According to SearchEngineLand.com, nine out of ten consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends & family. What are you doing to increase your rating and review count?
Not much? Here are four ideas to get you started:
Do you have another method for driving reviews? Tell us about it or comment below.
Not much? Here are four ideas to get you started:
- Ask - In sales, we are taught to “ask for the sale”, the same wisdom applies here. You have customers, many of whom are probably pretty loyal and they’d be willing to write you a nice review. You just have to ask! Implement a standard practice of reminding customers at check-in that you’d appreciate a review on one of the major platforms – Google, Facebook or Golf Advisor. You can also ask for the review with signage throughout your clubhouse, in the carts, etc.
- Remind – Your tee sheet or P.O.S. can send customers an automatic thank you message. What does that email say? Perhaps not much more than a thank-you. Include some text and direct links to your review pages, and ask your customers to leave a review about their experience. If your POS/Tee Sheet can’t send automatic thank you messages - call us right now so we can help you find one that does. It’s the 21st century and you need technology that makes you more efficient. There is no time to waste. We help courses implement technology on a daily basis, and we can help you too.
- Turn Frowns Upside Down (and say “Thanks”) – Are your review feeds one-way conversations with lots of folks talking about your business but with no presence from you? That is a bad recipe, and a bit rude. Take some time each week to respond to all your reviews. Say thanks for positive reviews and respond to negative reviews by taking the service recovery conversation offline (and out of the public forum). The mere act of being present on the major review sites will lead to more reviews – it’s one of those herd mentality things.
- Don’t Incentivize – Its easy, it works, but don’t give things away to drive reviews. Some of us have probably done this at some point, but the FCC is cracking down on this practice. Stick to the ethical, legal and organic ideas above.
Do you have another method for driving reviews? Tell us about it or comment below.
