your website
- Reviews on high visibility third-party review websites
- Reviews on review websites for your niche
Image source: Jabio by Sitejabber
Now that you know the importance of online reviews, we’ll be covering how to get reviews on Google, Facebook, your website, the most visited third-party review sites, and other high-traffic sites and platforms where buyers look before making purchases.
What to Do Before Collecting Reviews
To start sourcing reviews for your business and its products or services, you’ll need to set up a way to connect with your customers and ask for feedback. To help, we’ve simplified the system into three steps:
- Identify where your reviews matter the most for your business
- Decide which channels to use to collect reviews
- Create a review collection workflow
Here’s what you need to do for each step.
1. Identify where reviews matter the most for your business
While it can be easy to get overwhelmed by all the places to collect reviews, you first need to understand which review websites your target audiences are researching. Then, you can prioritize your efforts to collect reviews where your business has the most visibility and can make the most impact.
For example, if you’re a software company, you may want to focus your efforts on software review sites like G2. If your website gets a ton of traffic, however, you’ll want to make sure there are reviews there first.
Reviews on your website
If your website gets significant traffic or is a primary source of potential customers, you’ll want to display reviews there to increase your conversions.
You can develop a way to source these reviews yourself, but a big downside is that a lot of consumers don’t trust reviews from the same company advertising its products. You can also check to see if your website hosting platform has a review feature, but businesses most commonly use a third-party review widget for more functionality.
A best practice is to find a review platform that provides you with review collection tools and website widgets. Review platforms are also more likely to provide advanced display formats that are flexible and consistent with the look and feel of your website.
For example, in addition to review collection tools, Jabio provides free ways to display reviews like review tabs, featured reviews, carousels, and trust seals that you can implement by simply pasting code. And, as your business grows, you can customize your widgets and manage your reviews from different sources, all on a single dashboard. Check out the section on review tools and review management platforms to help you select the best software for displaying reviews on your website.
Reviews on review websites
Are your customers going to review websites to research you and your competitors? Run a search to see what review websites show up for your brand and industry. You’ll want to find out which review platforms are ranking high on the search engine results pages (SERP) – the higher the review sites are positioned, the more visibility you (or your competitors) are going to have.
Once you identify your desired review sites, you can give customers direct links to each platform so they can and write a review. We get into how you can send these review requests out in step two.
Reviews on Facebook (Meta)
Also make sure to consider social media platforms like Facebook that display business reviews. According to Meta, businesses that show reviews on their page get an average of 78% more page visits a month! Most of your customers already have personal Facebook accounts, so it’s a seamless way to increase conversions.
Image source: Facebook
To collect and display Facebook reviews, you can turn on the reviews feature in your settings. Log in to your business page, click “Settings” then “Privacy,” and go to “Page and Tagging”. Toggle the slider for “Allow others to view and leave reviews on your Page,” then toggle “Allow reviews on your Page” to ensure this feedback is viewable by the public. Hit save.
Reviews on Google
Which search platforms are your customers using to research and look for your products or services? It’s no secret that Google still reigns supreme. It’s one of the biggest platforms businesses need a strong presence on, and we’ll focus on that here.
Image source: Google via Sitejabber
Organic Google Search Results
Star ratings and review volume contributes to what Google refers to as prominence, which helps determine how highly a business ranks on the SERP. To stand out from – and quite literally outrank – competitors, you’ll want your review stars to display on search results for your brand. A great star rating can improve click-through rates (CTR) by as much as 35%.
You can start with your own website – make sure to add the correct schema markup to your product pages. For third-party review sites that can or are already giving your brand visibility on the SERP, check which ones have that review schema in place and can help you display stars. There are several other types of SERP listings you may want to get stars for, which the Search Engine Journal covers here.
Google Reviews & Business Profile
Do you have a Google Business Profile? This feature is very prominent on the SERP, showing up as a sidebar modal with prominent review stars, and creates an immediate first impression. Buyers can see your Google rating right away and start reading those reviews.
Google Ads
Studies show that review stars on PPC (pay-per-click) ads that display on the SERP increase CTR by as much as 24%. If your business runs paid Google ads (or is planning to), showing ratings and stars on your ads is essential to your ad performance. Google refers to them as seller ratings, which is “an automated extension type that showcases advertisers with high ratings.” Seller ratings display a rating out of 5 stars, the number of reviews received, and a relevant qualifier.
