Google Reviews: why you need them and how to get them

Ah, Google! Whether you like it or not, the company has become essential infrastructure to work and life. Gmail, maps, drive, and more Google products keep our days functioning whether for business or pleasure.

The internet landscape has important landmarks on it just like the NEK or the Lake Champlain watershed. Your position on google is one of these key digital landmarks.

Google Reviews, meaning both your position in results and the comments your customers leave are an important and often under-looked part of your SEO strategy. Especially for businesses with a brick & mortar location, an active review presence will boost your appearance in google results. According to a Whitespark survey, reviews account for 15.44% of how Google ranks a local business.

Let’s break down why Google reviews are important and how they affect you. After we look at this, we’ll share some tips on how to ask for and get more positive google reviews.

Why do I need Google reviews?

1. Because customers read them. These days, everyone is a part-time researcher. More so: everyone is their own personal shopper. It’s common for consumers to review all the free & crowd-sourced information they can on a business before choosing to buy or spend time there. If your google reviews are robust and full of interesting tips and tidbits about you from your customers, new customers will have more to base their decision on.
2. Because they provide important data. What’s about your business or product is working? What’s sticky and needs to be revisited? The notes your customers leave via review will give you insights that are hard to come by any other way. So, yes, Google Reviews are a two-way street!

Now I know that I need Google reviews! Help me get more!

1. Set it up:  All Google Reviews are submitted through your Google Business Page.  If you haven’t set up your Google Business Page, you’ll need to take that step first before ?  This is a huge factor in strong SEO and can be done very simply.  Read our post on how to claim your Google Business Page!
2. Be direct: ask your customers to review you, and remind or incentivize them to do so. Requests for reviews can happen anywhere no matter what your business looks like. Whether in-store, on social media, or in an email blast: explain to your audience why you need reviews, why you value their careful opinion, and sweeten the pot: 10% off their next order if they leave a review? A free sample?
3. Stay abreast: as the business owner, you can do a lot to create a culture of conversation on your reviews feed. Try to respond to 1 out of every 5 reviews whether positive or negative. Always thank the reviewer for taking time to drop a note. If they had a negative experience, apologize and offer a way to make it better. In the hospitality industry, it’s very common for hotel owners to offer a discount or some other perk via google reviews if a customer had a disappointing stay. This shows other review readers that the owner takes guest experiences seriously and is willing to go the extra mile.

Here’s a freebie for you! Use this copy (or a variation on it) to request reviews from your customers.

“Your thoughts and feelings are important to us. As a recent valued customer of ours, you have the most relevant details to share. Please consider taking 2-3 minutes to leave us a Google Review. We want to hear from you: what was awesome? What not so much? Reviews help us get feedback on how we’re doing and also help us find new customers.”  

For more logistical info on how to read and reply to reviews, see Google’s own how-to pages.

By the way your thoughts are important to us, and as a valued customer of ours, we’d love to share any feedback you might have on your experience with CannaPlanners and how we might be able to improve.  What was awesome about working with us?  If you’d consider taking 2 minutes to leave us a Google Review, we’d really appreciate it.  You can Follow This Link to our Google Business page.  Thank you so much!!  ….. see what I did there? 🙂

If you’re interested in learning more ways in which to grow your business online, contact us!