How to Ask Your Customers for a Review

Reviews have the power to grow your business. 87% of people who find your business online will read your reviews first. By encouraging customers to leave positive testimonials, you make it more likely that a prospect will give your business a chance. But getting reviews can be time consuming and frustrating for your team.

In this article, we’ll cover:

• The most common way businesses ask for reviews
• Why the most common way isn’t always ideal
• The best creative solution for asking customers for reviews

The Traditional Way of Asking for Reviews

Many businesses don’t have a review strategy at all. Their most loyal (or most hateful) customers might decide to leave an occasional review; but they don’t put any effort into sourcing more frequent reviews. 

Then come the businesses who know reviews are important and have a basic review strategy. For most, that means simply asking customers to leave a review while they are making a visit or purchase. 

They might offer incentives like an entry into a raffle or a discount code to be used on a return visit. Some make it easier for their customers by providing a QR code that links right to the review submission page. 

In order to motivate their staff to stay consistent in asking for reviews, they may provide a motivation or a goal for how many reviews each team member will source in a given time period. 

Top Challenges When Asking for Reviews

Asking in person is a common review strategy, but it’s not the easiest or the best. Here are the drawbacks. 

1. Remembering (and reminding your staff) to ask: If you want to earn enough reviews to stand out, consistency is key. And it can be hard to stay consistent when every day is busy and there are lots of priorities to juggle—especially during check out. 
2. Asking at an inconvenient time: The moment a customer is checking out may not be the most convenient time for them to write a review. Even if they are open to writing one at some point, you might miss out on that review because you asked at an inconvenient time. 
3. Not reminding customers after asking them once: By asking in person, you miss the opportunity to remind your customer if they didn’t leave a review right away. By the time you see them again it could be weeks or months later and you may not have tracked whether they submitted a review the last time.
4. Only asking a small number of customers: When businesses ask for reviews in person, they often only ask their most enthusiastic customers. They could easily miss out on other happy customers who aren’t as effusive about the business. By looking for reviews from a smaller pool, you limit yourself. 

The Easy Way to Ask for Reviews

Automatic review requests are the easy way to earn reviews. Here’s how they work. You set up a tool, like Swell, that integrates with your customer database. You customize a review request text message, like this example below, with a link that goes right to your review submission page for Google, Facebook, or another selected platform.