How to Ask Customers for Reviews | 5 Key Strategies

5 Ways to Ask Your Customers to Leave a Review

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There’s no getting around it – asking your customers to leave a review can be a bit awkward. But as the old saying goes, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

As it turns out, the majority of users are more than happy to oblige, with 68% of consumers leaving a review after being asked to do so.

But there are a number of different ways to make this kind of request. Here are our top five recommended methods for asking customers to leave reviews:

1. Send an email
2. Via social media
3. Through your website
4. On thank you pages 
5. Ask in person 

We’ll go through each one in detail, so you can get a good idea of which ones would be the best fit for your business.

More Information

• How to Respond to Negative Reviews: If you’re worried your feedback request will result in negative reviews, we’ve put together a handy guide to help you respond appropriately.
• How to Respond to Google Reviews: if you get the good and the bad responses on Google, here’s a quick how to on responding to them.

#1 Send an Email

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With 80% of customer testimonials coming from email requests, the inbox is a prime place to go hunting for those all-important reviews. Most customers are used to receiving these requests, so it won’t seem strange even if you’re not quite comfortable with the idea yet.

There are a few ways to go about asking for a review via email. The most popular method is sending a request as a follow-up to a purchase. This is a tried-and-tested strategy that you’ve probably seen most of your favorite brands using. Why? Because it gets good results!

Understandably, this approach works best for businesses that sell individual products, but that doesn’t mean email is off the cards if you provide a service rather than physical goods. You’ll just be asking customers to rate their overall experience, rather than a specific item.

In this instance, you could consider featuring some of the review questions in the body of your email, like Dropbox has done below. Not only will this engage users in the process, but it’ll also make leaving a review faster and easier.

The follow-up isn’t the only way to use email to ask for a review – you can also send a bulk blast to your existing database. This isn’t a targeted send, more a general request for feedback based on a user’s total interaction with your brand.

It’s a good option for companies that provide software, like NordVPN. Unlike follow-ups, these tend to be one-off sends, rather than automatically generated emails that are sent in response to a purchase.

Best Practices When Asking for Reviews Via Email

If you want to boost your chances of collecting reviews from your email sends, here are a few top tips to bear in mind:

• Keep your email short, simple, and to the point – the quicker your customers can submit their review, the better. A busy and cluttered email design won’t help with this.
• Appeal to their goodwill – everyone likes to think they’re doing a good deed. Reminding users that their review will help other customers make the right choice is a powerful motivator.
• Make the review process as quick and easy as possible – 75% of customers are happy to answer between one and five questions about their experience. Consider including the first question or the star rating in the email to make the process even faster.
• Get your subject line right – this is still an email, so getting users to open it is the first battle. Try using a question like ‘How did we do?’ or a powerful statement such as ‘We need your help!’ to increase the number of recipients opening your emails.

#2 Ask Via Social Media

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In most cases, the people that follow your social media accounts are already interested in what your business does, or have purchased from you before. Employing the power of the tweet, caption, and status update is a simple tactic to mobilize your followers, and remind them to share their opinions on your products or services.

#3 Use your website

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It might sound like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many businesses don’t use their website as a way to ask users to leave reviews. Think of your website as your business’s flagship store – all roads should lead back to here.

Because your website’s primary purpose is to inform potential customers about what you do and secure those conversions, many businesses choose to include a dedicated review page so that it doesn’t distract from their main message.

So how should you go about asking users to leave a review on your website? The best way is to include visible calls-to-action (CTAs). These should be clear and easy to find, so your customers can’t miss them. Make sure you put one on your testimonials page, like Hismile has done, but don’t feel limited to just this one location.

#4 Ask on Your Thank You Pages

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It might seem a bit premature to ask for a review on a thank you page. Your customer has only just finalized their purchase, so surely they can’t have anything to say about it yet, can they? In fact, this is a good time to get a different kind of review – take this opportunity to ask how your customers found their overall ordering experience.

Rather than rating and reviewing a single product, this allows users to air their views on the customer experience you offer, rather than just your services. After they’ve hit that checkout button, it will still be fresh in their minds, so you can guarantee some fairly honest, hot-off-the-press insights.

So how should you go about asking users to leave a review on your website? The best way is to include visible calls-to-action (CTAs). These should be clear and easy to find, so your customers can’t miss them. Make sure you put one on your testimonials page, like Hismile has done, but don’t feel limited to just this one location.

#5 Ask in Person

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There’s nothing better than having a conversation with a customer who wants to wax lyrical about your business or products. In fact, this is the perfect opportunity to ask them to pen their thoughts online.

If you offer an in-person service or have a brick-and-mortar store to accompany your website, we recommend using your checkout process to get the ball rolling. More often than not, if your customer is pleased with your service, they’ll be happy to let you know.

It can be tempting to force an interaction for the sake of a review, but, trust us, it’ll feel artificial – and your customer will pick up on that. If you want an authentic response, approach them with the intention of making sure they’re satisfied with their experience. If the opportunity to ask for a review presents itself, take it, but remember that this shouldn’t always be your end goal.

It might sound strange, but in-person requests don’t always have to happen in the flesh either. If you work in a support-focused industry, why not ask over the phone? If your customer has had a positive experience, they won’t mind you asking, and they might even feel quite flattered that you want their honest opinions.

Where to Ask Customers to Leave a Review

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We’ve covered the how, but what about the where?

There’s a range of different places where you can ask your customers to review your business. It’s a good idea to have a full grasp of all the options available, so that when you make your request, you know where to send your prospective reviewers.