To get those star ratings on your paid ads, you’ll need to collect a sufficient amount of qualified reviews. This number can vary depending on business types and verticals, but most businesses can obtain their seller rating by the time they get 100 reviews from customers in their target country, if not earlier. It’s important to note that reviews from other countries are counted separately.
These reviews are sourced from Google reviews and review websites partnered with Google. Google will start displaying seller ratings when the other requirements have also been met, which include a website evaluation, a matching domain to your ads, and a rating of at least 3.5.
You can check if you have seller ratings with this URL: https://www.google.com/shopping/ratings/account/lookup?q={yourwebsite}
2. Decide which channels to use to collect reviews
In the first step, you’ve identified where you want to display reviews. Now, you can ask customers for reviews using a few different channels.
The first way to get more reviews is by asking over email. Emails are an easy way to reach out to your customers. Taking care to include personalization in your emails is a good best practice that can lead to 6x more conversions.
Chatbots
If you have chat support on your website, make sure you add a request to leave a review at the end of relevant customer interactions.
Phone, SMS
In some situations, it’s also appropriate to ask for customer reviews over the phone. Maybe a customer is thanking you for your help. Express your appreciation for their business and casually ask if they’d be willing to write a review. Or use automated text blasts to send opted-in customers a link to your review platform of choice.
Social media
Some brands choose to take to their social media profiles to source reviews, providing the link where any current or former customers can share their thoughts.
In person
If you have a physical location, you can get reviews in-person, too. There are many clever ways to ask for reviews – such as utilizing a QR code customers can scan with their phone, giving cards or flyers with the review link, or personally asking them to write reviews online while at your brick-and-mortar location or events. You can also do a combination of these by setting up multiple touchpoints to ask for reviews.
On your website
If you’re looking to collect reviews on your website, you’ll need to embed a review form, which might sound complicated, but if you choose the right tool, is easy to do.
Since you’re starting out on your own, there are some great free widgets available. You should ideally choose widgets that help you both collect and display reviews on your website. For example, a free basic option for WordPress websites is the Site Reviews plugin, which takes care of all your basic review functions.
Another option is to find a reviews platform that provides a more complete set of review collection tools, including widgets for your website. These platforms allow you to scale your review strategy as you grow. We’ll get more into how to choose a reviews platform in the following sections.
3. Create a workflow for collecting reviews
Now that you know where and how you want to get reviews for your business, it’s time to collect reviews! Set up a consistent flow to ask for reviews. This helps ensure you accumulate a steady stream of valuable user-generated content (UGC).
The best time to ask for a review is shortly after a customer receives their purchase.
If you’re reaching out to your customers to collect reviews, make sure you provide clear instructions. If you’re directing customers to leave reviews on a review website or platform, make sure you have the correct URL linked in your review request.
A positive review example might read something like this, with an image or two attached:
Image source: Sitejabber
A note on offering incentives
Some companies offer an incentive – such as a gift card, a discount code, or a free product – in exchange for customers to write a review. However, this isn’t necessarily recommended: Some review websites require customers to certify that they have not received any type of payment or incentive from the business in exchange for writing a review. If they suspect a business of offering incentives for reviews, they may flag the business’s website or even remove it from their platform altogether.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), an organization that protects America’s consumers, regulates incentivized reviews. If you decide to offer a reward for reviews, tread carefully and make sure you know the regulations for whatever platform you’re using.
When asking for reviews, the key is to make leaving a review as easy and painless as possible – and, of course, to ensure that your customers have a great experience so they can truthfully say wonderful things about your business.
Strategy I: How to Get Reviews: On Your Own
Some companies choose to reach out and ask customers for reviews on their own. This approach has both pros and cons. Depending on your situation, it could be a good way to gather the first few reviews for your business and get some momentum going.
