Regardless of the size, reviews are crucial to any business. From a customer perspective, they provide a place to share someone’s experience and act as a form of accountability for a business.

From a company’s perspective, they work as a digital form of word-of-mouth promotion. Potential customers have a source of genuine feedback and comments on your business. They can be a powerful tool to encourage new customers, although just as effective as turning them away.

But having positive reviews of your business is an excellent way to grow your business. But where do you start? Here are 5 tips to encourage customers to sing your praises online.

Make sure people can actually leave reviews

On Facebook, you may notice some pages don’t have any reviews. This is usually because the feature is turned off – you might be in the same situation without realising. To turn this on, head to settings, then under the general tab you’ll find reviews. You can activate and deactivate the feature here.

Ask!

This might seem like a given. But if you don’t ask your customers for reviews, you’ll be far less likely to get them. If you approach your customers in a friendly way, you’d be surprised at how many will be more than happy to do this for you. It’s even better to ask just when they’ve just experienced good service from you.

Make it as easy as possible

Reviews take time, so to help your customers, make the review process as easy as possible. Instore, you could have flyers or business cards with QR codes directing customers to your Facebook page. Then at point of sale, ask customers to like your company and leave a review.

Or you can send customers an email, including a direct link to your Facebook page.

Social media is another way to approach your customers. If they’ve already liked your page, it’s fair to assume they like your business. This means they’re not only likely to leave a review, but a positive one too.

Incentivise

Consider offering people something in return for their time. One suggestion – if you run an online store or company, is to provide a limited discount code after writing a review.

Another idea is to provide entries into a prize draw which is either regular or a one-off. If you do this, announce the winner on your pages to show the legitimacy of the draw.

Respond

Do respond to every Facebook review – that includes the good, the bad, and the ugly. Engaging with positive reviews will deepen the customer’s experience with the business. For those with not so kind words, it shows that you care and are willing to grow and adapt.

Follow these tips and you’ll receive plenty of reviews from your customers! You can repurpose them by putting them on your website or creating graphics for social media. They’re crucial to any business.