Any Tips About Getting Google+ Reviews?

[JamesMason67]

Does anyone have a "system" whereby they encourage their customers to give reviews on their Google+ page? I know its against their Ts and Cs but Im sure it happens..

My competitor for top slot on Google for my main keywords has 20 odd reviews showing on its local listing, and we, and the rest of page one have none between us.

His reviews are all 5 star, and I have to say it looks impressive and am sure it gets him more enquiries. I would like to at least have some, as we truly do do a great job, and have great rapport with our clients etc.

Any thoughts, tips or experiences would be much appreciated.
Cheers
James

 

[LowPrices.uk]

Is this for an online only business or a business with a physical presence that meets customers?

What's the gist of the Google T&Cs?

To get people to do anything, you have to make it very easy for them, e.g. easy to see how to review you from your website. If you can incentivize them then all the better, but that may be a T&C violation.

 

[Tom @ Click Miners]

James,

do you have a chance to get clients' details and a reason to contact them again? What kind of service do you offer? It will be much easier for you to ask for review if you do stay in touch with them after you do business with them. You just then need some reason to contact them again and then you can simply ask for review in private - without encouraging anyone on your website.

Strike for people who were happy with your service and generally got relaxed personality. They are more than likely to help you - but you need to ask.

 

[JamesMason67]

Thanks guys. The gist of the Google T and Cs is that you cannot incentivize them. I think probably even asking them is a no no, although of course it must be happening.

We are stonemasonry contractors, and spend a lot of time face to face with our customers, getting to know them and building a relationship with them so I guess the question would be askable.
Tom, LowPrice, thank you.
James

 

[fisicx]

How you know these people even have a Google+ account. Most people don't which is maybe why they don't leave a review.

 

[JamesMason67]

Thanks Fisicx. Of course all of them won't, but we deal with around 100 clients per year, and I would have thought 20 -30% of them would have one. If I could get one review per month I would be very happy with that.

 

[AllUpHere]

Thanks Fisicx. Of course all of them won't, but we deal with around 100 clients per year, and I would have thought 20 -30% of them would have one. If I could get one review per month I would be very happy with that.

You must be targeting a very specific demographic if up to 30% of them will be active users of Google +.

I know you are stonemasons, but what demographic do you have as clients?

 

[JamesMason67]

Our customers cover a huge range of incomes, ages etc. Demographics is a hard one to pin down.

20 to 30% is a guess. Ok for arguments sake 5%. Is there a tried and tested way to perhaps get the odd review.
Thanks guys
James

 

[UKSBD]

Use a two step approach.

Rather than initially trying to get people to write a review, try to get for them to follow your Google+ Page 1st.

You have far more chance of getting someone who is already following you leaving a review, than someone who you just randomly ask for a review.

Create an album for every job so clients can see the photos and send them a link to it.

 

[fisicx]

Is there a tried and tested way to perhaps get the odd review.

Don't ask for reviews on a platform that requires them to have an account. I get emails from companies who use third party providers, I just follow the link and do my review.

Don't get too excirted about reviews, if you have a well optimised site and a great snippet on google people will click on your links. They may not even get as far as looking on Google Local.

PS: Just looked at your site and with a bit of help you wouldn't need to worry about reviews. Join the foruim as a full member and get your site reviewed

 

[Codefixer]

Just send them a personal courteous email, asking for a review and a link to the Google+ Local page.

Google+ Local Reviews are important, and GMB is becoming increasingly important. If you don't have a review strategy and are a local business then I'd suggest you work on getting one in place.

According to Google's guidelines https://support.google.com/business/answer/2622994?hl=en - Don’t offer or accept money, products, or services to write reviews for a business

Most businesses have none, most Google+ Local pages are a wasteland, so even with a handful of reviews your outpunching competitors.

 

[fisicx]

But...

Leaving a review requires the reviewer to have a G+ account. And most don't. Which is why they don't leave reviews.

 

[Codefixer]

Correct Fisicx, but alot do have Google+ Accounts and if you can identify these people then why not send them a personal email.

For local searches GMB accounts are very important, and take up alot of the real estate on Google.

Stars also improve the ctr rate on listings and certainly add some validation.

Like I said previously for Google+ Local results in most industries you only need a handful to better your competitors as most people just ignore this avenue.

