How To Ask for a Review From Customers (With Benefits)

Reviews can be powerful tools that influence consumer opinions and can help a business expand its reach to attract new customers. Asking for reviews can be an integral part of an organization's customer service and marketing efforts, and doing it effectively can grow brand awareness. Learning how to contact customers and request a review can help you develop a process that gets you more responses and positive feedback. 

In this article, we explain what reviews are, detail the benefits they provide, describe how to ask for them and offer various ways to ask.

What is a review?

Reviews are a form of feedback in which customers evaluate a business, product or service based on their experience while purchasing and using the product or service. Companies often display customer reviews on their websites, social media accounts or dedicated review platforms to help promote their brand or products.

What customers say in reviews can have a major impact on how other potential clients may perceive a brand or product, and they often perceive these testimonies as trustworthy recommendations. Consumers get insights from previous buyers that help them form opinions about a product. 

For businesses, positive reviews boost their reputation, while negative reviews provide feedback on areas they can improve. Reviews also build trust, and potential customers often decide whether to use a service or make a purchase based on reviews.

For businesses, the key to getting positive reviews often is to ask customers at the right time, especially if the customers are happy with the service. Asking for a review as soon as possible after finishing a transaction or conversation can ensure the business is fresh in their minds. Here are some ideal moments to ask for reviews:

• When a customer returns for a repeat purchase

• When a customer completes a purchase

• After you complete a product delivery

• After you complete a project

• At the end of a conversation

• When the client expresses satisfaction with something you did

Related: 20 Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions (Plus Question Types)

How to ask for a review from customers

To ask for reviews from customers, consider following these steps:

1. Know your goals

Before asking for a review, try to develop a strong understanding of what you want to achieve. For example, you might want to get feedback on customer service, build your reputation or increase your search rankings.

Identifying your goals can help guide you when deciding who to ask for reviews, how to ask them and what method or platform to use. You also can decide whether you want customers to review the product they purchased or the business overall.

Related: 13 Positive Customer Service Examples

2. Decide who to ask

To get a better response, try to select which clients to ask for a review carefully and stagger your review requests to avoid overwhelming them. Asking your satisfied clients for a review may reduce the risk of getting poor reviews.

Good ways to find these clients are to ask your employees, check your clients' sales history and monitor who's saying positive things about your business on social media. It might be better to ask less satisfied clients for feedback first before asking them for a review to ensure you get a positive response.

Related: How To Ask for Feedback From Customers

3. Choose which method to use

There are several ways to ask for reviews, and the most effective method and platform may differ based on the business. Experimenting with a few methods to find which works best for your business may benefit you and help you create a reliable process.

The method you choose also may vary depending on who you're asking for a review. For example, you might approach some customers in person, while email, SMS, social media or point of sale may be more effective methods for other customers.

Related: 7 Tips for How To Ensure and Improve Customer Satisfaction

4. Decide on your approach

What approach you choose and how you initiate the request for a review can impact your response rate. There are several ways to ask for reviews, and doing so appropriately can help you get better results.

If you aren't sure what wording to use when asking for a review, consider using templates that are available online for various scenarios. Using questions when asking for reviews may be one effective tactic, and here are some examples to consider:

• Where can we improve?

• What can we do to earn a five-star review from you?

• Would you be willing to write a review for us?

• We wanted to thank you for visiting our store. How was your experience with us?

• What are the best or worst things about buying from us?

5. Request reviews

Once you're clear on why, who and how to ask for reviews, you can launch your review request campaign. Having a few review request strategies running simultaneously can ensure a steady influx of up-to-date reviews. Consider creating a document or spreadsheet that tracks who you send reviews to, which can help you better organize them when you get responses and plan future campaigns.

Related: Customer Perception: Definition and How To Improve It

6. Respond to reviews promptly

Responding to reviews, both positive and negative, can help you build relationships with your customers. Try to use your response to acknowledge and express appreciation while also creating engagement and activity.

Responding promptly to reviews, regardless of their content, can help you reassure customers you're working to resolve their issues or simply appreciate their service, which can make them feel respected and more likely to remain loyal to you.

Read more: How To Respond to Positive Reviews (With Tips and Examples)

7. Adjust accordingly

After you receive all your reviews, you can analyze how you can improve, both to address any customer concerns and to improve your methods for seeking reviews. Try to experiment with different approaches and methods, monitor the results and adjust to improve response rates and quality of feedback. Your customers' interactions with your business may vary over time, so you may want to adapt how you ask for reviews to ensure regular, up-to-date feedback.

