How to Get Reviews From Your Customers on Google, Yelp, Facebook & More

In the modern world, your business is a just a search away, and everyone knows it. The numbers are in and 76% of people who search for a local business on Google visit a retailer within a day, and 28% of those searches result in a purchase⁽¹⁾. What’s more, 92% of customers are more likely to purchase after reading a trusted review. If you want to be the business your targeted customers end up selecting for their big purchase, you need to do everything in your power to make your business shine on search engines and social platforms, and what better way then with authentic, genuine, and personalized reviews from your customers.

We’ve all been there as a consumer: you’re itching to eat out for dinner, but nothing comes to mind. So, you go to Google, search “restaurants near me,” and start scrolling through countless reviews before making up your mind. This begs the question: how can you position your business to be the recipient of positive customer reviews?

This first tip might seem a little too straightforward but start by simply asking. According to GatherUp.com, 69% of surveyed consumers would take the time to write a review if they were asked by an employee who left them with a positive impression ⁽²⁾. In other words, simply raising the question while the customer is completing the buyer’s journey drastically increases the chance of them leaving a review.

You don’t have to ask verbally either. Take time to decorate your storefront with posters, displays, business cards and other physical signage that mentions Google or Facebook Reviews and social media pages you want your customers to follow. You can even utilize your receipt system to print review reminders on all your paper receipts, effectively giving your customers a reminder that will stay with them long after they leave the store.

At this point, your customers know you want them to leave an online review. Now it’s time to add incentive through special offers and find a way to syndicate your reviews.

Let’s start with promotions and special offers. If you’re interested in quickly building up a surplus of 5-star reviews, consider offering discounts or low-cost merchandise to people who show you their online review in-store. Offering a discount in particular is a fantastic deal for the consumer, as they are actively benefiting from the review process, making them more likely to leave with a positive impression. You can even offer the discount for their next visit, incentivizing them to come back to your business to make additional purchases. If your products or services are one-time or very rarely purchased, consider offering them an incentive before they check out with you, so you can get the review while they are standing in your business.

Now what about getting those reviews on the most popular review platforms like Google, Facebook and Yelp? There are several affordable options for small businesses to capture reviews and then syndicate them across popular review platforms. Software solutions like Birdeye, Yotpo, and Podium provide an interface for your customers to create a review that you can then syndicate to the channels you care most about. By syndicating your reviews, you’ll benefit from more website traffic, more reviews, and more referrals.

However, if you’d prefer a more organic solution, take the time to train your staff to be less robotic and more human while they are guiding customers through their transactions. Your business is more than just your product, it’s your team. If your customer leaves the experience with a positive impression of your employees, they might leave a review, not because their purchase, but because of the way they were treated. The goal is to give the customer as many excuses as possible to make their way to Google.

Now that you have a foolproof strategy for collecting positive Google reviews, you can focus on elevating the rest of online presence on both Google and other social media platforms. Interested in learning more? Visit Thumbstopper.com

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Key Points:

Companies should understand the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure their websites are accessible.
Brands that concentrate on accessibility on social media demonstrate care for their customers and build a positive brand reputation.
Brands should always consider inclusive design, such as plain, straightforward language, in their social media posts.

Accessibility may not be a term you usually associate with the internet and social media. You might picture wheelchair ramps, directional signs in braille, or sign language interpreters at live performances. The landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 dictates the legal necessity of these and similar accommodations in public spaces. As we’ve come to rely on the internet for everything from entertainment to buying groceries, it’s become clear that the internet is now also a public space. It must be accessible to everyone. And like other applications of ADA, businesses that do not comply are liable for damages caused by inaccessibility.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are an international set of standards to provide instruction on meeting accessibility needs. It’s important for companies to understand how this applies to their websites, especially if they engage in e-commerce. In terms of social media, the requirements are less concrete. But prioritizing accessibility on your company’s social media is essential to your reputation, even if the legal requirements are uncertain. We’ll look at why it’s important to your customers, how it affects the perception of your brand, and how to make these changes efficiently.

Social Media for All

The cornerstone of accessibility is inclusive design: products or experiences that are accessible for everyone regardless of disability. The most important place where this shows up is on company websites where most users expect to also find links to the brand’s social media profiles. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of websites are not accessible, despite the fact that the application of ADA to the internet is over 20 years old. Making websites accessible is a complex process without the use of specialized software like Accessibe or EqualWeb.

Unlike websites, making sure your social media is accessible is a straightforward, ongoing process. Every social platform has been quick to release optional accessibility features. These features are important to many users even if they don’t rely on them to use social media.

Making your social presence accessible tells users that your brand cares about people, not just profits. It’s the same idea as the push for the representation of different body sizes in fashion or more expansive skin tone ranges in beauty products. Brands that meet the needs of underrepresented groups endear themselves to others as well. And while optimizing your brand website for accessibility might be a larger project you aren’t ready to tackle yet, starting with your social media pages is a great way to show customers that you’re listening to their concerns.

Making Content Accessible

Shifting to accessible content means incorporating inclusive design into your creative process. The practice varies by type of media. For platforms that have graphics or videos with captions, it means not only adjusting each component but also being mindful of how they interact with each other.

For example, YouTube’s automatically generated closed captions and subtitles are often inaccurate. It's one of many examples where the caption generation software has issues picking up strong accents and mumbled words. This could be remedied with handcrafted video transcription services. If that’s not in the budget, the video creator could add their script or transcription to the video description.

None of the technology for accessibility is perfect yet. Teaching computers to digest complex information for human understanding is difficult, and the variations in disabilities further complicate it. The majority of adjustments creators need to make revolve around helping assistive technology better understand their content. Let’s look at how to make different kinds of content accessible.

Text

Use plain language that’s easy to understand
Avoid text in all caps
Capitalize the first letter of each word in a hashtag, like #SocialMediaMarketing, a practice called camel-case

Videos

Provide descriptive captions. Instead of just displaying the words people on-screen say, explain background noises and other sounds that are relevant to the scene.
Add your own subtitles or enable auto-subtitles on the video platform of your choice
Use captioning for live videos when possible

Graphics

Use color contrast checkers to make sure low-vision people can see images
Try not to completely rely on color to show contrast
Add alternative text on each social platform

Distribute Accessible Content

Many users find their new favorite brand through social media. When disabled people (who make up 26% of the population according to the CDC) can’t access your brand’s social posts, you miss the opportunity to connect with a demographic that’s eager to engage in online communities. On a hyper-local level, that kind of connection goes even further.

That’s why ThumbStopper exists to help brands distribute their social content to their retailer network. Retailers can connect with their local audience - with your accessible, branded content - in a more personal way. And since content goes to their page automatically once they sign up, retailers can effortlessly promote your brand online while focusing on running their business.

Ready to see how ThumbStopper can help your brand improve its reach? Check out our brand reach calculator or book a demo.

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