What are your top tips for collecting reviews?

What are your top tips for collecting reviews?




We all know reviews rock.  97%  of people read reviews for local businesses, and that shouldn’t surprise you if you consider your own buying habits. When’s the last time you bought something or did business with someone without doing your research?

On the flip side, reviews can also break you.  94%  of consumers say an online review has convinced them to avoid a business. Lesson learned: When it comes to reviews, there’s a lot at stake. You should always be collecting high-quality and recent reviews. Here are our best tips to make sure you nail it.


1. Use your tool.

High fives all around because you’ve already got the hard part of review collecting figured out. You have a tool that does the work for you! With Testimonial Collector, you can send customizable surveys to your customers via text and/or email. 

Start by personalizing your survey messaging. Keep it short, sweet, and simple. Insert dynamic tags, like your customer’s name, to give it an extra personal touch. Connect the platforms you want your customers to leave you reviews on, and then you’re ready to start collecting those 5-stars.  



To learn more about using Testimonial Collector, click here


2. Automate with Zapier.

We get it: You’re busy, and if you can barely find time to breathe, when are you going to find time to send surveys?

One of our favorite things about Testimonial Collector is our Zapier integration. 
Zapier  is an online automation tool that connects your favorite apps. You can connect two or more apps to automate repetitive tasks, like manually sending a survey!

When you connect Zapier to whatever tool you use to manage customers – HubSpot, Stripe, Square, and 400+ others – you automatically trigger surveys based on the interaction of your choice. For example, any time you complete a sale, you can automatically send a survey to that customer. 


Never miss an opportunity to automate. It really is like putting review collecting on auto-pilot. More on our Zapier integration here.


3. Test different messaging. 

Before you get too comfy with your survey messaging, test different versions. You might see a better response rate by making a few adjustments to your email subject line, call to action, etc.


4. Ask for reviews in person.



The best time to ask for a review is shortly after a customer’s interaction with you, usually in person, sometimes over the phone. You want their positive experience to be fresh on the brain. If a customer is loving you, don’t hesitate to ask them for a review. 

Let them know how much it helps you and other potential customers! Chances are they’ll be happy to spend 30 seconds of their day promoting a business they really care about. After all, 76% of consumers that are asked to leave a review go on to write one.

If you’re taking advantage of our Zapier integration, you can rest easy knowing that your customer will get a survey in their pocket (or email) right after their purchase, making the effort required on their end next to none.

If you haven’t set up Zapier yet, you can manually send a survey from our mobile app to follow up on your conversation. It’s quick and easy to do on the go. Learn how  here.


5. When it comes to platforms, give options. 



We say the more platforms you’re on, the better. More profiles means more ways for potential customers to find you! And when requesting reviews, it’s good to give your customers options. 

With Testimonial Collector, you can collect reviews on more than 15 of the top platforms. Enable as many of these as possible when setting up Testimonial Collector. If they make sense for your business and industry, get on there. Here’s how to connect platforms in Testimonial Collector.


6. Be quick to respond. 



Let’s say a customer leaves you a glowing review. That’s a nice thing for them to do! Don’t forget to respond with a “thank you” or “we really appreciate the feedback”. 

And if the review is less than great, jump on it. Turn it into in opportunity to show your excellent customer service and how far you’ll go to make things right. 

Respond to all your reviews in one place via the My Reviews tab in Testimonial Collector. 



7. Spread the word!



Once you get a great review, it’s time to share the news. Post it on social media for all your followers to see. 

The auto share feature in Testimonial Collector does this for you. Just select which star ratings you’d like to share and what platforms you’d like to share them to. 


8. Focus on making your customers happy. 



It’s a no-brainer. Great reviews all start with giving your customers a 5-star experience, and no one knows how to deliver that better than you. With your sights set there, and with our tools in your corner, we see lots of stars in your future.


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