Related: 11 Testimonials Page Examples (With Definition and Types)

The benefits of asking for a review

Asking customers for a review can provide several benefits, including:

• Enhances reputation: Positive customer reviews can improve how consumers perceive a brand or product and inspire confidence in them, which helps enhance your reputation.

• Increases ratings: Asking your satisfied customers for reviews often produces higher ratings than if reviews you rely on unprompted reviews, which often skew more negative.

• Improves customer relationships: Proactively asking for reviews can strengthen customer relationships and convert your satisfied customers into effective brand promoters.

• Creates opportunities for improvement: You can use negative reviews to find insights into areas you can improve to optimize your customers' experiences.

• Improves search engine rankings: The number of reviews, ratings and review text all influence online search rankings. Increased, up-to-date reviews can help you rank higher in search results, bringing more web traffic to your sites.

• Increases conversion rates: Positive customer reviews can increase sales conversion rates because proof that your product or service benefits others can inspire customers to complete their purchase from you.

• Enhances social media marketing assets: You can incorporate positive reviews into a marketing strategy, and they can be effective in helping improve a brand's reach.

Related: What Is Customer Experience Management and Why Is It Important?

Ways to ask for a review from customers

There are several ways to ask for reviews, and technology can make it easy for you to do. Here are some common methods to consider:

In person

Asking for a review in person may be ideal for business owners who have strong relationships and regularly interact with their customers. It also can be a simple way because you can just start a conversation with them by asking about their experience with the business. Then, based on their reply, you can decide whether it's an appropriate time to ask for a review. 

Example:

If you have a minute while you're here, I was hoping you could do me a favor. We're trying to get some more reviews on our page, and it would be great if you could share what you just said in a quick review. Just put this link in your smartphone or search for our page, and we'd really appreciate it.

Related: How To Say "Thank You for the Feedback" in 7 Simple Steps

Email

Businesses frequently use email campaigns to ask for reviews because they can be effective and easy to scale. There are many email templates available online that you can adapt and personalize for your requirements. Emails you send shortly after a transaction often are the most effective, but you also can send automated emails to all your top clients to measure customer satisfaction.

Example:

Dear Shayla,

Thank you for shopping with Taco Delivery Service recently, and we hope you were happy with your order.

We'd love to know how you found the experience of using our service and would like to invite you to rate us on feedback.website.com. It should only take a minute and will be invaluable to us.

Thank you so much,
Tony Juarez, owner and founder of Taco Delivery Service

Related: How To Write a Customer Feedback Email (With Template and Examples)

Phone

If your business offers telephonic customer support, you may have frequent opportunities to ask customers for reviews. Customers with complicated problems that take time to resolve may not be the best to ask. However, if a customer expresses gratification after you help them with an issue, it might be a good opportunity for a review. Asking them for feedback could make them feel valued and appreciated, which may make them more likely to continue giving you service.

Example:

I'm glad we could help you today. We appreciate your business and would be extremely grateful if you shared this experience on reviews.example.com. Reviews from existing customers make others more comfortable knowing they'll get the support they need should an issue arise.

Related: The Differences Between Customer Relations vs. Customer Service

Text message

If you send customers a review request via SMS, they may be likely to click on the link and submit a form because it's simple to do. Text can have a high opening rate and give you easy, instant access to your customers. Try to keep SMS review requests short and simple to achieve high response rates.

Example:

Hi Donovan, thank you for doing business with us. Do you have a minute to leave a review on review.website.com about your experience with us? Just click here: review.website.com. Thanks for your help.

Related: 10 Text Message Marketing Examples for Your SMS Campaign

Through your website

Many businesses benefit from having a review or testimonial page on their website. It's one of the first pages prospective clients visit when they consider doing business with you. Try to include a call to action in various places on your website that takes customers to a dedicated landing page to collect reviews. For example, you can have a splash page open when someone navigates to your homepage, or you can provide a link to a review form after they complete a transaction on your site.

Example:

Thank you so much for your purchase. Our team's working hard to get your order ready, so we can deliver it to you in perfect condition. While you wait for your tracking email to arrive, please consider leaving us a review to let us know how you feel about our products. This information can help us continue to provide you and customers like you with the best service possible. Please click on the link below to provide your feedback, and we can't wait to hear from you.