Reviews Are Here to Stay, So Get Onboard
Sharon Koehler
Stone Industry Consultant
Back in the day, people didn’t have a lot to go on when they hired someone to perform services for them. There was the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and word of mouth. Sure, there was advertising, but you had to decide if you could believe it or not. After all, anybody can say anything they want to about anything they do. And to be honest, word-of-mouth can be sketchy as well. You asked your neighbor to recommend someone for a project, and they recommend their wife’s-cousin’s boyfriend’s– father’s company that they never used, and could be sketchy as hell. They don’t know. They are just trying to keep it in the family. Sometimes, you simply went with your gut and hoped it worked out.
Fast forward to now and it’s a whole different ball game. Not only is there the BBB and the good old word of mouth, now there is social media, Google My Business, and business websites with testimonials and reviews right on them. Plus, there are dozens if not hundreds of sites where reviews can be posted such as Yelp, Trip Advisor, Angi, Manta and more. It never ends.
Reviews are the way of the world now. A survey taken by BrightLocal says that 87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses when they are searching for something. Following that, 93% of consumers say that reviews influence their decisions when making purchases. It isn’t just service companies anymore, either. Everyone wants or needs reviews: Doctors, dentists, lawyers, architects, restaurants, ride share, house cleaners and so on and so on. Everyone is on this bandwagon, and your business can’t afford to be left out.
Over time, the same excuses for not doing anything about company reviews keep coming up:
- It’s too much work to conceive and set up a review program.
- It’s too much work to have a review program.
- The whole thing is a pain in the butt.
- I don’t want to bother my customers asking for reviews.
- It’s too complicated.
Yes, these excuses keep repeating themselves, but are they really valid?
It’s too much work to have a review program – Then don’t. Google online reputation management and find a site like Birdeye, Reputation Studio or ReviewInc and let them do the heavy lifting for you.
It’s too much work to conceive and set up to have a review program – Maybe yes, but probably not. If you let someone else set it up for you, it’s easy. If you don’t want to do that, pick one, maybe two dedicated people on your staff and delegate it to them exclusively. That way, they learn and know exactly what to do, and the other members of your staff aren’t walking around dazed and confused over the whole thing.
The whole thing is a pain in the butt – This is a subjective excuse. The set-up probably seems overwhelming, which makes the whole process look difficult and time-consuming. There is so much to consider to get up and running.
Where do I want reviews to go? Google? (Yes) Facebook? (Yes) Yelp, Angi, etcetera, etcetera? Yes! Who will handle the process and set it up? Who do I ask to review my business? How do I ask? Do I send links? How do I get links? Who can help me? However, once the system is up and running and in use, it can almost go on autopilot, making it not so much a source of pain and stress.
I don’t want to bother my customers asking for reviews – This is now probably the least valid reason to not have a review program. Since just about everyone is asking for reviews these days; we are inundated with requests, and most of us are even surprised when we aren’t asked to give one. We have been programed over time and by circumstance to understand that giving reviews is just a part of our daily existence. And truthfully, when we are researching a company, we look for them and we read them, at least some of them, to see the reputation of the company we are exploring. We’re used to it…just do it!
It’s too complicated – It can be if you make it that way, but it doesn’t have to be. There are 3, if not more, very simple ways to grab reviews. Make a QR code (you can do this online, or your website host can help you) for the site you want a review on and print it on a post card. Give or mail the postcard to customers and ask for a review. Or create a link to the site you want the review on and include it with your thank you notes or print it on a postcard and mail it or give it to your customers. If you email thank you notes, put the link in the email. Another very simple idea is to make a QR code and display it in your showroom in various places and ask customers to scan it and leave a review. That’s about as simple as it gets.
More and more people are reading reviews every day. We write them. We read them and we are wary of anyone that doesn’t have them. Google loves them. They can help you be seen on Google.
Besides getting them, you need to keep them current and respond to them when someone takes the time to write one.
It’s 2023, soon to be 2024. Start or ramp up your review program. Reviews are here to stay, so get onboard!
Please send your thoughts and comments on this article to Sharon Koehler at Sharonk.SRG@gmail.com .