Pros:
- Low starting cost
- Flexibility
- Direct control
Cons:
- Expends a lot of resources
- High maintenance cost
- Hard to scale
- High likelihood the strategy won’t be optimized
- Difficulties navigating FTC compliance
When you first start out asking for customer reviews, it might seem like a daunting task. Many companies are nervous to reach out to customers directly to request reviews. But you might get a better response than you think: According to review statistics taken from over 5,000 consumers, 87% of people are willing to write a review of a business. When you’re wondering how to ask for a review, the key is to just ask!
Here are some review collection methods you can try on your own:
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Send individual follow-up emails. Ask for ratings and reviews directly as an email reply, or set up a link to a form.
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Send text messages/SMS. If you collect phone numbers as part of your checkout process (and have customer consent), these reminder messages can trigger after a product has been confirmed as delivered, or when a service has been completed.
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If you run a brick-and-mortar business:
- Ask customers to fill out a brief form in person
- Use signage to remind customers to leave a review on your website or a specific platform (and hope they remember to)
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For reviews on Google:
- Send customers your Google reviews link (accessible via your Google business account)
- You can also access your link by visiting the Google Place ID finder, entering your company name, and copying your place ID into “https://search.google.com/local/writereview?placeid=”
As you might imagine, this is very difficult to maintain and manage on an ongoing basis, particularly as your business and customer base grows. Let’s look into more viable, long-term review collection strategies next.
Strategy II: How to Get Reviews: Review Tools
Review tools are another way to get customer reviews. These are defined as review software that don’t have a public-facing reviews site or platform. Oftentimes, they are product review sites, survey tools, or reviews widgets that serve a specific service or industry. For example, Podium, Power Reviews, Yotpo, TurnTo, Reviewbox, and Feefo all fall under this category.
Pros:
- Full suite or specific features of review collection and display tools
- Can serve a specific niche
Cons:
- Less visibility because they don’t have a public-facing reviews page for your brand
- Can be limited to features in niche
- Many are not Google Review Partners, meaning collected reviews are not eligible to count towards your Google seller rating
Here’s what you need to know if you decide to use these product or business review tools to get customer reviews.
How to Choose a Review Tool
As you set out to select a review tool, there are a few key questions you can ask yourself to figure out what tactic is best for your business.
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What kind of UGC does your business want? Consider whether you’re looking for product reviews, brand reviews, Q&A, images, or something else entirely. This will help you narrow down to which tool will work best for you.
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Will the reviews be published on desired platforms? Make sure you know whether a review tool under consideration can help you display reviews on highly visible places, particularly where you want reviews to show up – anywhere from your website, to third-party review sites, to social networks like Facebook. The capability to boost your Google seller rating and product star ratings is important, too.
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How much does the review tool cost? Look for the right pricing structure – many review tools are outfitted with enterprise rates. Most of these tools charge either monthly or annually.
Strategy III: How to Get Reviews: Review Platforms
Image source: Sitejabber
A review management platform offers a full suite of feedback tools and review software (everything review tools have), as well as a public-facing reviews website. They often include additional toolsets for reputation management, marketing, and analysis. Some of the most popular review platforms include Reviews.io, Trustpilot, and Jabio by Sitejabber.
Both review management tools and review management platforms typically get reviews by implementing advanced customer feedback systems that ask customers for reviews in various ways. Review platforms also have the functionality of displaying reviews on your own business website, as well as on their review website. In some cases, they will distribute customers to leave reviews on other platforms, too. If you’re looking for both business and product review websites, review management platforms are your best all-in-one option.
Pros:
- All the benefits of review tools under one roof, with a public-facing reviews webpage for your brand
- More visibility and lead generation
- Opportunity for possible Google syndication
- Accreditation from a trusted third party
- More robust online review management and marketing functionality (scales your efforts while saving you time, effort, and extra resources)
Cons:
- The robust functionalities of review platforms means pricing can range greatly – make sure you’re choosing the right fit for your needs and budget
How to Choose a Review Platform
Not all review platforms are created equal. Carefully select a review platform that will get you a high volume of reviews in all the places you need them, consistently and automatically. You can use the following criteria, which includes some of the same criteria you’d consider when choosing a review tool:
- What kind of UGC does your business want?
- Will the reviews be published on desired platforms?
- How much does the review platform cost?
Here are some additional questions to consider:
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Is the platform a Google review partner? Certified partners can help you enable Google seller ratings and seamlessly funnel over reviews, improving ad performance and bringing you stronger leads. Sitejabber is a supported review partner.
