Did you know that before making a purchase nearly 95% of customers read online reviews? Collecting customer reviews is a huge part of boosting revenue. Even if you are running a B2B, B2C, SaaS, or any type of business, reviews play a vital role in the growth of a business.
In this blog, we will cover every aspect of encouraging customers to leave reviews.
What are customer reviews?
Suppose you bought a newly launched smartphone and after using it for 2-3 months you are facing issues like overheating, battery drain, software glitches, or others. Now, you might want to tell the company and other people about your experience, so you choose to write a review. Through reviews, you can point out the issues with that device so the manufacturing company can make its product better. This is an example of a negative review.
Types of Customer Reviews
Reviews are not just negative or positive but there are other types of reviews as well. Curious about what they are? Here are different kinds of reviews given below:
1. Positive Reviews
Imagine you went to an amazing restaurant with a beautiful scenic ambience. You ordered 5 dishes, and all five tasted so delicious. The restaurant’s excellent service, spotless hygiene, and warm hospitality made you happy to visit, and now you’re eager to share your great experience. You decided to write a glowing 5-star review, attaching photos of their perfectly presented dishes and lovely ambience.
This way, when the customers are satisfied with the product or the service they leave positive feedback to appreciate and show gratitude.
Example of Positive Review:
2. Negative Reviews
As we have already discussed one example of a negative review in the beginning, so negative reviews highlight problems, mistakes, and what’s wrong with your product or service. As a business owner, you can understand how much negative reviews can influence customer’s minds about your product or services.
But negative reviews are helpful too, to bring the best out of something by correcting mistakes, working on issues, and making it better than before. Either products or services you can make them better with each negative review issue correction.
Example of Negative Review:
3. Neutral Reviews
Nowadays, people are obsessed with e-commerce companies for shopping such as Amazon, Walmart, and Apple. For example, you have ordered a cool pair of stylish shoes from Amazon but the product displayed while purchasing was slightly different than the product you received (For example: The color of the shoes is a little different but the quality is awesome).
Due to the color issue, you are not fully satisfied with the product. But as the quality was good, you decided not to return it but leave neutral feedback with both negative and positive points about that product.
Example of Neutral Review:
4. Constructive Criticism
Let’s take the above example, everything about that pair of shoes was perfect except for the little color difference. Leave a helpful review so the company can improve and enhance customer satisfaction.
Example of Constructive Critisim Review:
5. Fake or Biased Reviews
Many companies post fake reviews via employees or paid customers trying to harm their competitors’ reputations. These can mislead buyers and damage credibility.
Now that you know all the types of reviews, let’s explore why genuine customer feedback matters.
Why are customer reviews important for businesses?
Reviews are crucial because they help people learn about your business well, boost your growth, and increase your online visibility.
Power of Customer Reviews
Did you know that a study conducted by Power Review found that around 45% of customers won’t purchase a product if there are no reviews? So if you want to build a strong reputation, review plays a vital role.
- Revenue Growth: With more than nine recent reviews, businesses can experience a 52% boost in revenue.
- Consumer Trust: On average, 84% of consumers put equal trust in online reviews as they would in recommendations, that’s why reviews must be positive.
- Response Expectations: Over half (56%) of customers expect businesses to take action for negative reviews within a week, while most businesses don’t do this, it can weaken their relationship with customers.
- SEO Benefits: About 15.44% of local businesses ranking higher on Google’s search results are because of online reviews.
Did you know that just four major sites—Google, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and Facebook—control 88% of customer reviews? That’s the true power of customer review!
Yes, you heard it right, and if you create a digital business profile from Krofile, you will be able to connect all those four major review platforms to your digital business profile making it convenient for customers to add a review from their preferred review platforms. So by this, you can increase your review collection exponentially.
Top 7 Effective Ways to Encourage Customers to Leave Reviews
Let’s discuss some result-oriented tips that will help you get reviews faster than before. Here are the tips given below:
1. Asking Customers for Review
Asking for reviews can feel awkward, but we make it easy for you. First start with greeting them (customers) and then ask for a review such as, Hello! 😊 Are you impressed with our products or services? If they’re impressed, ask them to share their experience and leave a rating.
If they’re not impressed, assure them you’ll fix the issues without asking them for online feedback. This way you leave a progressive impression on customers and save your business from negative reviews.
2. Create a Process for Asking Reviews
Identify the perfect moment such as after servicing customers or once a sale is made, when customers are more than grateful. Through a thoughtful email, a message, or even a pop-up on your application, contact them through the most suitable options. Make the process easy by sending a link or by creating a QR code for your customers to scan and leave reviews.
To encourage customers to leave reviews, offer a small discount. If they don’t reply to you, wait for a few days before sending them a polite reminder. Remember to respond to every review, thank them, respond to the criticism with improvement, and let them know you care about them.
3. Automate the Ask
Manually asking customers for reviews can be a burden but we will help you let technology handle this for you. You can easily automate the review collection process with automated review platforms. For example, you can use Krofile, which collects reviews by automatically prompting your customers for feedback.
4. Make Writing a Review as Simple as Possible
Writing a review should be simple and easy because no one wants to struggle to write reviews. Krofile can help you effortlessly add reviews, including ratings and attachments.
5. Create a Review Template
Sometimes customers have nothing to say about your product or service, and that’s okay. You can assist them by giving them a little push, for that you can send them a generic template such as “What did you enjoy most about our service?” It’s like breaking the ice—it makes getting started the process easier.
6. Interact With Your Previous Reviews
This is the truth: Reviews are Reciprocal. If a customer makes the effort to leave feedback, you can respond to them politely. If someone says something nice, thank them. If they have an issue, acknowledge it and let them know that you will be addressing their concern. Responding to all the feedback shows that you value your customers this builds customer loyalty.
