I'm including four really good FREE converting feedback request and online review request templates you should be using to grow more reviews faster at the bottom of this article.
With social media playing such a major role in today’s society it has become normal to look at social proof before making a buying decision. Whether it’s product reviews when buying something online, or business reviews when deciding which business to pick to buy from. The amount of reviews you have, and how high the rating is both play a vital role when potential customers decide if they will be using your service or one of your competitors, so it’s very important to have a system in place that will generate as many high rated reviews as fast as possible, I’ll show you what you need to do to make that happen.
First, every appointment needs to have a follow up “how did we do” message. This is your quality control mechanism and it will help you determine whether you are meeting customer expectations, exceeding customer expectations or falling short of their expectations. Getting this direct feedback from the customers will help you identify any issues quickly and resolve them right away. Ideally, you will send these by SMS instead of email when possible because SMS has a much higher open and response rate than standard email, but if your customers prefer email or you don’t want to send them an SMS you should use email instead. You need to send these after EVERY appointment, not just the first one, and not just a few of them, EVERY appointment.
Once you start getting responses to these messages you need to follow up, if the customer is happy with the appointment you should immediately ask them to leave a public review. Google, Yelp, Facebook, or wherever you want more high rated reviews the most, and this is something you should alternate and prioritize based on your individual situation. If you are using Service In Sync all of this is done automatically for you and is even more efficient because if customers leave a high rated internal review in Service In Sync, they will be automatically redirected directly to leave an online review without having to find your business in search results or click any links.
One thing I should note is that you should send the review request as soon as possible. If you did a good job, customers will have a great feeling right when you’re walking out the door, and this is the best time to get them to leave an online review, so if you’re not using Service In Sync, then make sure to manually do this right away.
And finally, here are the free templates you can use to maximize the response rates to your review requests (These need to be in 2 parts because you don’t want to send negative reviews online, only the positive ones, if you are using Service In Sync for your review requests, customers who left positive internal reviews will be automatically redirected to leave a review online making this process much more effective)
SMS 1 OF 2
People are much more likely to open SMS rather then Email and the best time to send is either 2-3pm or 6-7pm so try to send via SMS rather then Email whenever possible.
Hey John, This is Jane Doe, owner of ABC Carpet Cleaning. I just wanted to personally reach out and ask how happy you were with the service you received from us (On a scale of 1 to 10) and if you had any comments or suggestions for me that could help me improve my business?
SMS 2 OF 2
Send this SMS to your customer only if they are satisfied with your service, you don't want to direct low rated reviews online. Send your customers to the URL for your preferred online review platform, where they can leave a public review. Make sure the URL is directly to your review page, less requirements for them to dig around means more change you'll get a review. NOTE: Service In Sync's Review Link Generator in the customer reviews settings page will generate this for your business automatically and combine both the first and second message into one sequence.
Thanks for your feedback! It means a lot to me. Online reviews are a very important part of my business. Do you mind taking 30 seconds and leave us a quick online review? Here is the link: https://[Shortened Link to your business's final write review page (Service In Sync generates this for you automatically)]
EMAIL 1 OF 2
Subject: John, please review the ABC Carpet Cleaning service you received.
Dear John,
We're always trying to make ABC Carpet Cleaning better for our customers. Your feedback helps us make sure that we do the absolute best job possible for you and all our customers.
To help us keep ABC Carpet Cleaning the best it can be, we ask for your feedback. If you could please take a moment to tell us how we did on a scale of 1 to 10 and give us any comments you have it would help us out a lot.
Thanks,
Jane Doe
ABC Carpet Cleaning
EMAIL 2 OF 2
Send this email to your customer only if they are satisfied with your service, you don't want to direct low rated reviews online. Send your customers to the URL for your preferred online review platform, where they can leave a public review. Make sure the URL is directly to your review page, less requirements for them to dig around means more change you'll get a review.
Subject: John, quick question about your ABC Carpet Cleaning feedback.
Hello John,
Thanks for the feedback, online reviews are an important part of our business.
Do you mind taking 30 seconds and leave us a quick review online? Here is the link:
https://[Shortened Link to your business's final write review page (Service In Sync generates this for you automatically)]
Thanks again,
Jane Doe
ABC Carpet Cleaning
Service In Sync