Here are some of the best locations to ask customers to leave a review for you:

• Your website
• Third-party review websites, such as Trustpilot 
• Your Google My Business listing
• Specific industry platforms
• Social media 

Your Website

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72% of consumers stated that they’d make a purchase only after reading a positive review. Having these reviews on your website, close to your products or services, acts as a trust indicator most customers put a lot of faith in, making them more likely to commit.

Of course, there’s a risk that you might find yourself displaying a number of negative reviews – but this isn’t always the threat you assume it might be. In fact, an overwhelming majority of customers (95% to be exact) get suspicious if a product doesn’t have a single negative review. We’re not saying that you should encourage them, but they have their uses.

There are a variety of plugins and widgets available that you can use to collect and store reviews on your website, but be mindful of which one you choose. Adding an additional element to your site is going to increase its weight, which could affect your loading speed. The majority of add-ons aren’t too heavy, but it’s always worth double-checking this before you commit.

Third-Party Review Websites

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If you opt to attach a widget to your site rather than build your own review system, chances are it’s going to link out to a third-party review website. These include big names like Trustpilot, and are reliable, trusted platforms where your customers can share their thoughts.

There are some big advantages to directing your users to these providers, whether through your website CTAs, a follow-up email, or a targeted Instagram post.

Firstly, if you’re a smaller business and you’ve never asked for reviews before, sending a third-party branded request removes some of the awkwardness around it. Plus, users are more likely to respond when it’s a reputable company they recognize that’s doing the asking.

Third-party review sites also have a bigger capacity to store a larger number of reviews, so you won’t need to worry so much about managing a growing flood of testimonials. However, you can still feature a select few on your page. Trustpilot offers a ‘trust box’ widget that allows you to share a handful of your reviews on your website, automatically updating to show the most recent entries.

Partnering with a well-known review website can also do wonders for your conversion rates. If you feature your overall rating next to your search engine listing, you could increase the number of users clicking on your website by up to 17%.

Of course, leaving your review system in someone else’s hands does carry some risks. For example, you’ll have no control over how many negative reviews are shown, and these will filter through to your website if you choose to use a widget.

Luckily, many of these providers give you the opportunity to directly respond to both good and bad reviews, meaning you can act quickly to remedy any problems. In fact, this could end up as a blessing in disguise – people are likely to spend around 49% more money at businesses that make the effort to reply to their reviews.

Your Google My Business Listing

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Have you ever found yourself in a new area location, looking for somewhere to eat, but unsure where’s best to go? In those moments, Google is your best friend, giving you a rundown of all the restaurants in your vicinity.

And what usually comes alongside those listings? You guessed it – reviews.

The more reviews you have on your Google listing, the higher you’ll rank, batting back the competition and making sure your business gets the exposure it deserves. Consumers are 70% more likely to visit a business if it has a Google My Business listing, with 29% being more likely to make a purchase. This isn’t something you want to miss out on.

Competition is fierce though, and you’ll have to make a real effort to direct your customers to Google in order to collect enough reviews to affect your ranking. Making sure you reply to your Google reviews can help, you should also make use of all of your platforms to promote your listing, sharing the link across your website and social media accounts. You can also include it at the bottom of all of your email correspondence too.

Specific Industry Platforms

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Generic review platforms are great ways to collect testimonials, but if you work in a particular area, directing customers to an industry-specific directory is a must.

The benefit of using these platforms is that they’re more niche than Google My Business Listings. Potential customers will be able to find you faster by heading straight to a directory that features businesses exclusively from a single industry.

However, there are some downsides to this. Featuring on a platform like this will definitely give your brand more exposure, but you’ll have to fight harder to stand out because you’ll be competing against other businesses that offer similar services to you.

Fortunately, there’s one big thing that’ll help you do just that – reviews!

Similar to Google, the more reviews you have and the higher your star rating, the more prominent your business will be in the directory. You may even be able to earn a place as a ‘featured’ brand, meaning you’ll be amongst the first businesses listed.

Encouraging customers to review you here will increase your chances of this happening. Featuring the link on your testimonials page as well as sharing it with happy customers will help to build your reputation on these platforms.

Social Media

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The social media landscape is ever-changing and constantly expanding, but it’s still a prominent player in the game. Hundreds of small businesses use it as a way to attract new customers, with 68% of users heading straight to your social media page to read your reviews and get a feel for your business.

Because these platforms offer a more casual browsing experience than a formal website, the reviews listed on your page can also feel more authentic. In fact, 81% of consumers are influenced by their friends’ recommendations on Facebook, with 78% being affected directly by the posts coming from the brands themselves.

As with third-party review providers, there is an increased risk of negative reviews, but social media gives you the opportunity to respond quickly to your customers. When other users see you interacting and communicating with your reviewers, it makes them more likely to change their opinion about your brand and take a chance on your products or services.

The best way to find customers and get new reviews is to increase your overall following. It’s good practice to link out to your social media platforms on your website and in your emails, so that it’s easy for users to find you, follow you, and leave a review with minimal effort.

How to Ask Customers For Reviews: Summary

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It can feel strange asking your customers for reviews, but when it comes to boosting your reputation, rankings, and conversions, it should be a key weapon in your arsenal.

There are a few different ways to get the conversation started, and we’ve gone through our top five. Here they are again as a quick reminder:

1. Send an email
2. Via social media
3. Through your website
4. On thank you pages 
5. Ask in person 

We recommend choosing a couple of these techniques to try out at the same time, so you have multiple ways of asking your customers to leave a review. And don’t forget to make it clear where you’d like users to post their testimonials, especially if you’re asking them in person.

It can be a daunting task, but remember – most customers are more than willing to provide a review if it will help others make the right decision. The hardest part is taking the first step, but once you’ve done that, it’ll become much easier. Before long, you’ll be watching the reviews roll in!