7. Follow up on Your Requests
It’s common for people to forget to leave a review. So a friendly message after the required gap can suffice. After someday you can send a friendly follow-up like, “Hi, we’d still love to hear from you!”. But don’t annoy customers too much; no one enjoys being spammed so there is a limit to this.
So far, we have covered some major tips to get reviews faster.
Best Review Sites Businesses Should Keep an Eye On
Now, let’s have a glance at the best review sites you can utilise to enhance your online reputation via reviews.
1. Krofile
Krofile is a digital business profile platform that lets you showcase all your business details in one place. Showcase your basic information, reviews, website, app, promotions, giveaways, and more to create a powerful all-in-one digital presence.
How can you utilize Krofile to gather reviews:
- Automatically prompt customers to leave reviews.
- You can connect your Krofile’s digital business profile to all major review platforms such as Google, Yelp, Facebook and many more.
- Customers can choose their preferred review sites such as Instagram, Facebook and other socials where nowadays people are more active.
- Showcase top reviews with original review sources, ratings and attachments.
- Create a dynamic QR code to make the review process easy for customers, so that they can scan the QR code and leave a review.
Benefits: Krofile allows customers to leave reviews from authentic review sites. Reviews from authentic sites play a crucial role in attracting new customers and boosting local search rankings.
Pro tip: Visit Krofile.com to learn more about its review generation feature. You can start your 30-day free trial, where you can utilize all the premium features for free.
2. Yelp
Yelp is not only dedicated to food but also includes other services such as salons, plumbing, and more. Customers can leave a Yelp review by searching for the business, selecting it, clicking “Write a Review,” and sharing their experience with a rating and comments. They can also add photos to make their review more helpful.
Benefits: A lot of users use yelp, which allows them to decide which company to trust without needing to rely on any one reviewer.
Pro tip: One of the best ways to improve your Yelp business page is by posting pictures of the business appealing to your target audience.
3. Facebook
To post a review on Facebook, go to the business’s page, click on the “Reviews” tab, select “Yes” to recommend it, and share your experience with a rating and comments. You can also add photos to make your review more detailed.
Benefits: Businesses benefit from Facebook reviews as they appear on users’ feeds, increasing visibility.
Pro tip: Keep your digital business profile page updated and monitor reviews. Responding to reviews can build a loyal community.
4. TripAdvisor
To get reviews on TripAdvisor, share your business’s TripAdvisor link with customers and ask them to leave feedback. They can visit your page, click “Write a Review,” rate their experience, and add comments.
Benefits: TripAdvisor reviews boost a company’s credibility and attract more customers by increasing visibility in travel and local search rankings.
Pro tip: Do all the things to receive good reviews from happy customers. Do not miss or hold back from answering negative reviews; it is a good space for growth.
5. Trustpilot
Trustpilot is a famous review platform for online businesses and e-commerce stores. To get reviews on Trustpilot, share your business’s Trustpilot link with customers and ask for feedback. They can visit the page, click “Write a Review,” rate their experience, and add comments.
Benefits: It is a reliable and user-friendly platform. Trustpilot reviews boost credibility by showcasing real customer experiences, helping attract new customers. They also improve online visibility and influence buying decisions, leading to business growth.
Pro tip: Seek reviews when the sale is done.
6. Better Business Bureau (BBB)
To collect reviews using the Better Business Bureau (BBB), a business must first claim and verify its BBB profile. Customers can then leave reviews directly on the business’s BBB page by submitting their feedback, which BBB moderates for authenticity before publishing.
Benefits: Businesses can respond to reviews to address concerns and improve their reputation.
Pro tip: Respond to complaints quickly to enhance professionalism. A proactive approach in this area can prevent a lot of trouble.
7. Angi (Formerly Angie’s List)
Angi is a great resource for contractors, cleaners, and people in the home service business. Collect reviews on Angi by asking satisfied customers to leave feedback via the Angi website or app. Share direct review links through email or text for convenience. Regularly encourage reviews to build credibility and attract more customers.
Benefits: Angi verifies reviews, reducing the risk of fake ratings.
Pro Tip: Send personalized review requests to customers via Angi’s messaging system right after completing a job, and offer a small incentive (like a future discount) to encourage quick responses.
8. Glassdoor
Hold on, isn’t Glassdoor just for employees? Yes, but guess what—it impacts your brand too! Encourage employees to leave anonymous reviews after key milestones like onboarding, promotions, or project completions. Make it easy by sharing a direct review link and reassuring them of confidentiality.
Benefits: While companies use Glassdoor to post jobs and hire talent, candidates are equally focused on how employees are treated. A strong reputation attracts top talent and builds trust in your brand.
Pro Tip: Regularly respond to Glassdoor reviews—both positive and negative—to show transparency, improve your employer brand, and attract top talent.
By leveraging these review sites like Krofile, Yelp, Facebook, TripAdvisor, Trustpilot, BBB, Angi, and Glassdoor, you can build trust, attract more customers, and enhance your brand credibility. Actively collecting and responding to reviews not only strengthens customer relationships but also helps your business stand out in a competitive market.
Conclusion
Customer reviews play a huge role in shaping a business’s reputation, influencing potential customers, and driving growth. Whether the feedback is positive, negative, or neutral, each review offers valuable insights that help improve your products and services. With so many people relying on reviews before making a decision, using platforms can make it easier to collect and showcase genuine feedback. By making the review process simple, responding thoughtfully, and encouraging customers to share their experiences, you can build trust and strengthen your online presence. At the end of the day, reviews are more than just ratings—they’re an opportunity to connect with customers and grow your business in a meaningful way.