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How high does the platform’s review pages rank in search engine results? If a platform has a strong online presence, you can leverage that to quickly gain more visibility with new customers. For example, businesses with a managed sitejabber.com review page usually rank very highly in search.
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What tools do they offer? Based on your needs, you may want to keep an eye out for additional features, too. There are some review management software on the market that include tools like analytics, marketing, or video reviews. Depending on what you want to track, make sure the platform you choose has what you need as you plan for growth. Use a review management platform to save yourself money and time as you get more customer reviews online. Jabio’s suite of tools and tiered pricing structure fits businesses at various stages of growth.
The ideal review management platform will be able to collect different types of UGC (brand and product reviews, social media posts, market research, etc.), display reviews on various platforms, make sense with your budget, be a Google review partner for seller ratings, provide great visibility, and include other necessary tools for your business.
Strategy IV: How to Get Reviews: Online Reputation Management Services
Online reputation management services help you manage your overall reputation and frequently include PR tactics. While companies like NetReputation and Reputation focus solely on reputation management, others like Thrive offer it as just a part of their services. A reputation management company can either build a positive reputation from scratch or repair a bad one. Online reputation services do this through content creation, search engine optimization, online reputation monitoring, traditional platforms, and other tactics.
Pros:
- Personal consultation – strategies are tailored to your brand’s needs
Cons:
- Usually very cost-prohibitive
- Difficult to find determine cost-efficiency
- Difficult to determine if their reputation strategies will fit your business
- Results may not be noticeable for some time
How to Choose A Reputation Management Company
If collecting reviews isn’t a top priority for your business, a reputation management firm may be right for you. Here are a few important items to check off.
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Does the service have a good reputation itself, and a list of happy clients? One underrated thing to do is to talk to a few of the reputation management firm’s references. They should have a long list of happy clients that are willing to chat with you.This is proof the company knows what it’s doing.
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Does the team communicate well? Make sure the reputation management firm has an actionable plan to help you move forward.
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Does the reputation management company claim instant results? If so, be wary. Reputation work happens gradually over time – you won’t see an immediate impact. Any company that promises the opposite probably isn’t completely legitimate.
Customer Reviews Trends for 2024
Before we conclude this guide, here are some key trends to keep an eye on as buyer behavior continues to shift and evolve.
Visual reviews
The general public continues to be interested in visual content, particularly video – and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are seeing an ongoing rise in photo and video reviews. Some of it is powerful enough to spark sales right within the app itself.
Even if you’re not a B2C or DTC brand, businesses can benefit from this trend by encouraging and making it easy for customers to share both photo and video reviews, which can also then be repurposed into persuasive content that showcases their products or services.
Micro-reviews
These short, easily digestible nuggets of feedback may have previously been brushed off as unhelpful or unimpactful, but they’re worth paying attention to these days. Micro-reviews fit into character limits imposed by many social media platforms (with the shortest ones even avoiding the “read more” cutoff), are concise and easy to understand, and are ideal for use in short, snappy, and eye-catching marketing. They also lend well to the continued trend of mobile-first browsing and pair great with photo or video.
Businesses should keep a close eye on micro-reviews coming in as social media comments and in other places, and make sure to treat them just as you would longer, more traditional written reviews.
Review badges and trust badges
Several factors are contributing to the importance of having reviews and trust badges on a business’s website. This includes buyers being faced with information overload, an increased awareness of fake reviews, and a desire for social proof to help them make faster purchasing decisions.
Reviews and badges offer a quick and easy way to assess the reputation and credibility of a brand and its products or services, and offer greater assurance of authenticity and quality – while helping prospective customers feel more comfortable trusting what’s being said in the reviews they see.
Get More Customer Reviews
Now that you understand the different ways you can get reviews, it’s time to take action! Customer reviews take your business to the next level – building your brand’s online reputation, boosting visibility, and attracting new customers. Choose the right strategy for you to reach out to your customers and get more customer reviews that will sustain your business long-term.
Still not sure where to start? Get a leg up with the Jabio platform and register your business for free.
Want a personalized, free consultation of your review collection strategy? Let’s talk!
