To get noticed on Google can be important for most businesses and organisations. With Google reviews playing a vital role. According to Blue Corona, 88 percent of consumers trust online reviews just as much as personal recommendations and 90 percent of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business.

And it’s not just prospective customers that google reviews affect, but also anyone searching for anything to do with your business, as they affect the search algorithm. In short, having more good reviews means higher google ranking and therefore results in more leads followed by more sales and eventually higher revenue.

Furthermore 85% of consumers don’t trust reviews which are more than three months old. And only 40% of people look at reviews from the last two weeks. So keeping your reviews up to date and asking customers to add new reviews regularly is important. But it doesn’t need to be onerous. Below are three top tips for getting more reviews – and therefore getting your organisation noticed on google.

1. You don’t get if you don’t ask

After every successful project, purchase or event send your customers a personal email, thanking them for using you, asking for feedback and saying you look forward to working with them again in future. Explain that all feedback is read and used to improve the services you provide. Ask them to leave you a google review and provide a direct link to make it easy for them to do so. We are Comma can help you create a direct link to send to your customers.

2. Ask, ask and ask again

Don’t be disheartened if a customer doesn’t leave a review the first time you ask. They could have forgotten to do it and a reminder will push it back up their to do list.

It is fine to ask a customer up to three times after each interaction. Create some templates which you can customise. A week after the first, thank you email – check your google reviews and if the customer hasn’t left a review use your second template email to remind them. Again, personalise the email and ask again for a google review – including the link again. Then repeat the process in two weeks’ time again.

If the customer still doesn’t leave a review then don’t worry; some people never will but it’s worth a try. And regular follow ups help to keep your organisation fresh in customers’ minds.

3. Reply to every review

After taking the time to write a review; the least you can do is reply. Whether the review you receive is the great recommendation you expected or more negative, it is important that you acknowledge it.

For every positive review, thank the customer and say you look forward to working with them again. Do this in the most personalised way you can.

For every negative review, you still need to respond – and quickly. Every review you receive should be replied to within 24 hours. But don’t respond in anger, don’t be personal and don’t give excuses. It can be helpful to have a template response which includes the following:

• Thank the customer and quickly apologise for the experience they’ve had. You must apologise whether you agree or not; whether you feel you were in the right or wrong.
• Try to address the issue the customer has mentioned.
• Attempt to resolve the complaint privately – ideally via telephone, if not then email. You can read our full blog on how to respond to negative reviews here.

Google provides this advice on responding to reviews – and the importance of making sure you do.

If you receive a fake review then contact google to get it removed. However, you should still respond as if it was a genuine review but it can be helpful to say something along the lines of “we can’t find record of this project however we are keen to get the matter resolved, therefore please contact our office on Xtelephone numberX as soon as possible.”

And finally, the basis of all of this is continuing to provide great customer service. Your organisation cares about what customers think of you. And you want to provide the best service/products so getting feedback is important to help you keep getting better. So take the reviews you receive and keep improving.

What’s the best review you’ve ever had?