 

[fisicx]

Correct Fisicx, but alot do have Google+ Accounts

Do they really? Recent stats show under 20% of people in the UK have G+ accounts. The OP is a stonemason so I'd have thought the percentage of his customers having G+ accounts even less.

 

[FreeRangeWeb]

Those lovely golden Googley stars in the local listings do look ever so enticing, but they are really tricky to get. For my wife's art glass business, she sends out an email to clients on the morning the glass (should) arrive. The theory being they will be so delighted they will leave a review. They do leave reviews on the site, but she has struggled to get Google reviews - even with a link directly to her Google+ page.
Google does accept reviews from some other review sites, which don't require a Google+ account so, as well as still trying to entice happy customers to leave a review, perhaps look into signing up with a more user-friendly third party review site that is recognised by Google.

 

[JamesMason67]

Thanks very much guys. This is great. Would anyone know what sites FreeRange might be referring to? This may be the way to go.

We do have clients we deal with time to time who write to us from an @googlemail.com email address. Does this mean they have a Google+ account automatically with the googlemail.com account? I could try sucking up with past clients with a googlemail email address if this is the case.

Fisicx, thanks for checking out and your comments about my site, but I cant help thinking "Those lovely golden Googley stars" FreeRange refers to would definitely help the cause.

My people in the office think my competitors reviews are fake, who knows. Seems odd that he has 21 and the rest of us have zero between us I have to agree, but willing to accept he has probably been more proactive in getting them.

The fact is he has them and we don't and I think that's got to be worth addressing somewhat.
Thanks again for all your input guys
James

 

[HazelC]

I send a link with the invoice, it's just a friendly 'if you get a minute I'd be really grateful if you could write me a testimonial' - I recommend the same for my clients. It is hard as many people strongly dislike Google+ and don't want / like to use it.

I am aware of people on Fiverr and Fivesquid that can leave G+ reviews for you - but you never heard that from me!

 

[FreeRangeWeb]

Yelp, Tripadvisor, Insider Pages, Just Eat, Booking.com and many more specific to industry

 

[JamesMason67]

Thanks Hazel. The wee note with the invoice might just work.

I have heard of Google reviews on Fiverr and the likes, but they wouldn't be from Edinburgh where we do business unfortunately. You're a very naughty lady..
Thanks again,
James

 

[JamesMason67]

Thanks FreeRange

 

[fisicx]

Fisicx, thanks for checking out and your comments about my site, but I cant help thinking "Those lovely golden Googley stars" FreeRange refers to would definitely help the cause.

They may do - but only if someone does a search that results in the local listing displaying. If they search for 'sandstone repairs edinburgh' there are no stars for anybody.

 

[Tom @ Click Miners]

Reviews are local SEO factor - their quantity and diversity are important. You should get reviews from multiple sources - not only Google. Just saying...

 

[searchangel]

It's not very easy to do this because the vast majority of people (especially in your industry I would imagine) don't have a Google Plus account. Then you factor in that people are generally lazy anyway, it becomes pretty much impossible to get all those reviews legitimately.

Best way to do it is ask friends and family first of all. They are local and will probably help you out. Then you ask ongoing customers. Say you'll give a bit of a discount on their next purchase if they give you a review. I know this isn't strictly operating within Google's T&C's, but do you think they are watching you 24/7? I would most certainly advise against paying someone from India to do it. I had someone ask me to review a place in Tennessee that I'd never been to, and I was feeling particularly mean that day so I reported them to the company owners and cost them their job.

 

[JamesMason67]

Thank you very much everyone..
James

 

[Carl Vocal Local]

James, just found this thread after being a long time lurker on the forum and wanted to share my two pence.

If you have a database of customer email addresses, you could always reach out to the Google/Gmail account holders (emails ending @gmail & googlemail etc) increase likelihood someone leaving a review.

I would be cautious about asking for 'positive' reviews. Google doesn't look to favorably on this. However, you can ask about your customers experience with you.

This leaves you open to both positive and negative reviews though, but there are ways of being selective with who you ask for reviews and what reviews are posted online.

Hope this helps in some way.
Carl

 

[BenWS]

I would follow the same approach as hazel - if you're doing good work then just leave a card that lets them know where to review the company when you're done. I'm sure you'll get a good success rate!

 

[businesswebsites.eu]

For physical places of business it`s really simple, especially in case of services when the client takes his time to talk with you for a longer , this is what all my clients do every day, they ask about that and most of the clients do it, that`s are most valuable reviews you can get.