The first step to collecting quality reviews for your business is obtaining your review link. This is the URL you will share with customers who would like to publicly voice their support. Locating this link is easy! Simply log into your profile.

When you visit the site of one of your locations (or your only location), you’ll see your review link in the right column. Remember, each location has its own review link so if you have multiple locations, you’ll want to do this for each of them.

Copy this link and save it so you always have it handy. Note: if you haven’t yet chosen your business short name you can change it now before you do this.

Google identifies businesses based on public data, so businesses that haven’t claimed their Google My Business listing (the vast majority of businesses) still get reviews, whether they want them or not!

Claiming your business is important because it gives you control over the reviews you get. By default, people are more likely to review if they have a negative experience, so if you aren’t actively managing your reviews, you might look worse than you actually are.

Ultimately, to get reviews, you should ask for them! Here are some tips on how to do that.

• Ask for feedback: When you reach out to customers, let them know you value their feedback and that you are constantly working to serve them better.
• Capture negative feedback: Let customers know that if you have not met their expectations in any way they can contact you, and make it easy for them to do. Instead of leaving a negative review, they may contact you and give you a chance to make it right. You may even be able to get a positive review if you can fix things!
• Make reviewing easy: You want to have your review link handy so that it’s easy to share. Customers can write a review for you with just a click and a few minutes of their time. If you make them work for it you’ll get fewer reviews.
• Make it personal: If you just add a review link, people will ignore it unless they are upset. If you ask nicely and explain why you want a review, you’ll get a lot more reviews and they’ll be more likely to be positive.

Sample Review Language: Depending on your business model, there are many different ways to ask for reviews. Email works really well, but business cards with your link can work well too for retail and restaurant businesses. Here’s some sample language:

“Our goal is 100% customer satisfaction. Not happy? Let us know by (emailing us at X, calling us at Z, etc). If we’ve earned your trust and satisfaction, consider leaving us a review here (link). Thank you for your support – Name, Title, Contact Info”

As you can see, this simple text gives the customer power and agency. They can do something if they are upset, and you’ve made it easy for them to reward you with a review if they are so inclined. Most people don’t review, so asking will help you get more reviews quickly.

Don’t be afraid to go to loyal customers to get you started. Do not pay to have people write fake reviews or write them yourself. It will take some time but eventually you’ll build up a reputation that’s verified by real people!

Tip: Don’t be afraid to follow up, especially if you sell something expensive or provide services. It is a good thing to check in a week or two later to make sure that everything is still going well with their purchase and to ensure that you did everything you could to ensure that they’d work with you again.

Respond to every review, positive or negative. Google’s research suggests that businesses that consistently respond to reviews are perceived by customers as significantly more trustworthy than those that don’t. They actually quantify this, saying that businesses that respond are seen as 1.7x more trustworthy than businesses that do not.

You’ll get an email prompting you to respond to each review, but you can also go to your dashboard to manage your reviews. Just click “Reviews.”

Note: it’s ok to get negative reviews, as Google sees a *mix* of reviews to be an indication of trustworthiness. Here’s what they say about it: “Reviews are useful for potential customers when they’re honest and objective. Customers find a mix of positive and negative reviews more trustworthy. You can always respond to a review to show the customers that you care and provide additional context. If the review doesn’t follow our posting guidelines, you can request to remove it.”

Responding to positive reviews is much easier. Acknowledge them with a thank you and if it’s appropriate, add a personal touch.

Many business owners find it difficult to respond to negative reviews, but there are a few guidelines you can follow to make this delicate process easier.

1. 1. Be quick, but don’t hurry. You want to respond in a timely manner, but you don’t want to be so fast that you misunderstand the issue.
   2. Count to 10. Do NOT respond emotionally. Everyone will see your response, not just the customer, so don’t make yourself look bad.
   3. Apologize that they had a bad experience, explain what you are doing to minimize this in the future, and offer a direct contact if they’d like to discuss the matter further.

Your response is less about this customer and more about all the other prospective customers who see your response. If you are accountable, then the issue looks like a one-off. If you ignore the review, then there’s only one side of the story and people may assume your business regularly experiences problems.