Why You Must Ask Every Client for Feedback

Intro

Your phone shows three stars from twenty-four reviews: how do you get more? It starts with the exact moment to ask for a review. Five steps in all, counting down to number one, the biggest.

1. Ask for the review at the right moment

Number five: ask for the review at the right moment. Ask after the purchase, when customers form their opinion, one guide says. To get more reviews, one portal suggests follow-up emails that ask for one. A QR code on receipts can link straight to a review site, it adds.

Make it easy, with a direct link to your preferred sites, including your own. Or a printed note packed with your products, one agency says. Ask every customer, not just the happy ones, two guides agree. In a survey, ask open questions, so clients can have their say, one portal says.

Those answers give you feedback you can act on, it adds. Some businesses invite customers to get in touch first about a problem, so they can fix it, one agency says.

2. Keep every review honest

Number four: keep every review honest. Reviews should be independent and reflect the genuine opinion of whoever used the product, one guide says. Let people speak honestly about your products and their experience, another calls the wisest policy. Honest businesses never create fake reviews, or arrange for others to, the first guide says.

Family, staff or people you pay can mislead if they don't state the connection, the first guide says. One guide lets family members review your business, if they clearly disclose the relationship. Paid-for reviews must never be presented as independent, one more adds. A review can also mislead if its writer never used the product, or someone edited it later, the first guide adds.

By our count, that guide names three ways a review can mislead. Keep the negative ones too: don't suppress, edit or remove genuine negative reviews, it says. Before removing a review as fake, be sure you have good grounds, it adds. Inviting only happy customers is one way of picking only the good reviews, one guide says.

Resolved complaints on your page can build trust, one portal says. Publish all ratings and reviews, positive or negative, or say that not all feedback is posted, an international guide says. And don't discourage customers from posting honest negative reviews, it adds. One portal suggests a published policy that bans fake reviews and explains your approach to rewarded ones.

Email only customers who said yes to emails, and check each site's rules and any laws where you live, another portal says. Subscribe, because next we cover how to offer rewards for reviews the right way. Every step and rule in this video comes straight from the official guide pages linked below.

3. Be open about any reward

Number three: be open about any reward. One guide says an incentive is okay if it goes to positive and negative reviews alike. And you clearly disclose that you gave an incentive, it adds. You can't suggest a review must be positive to get the reward, even without saying it outright, another says.

Its rule doesn't ban incentives, as long as no particular opinion is required. Disclosures can be short and simple, it adds. Incentives include discounts or free gifts, another says. An international guide adds money, free products, store credit and promised future discounts.

One guide says a reviewer of a free or discounted product should label it clearly, for example as an advertisement. If you give free products for a review, make clear they were gifts from your business, one agency says. Another guide says to disclose every connection you have with a business. By our count, its examples come in five kinds: money, free products, discounts, free trips, and family or personal ties.

Disclosures should be visible on every device, without a tap to expand the post, it adds. When to disclose is the same whatever the format of the review or where it appears, one guide says. Disclosure helps readers decide how much weight to give the review, it adds. If you're unsure whether a small gift matters, it's always safer to disclose it.

But a free sample a store hands out to all its customers isn't an issue, it adds. To start a business from the ground up, our seven-step guide is linked on screen. Three steps done, two to go.

4. Reply to every review, and learn from it

Number two: reply to every review, and learn from it. How you respond can influence whether a potential customer chooses your business, one guide says. Even negative reviews are a chance to attract more customers, depending on how you respond, it adds. Acknowledge and respond to every review, positive and negative.

Post a message promptly and thank the customer for reviewing your business. It shows customers that you value their point of view and take feedback seriously, that guide says. Replying can also show potential customers you're committed to good service, one agency says. One guide suggests checking your reviews at least twice a week.

Negative reviews are normal: even bestselling global brands get some, one agency says. For a negative review, one portal's reply thanks them, shows empathy, apologizes and offers to put it right. Another's also thanks and acknowledges, recommits to good service, and offers a solution for the issue. By our count, both replies have four parts, and both start with thanks.

