How Reviews Can Skyrocket Your Wedding Business
Did you know that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as they trust recommendations from friends? Think about that for a second. Almost everyone trusts online reviews as if they were literally talking to their friend at the coffee shop and got a reccomendation from them to use your services.
That is an insane amount of power and one that your business needs to be leveraging. Not only that but 92% of customers will hesitate to buy a product from a company with no reviews and Google uses reviews as a factor in its ranking algorithms. Reviews are critically important to the success of your business. In this article we are going to discuss the types of reviews on which you should focus. Some practical tips for getting reviews. How to respond to reviews online and a few tools for managing reviews online. Let's Go!
Types of Reviews
Google Reviews
Google is without a doubt the most important place to get reviews. The reason for this is their clear dominance in the search market. 87% of consumers use Google to search for local business. The reason this is important for your business is that when users search for a local busineses a list of results pops up. Right after the sponsored results is a heading that says "Businesses" which look a bit like the image below:
Underneath that heading are a bunch of businesses that are closely by related to the search term you entered. How are those businesses ranked? Well, of course there are many factors but one of the most important ones is the number and quality of the reviews that business has received. You will almost never see in those few results businesses that have no or bad reviews. Google obviously wants to give out the best information to their users they can and reviews are a very strong indicator of the quality of the business.
Yelp
Beyond Google there are a plethora of other sites that are helpful. Yelp is an important one as it has an average of 32M unique app devices in a given month. So, there are a lot of people searching here as well and this can be a powerful place to get clients to leave a review.
Wedding Specific Sites
If you are in the wedding business getting your clients to reivew you on popular sites like the Knot is also important. If you want a list of wedding related directories check out our Giant List of Wedding Directories. Obviously, anywhere people are searching is a good place to get reviews in front of leads but in reality even though people do search on wedding specific sites you probably don't want to ask your clients to leave reviews on every site so focusing on Google first is the most important and these other sites are secondary as clients leave them there over time.
Ask For Reviews
This is a mistake I have seen a lot of people make. Not just in the wedding business but pretty much every small business niche. Contractors and vendors rarely ask for reviews. I think they just don't understand how powerful they are or they don't know how to ask. Here are a couple of tips to help you out:
If you think the customer had a positive experience you should always ask for a review. The trick here is to not be pushy about it. Ask once, casually. The best way I think to do this is when you follow up with the client after the job is complete - "Hey, thanks for hiring me as your [insert job here]. I always like to follow up with my clients to e sure they had the best experience possible. Do you have any tips for us?" If the response is "Everything was great!" Then you respond with "Awesome, glad to hear it. If you wouldn't mind leaving us a review at [insert link here] it is super helpful for our business".
Another option is to have them submit a survey of their satisfaction and if they are satisfied then ask to get a reivew online. The only reason I don't like this method quite as much is that as a customer once I have filled out one survey I will very rarely then fill out a second one. This also seems a little imporsonal and I am a big fan of a more personal style of business. If they have suggestions or weren't completely satisfied in some way this is your chance to turn that negative into a positive (and likewise keep that client from leaving a negative reiviw) which really is just as important.
One big nno-no is to pay for "fake" reviews. Please don't do this. First, it is just kind of sleezy and unethical. Second, this doesn't usually work out. These kinds of reviews are often fairly easy for customers to spot and really hurt your business reputation. Google also takes a hard line on this kind of activity and will punish your site in local search results. It can be difficult to come back from these kinds of setbacks. So, just don't do it. Not worth the risk.
Responding to Reviews
Responding to reviews is just about as important as getting them in the first place. Reveiw responses help with your local SEO efforts. Google's ranking algorithm prioritizes engagement with reviews and responding to your reviews acts as a strong signal to Google that you are an engaged business. Beyond just Google ranking though it is good practice. Responding to your customers shows a level of concern, builds trust, demonstrates professionalism, and improves your online standing. According to Google businesses that respond to customer reviews are seen as 1.7x more trustworthy than those that do not.
Responding to negative reviews is also important and is a good way to demonstrate professionalism in the face of something that didn't go right. It can be difficult but try not to take negative reviews personally. Many times a proper response to a frustrated customer can turn the customer around and also show future clients that you are willing to stand behind your work. Sometimes it is good to offer to talk it over with a response like "We would love to talk about how we can make it right if you give us a call." Then you can offer any appropriate mitigation offline instead of in the public sphere. These are touchy situations but they are also opportunities to show how a professional really handles their business.
Use Those Reviews As Rocket Fuel To Boost Your Business
Reviews are such an amazing boost. Not only do they help with search engine optimization but they are extraordinarily powerful in your marketing materials. You can use them as great case studies or social proof when pitching clients. You want to pull these great reviews out and use them as leverage to gain great clients.
Believe it or not negative reviews can also be jet fuel for your business. Using them to identify areas for improvement and make your product or service stronger can be incredibly powerful. We should all be looking for ways to make our services better and as painful as these can be negative feedback can be the best kind.
Closing
We hope you found some useful tips in here. Reviews are a vital part of your online presence and as with most online marketing they need to be continually nurtured and cultivated. Don't be afraid to ask for reviews and continually push and strive for more. Good luck with your business!