Reply promptly, but take time to write a careful response, the first guide says. Save a draft and read it again before you publish, one portal suggests. Before you reply, get your facts straight, another portal says. Rather than a defensive reply, assure the customer their complaint was taken on board, it adds.

Even a simple reply shows you appreciate the feedback and are working to stop it happening again, it adds. Ask the person to call, email or message you, to sort it out privately, one portal says. If they email you, a general rule is to answer within twenty-four hours, another portal says. Then reply publicly in the same channel where the review came in, one agency adds.

A calm public reply also lets others see how you respond to feedback, one more guide says. Resolving negative comments quickly in public can build trust and goodwill, another guide says. Handle a complaint well, and that customer is likely to be more loyal than if nothing had gone wrong, one guide says. One consumer guide's steps: read it fully, then reply with thanks, an apology and a promise to look into it.

Move to a private channel, like email or phone, to get to grips with the problem. If you need time to check, say so, and give a timeframe for getting back to them. Be polite and professional, decide on a fair remedy, and if you reject a complaint, explain why clearly. It's good business sense to deal with customer problems quickly and fairly, it says.

With good processes in place, even complicated complaints are easier to resolve, it adds. After you fix it, follow up: the customer may be willing to update their review, one portal says. Pick one person to manage feedback, you or someone you trust, and agree how to answer common complaints. Alerts can tell you the moment someone posts a comment, another portal says.

Keep a record of each complaint, its cause and the remedy, and use it to find problems, the consumer guide says. Analyse the themes in your reviews, choose what to improve, and tell customers about the changes, the first guide says. It's important to use your customers' feedback to improve your products and service, it adds. Negative reviews are also a chance to talk with customers and learn about problems, one guide says.

So far: four steps done, and number one is next.

5. Show your reviews where people decide

Number one: show your reviews where people decide. Reviews can appear on your own website, on social media, or on review platforms, one agency says. Reviews are a form of free advertising, one guide says, and you can use good ones to promote your business. Positive reviews can help promote your business and build trust with potential customers, another agency says.

Customers rely more and more on online reviews as a low-cost way to make informed choices, the first agency says. Reviews play an important part in helping customers decide who they do business with, one portal says. They serve as social proof that your business is legitimate, active and good at what it does, another portal says. Valuing reviews can help build loyalty and win new customers, one guide adds.

Happy customers become advocates who promote and recommend your business, one portal says. And the people they refer are more likely to be loyal and profitable, another portal adds. Remember that everyone sees what customers post, good and bad. Show the total number of reviews behind a star rating, one agency says, for example three stars from twenty-four reviews.

By our count, that's seventy-two stars in all, from twenty-four reviews. An international guide agrees: disclose the total number of ratings, especially for an overall score. One guide's example of a review count: fifty people have given a five-star review. Use only verified ratings and reviews in your advertising, the international guide says.

Promote reviews only after reasonable steps to make sure they're genuine, another adds. You can ask customers for testimonials to use in your sales material, another guide says. Testimonials on your own site are advertising, one guide says, so they must reflect real experiences. If your product changed, it's best to get new endorsements, it adds.

One guide says a testimonial needs the customer's approval in writing, and permission to publish it. And never take a quote out of context, it adds. One agency says to share only a first name with the customer's words. Don't highlight only the best ones when they don't reflect what reviewers report overall, one guide says.

Present reviews in a way that keeps the reviewer's overall message, another guide says. Sorting reviews isn't hiding them, one guide says, even with five-star ones on top. But don't make negative reviews hard to find, it adds. Think about how the context of your site or page shapes how people read reviews, the first agency adds.

Consumers benefit from unbiased feedback based on the actual experiences of other customers, the international guide says. And explain clearly how you handle ratings and reviews, it adds. That's how good, honest reviews become free advertising. Ask everyone, stay honest, be open about rewards, reply, and show reviews where people decide.

Which one would you try first? Tell us the number in the comments. Once clients trust you, set your rates with six steps, in the video on screen now. Information only; results vary.

This is Extra Income Explained.