When a consumer has strong feelings about a company, they leave a business review.

That means that business reviews are often split between very positive and very negative reviews, though. If that’s the case, should you ignore your reviews?

Not at all. According to a BrightLocal survey, 76% of consumers regularly read online reviews for local businesses. The reviews you have can determine the customers you get.

Why Your Business Needs Reviews

Your business doesn’t just need reviews because people like to look at them. Business reviews are often what help consumers decide between you and your competitor. If your competitor has better reviews than you, you will end up losing out on sales.

Even if other companies have better business reviews than you, the reviews you have received will help you build credibility. Reviews prove that people have interacted with your business, making it more real and trustworthy to new customers.

Business reviews can help you improve your business, too. If you see that people are making the same complaints or having the same problems, take that as a sign to improve that part of your business. If people are complaining about poor customer service, improve your staff training and retrain existing employees. You can improve your reviews by targeting specific issues.

You can also scope out your competitors’ reviews to see how you compare to them. If there’s something they do really well, try to improve that aspect of your business so that people review you just as well in that area. If there’s something they get a lot of complaints about, make sure you do that well, too. If a potential customer sees that you do something well and your competitor doesn’t, you’re more likely to win that sale.

How to Get Business Reviews

While some people will leave reviews without prompting, the best and most reliable way to get reviews is simply to ask for them.

One easy way to do that is to put QR codes somewhere your customers can see them. These QR codes should link to somewhere the customer can leave a review. They can be posted in your store or office location or printed on receipts.

You can also set up an automatic email asking customers to review a product or service they recently purchased if you use email automation software. This email should be sent out a few days after the product or service is received.

If these methods don’t seem to be working, you can add an extra incentive. You can promote that you will email a coupon code to anyone who leaves a review, since most review sites collect the email addresses of reviewers.

Where You Can Receive Business Reviews

There are many places customers and clients can leave reviews for your business.

Google Business Listings and Google Maps are high on the list. These are going to show up when people search for your business, which makes them very visible to potential customers. The fact that they are easy to access also means that it is easy for people to leave a review.

Yelp is another place people often go to look for or leave business reviews. They make it easy to find and review businesses. Like Google, though, you need an account in order to leave a review, so you’re less likely to receive spam reviews.

You can even receive reviews on the Better Business Bureau website. The BBB’s website is highly trustworthy, and having a business profile and review there can lend your business serious credibility. It is slightly harder to navigate, though.

Your business can also get reviews on Facebook. On your business’ Facebook page there is a tab for reviews. Anyone on Facebook can go there and leave a business review. Unfortunately, due to the abundance of spam on social media, you are likely to get fake reviews, or even just completely unrelated content. That makes it even more important to have positive, relevant reviews there.

Depending on how your website is set up, you can also collect business reviews on your own website. You can also separate reviews for your business as a whole and reviews for specific products or services you provide. You’ll have the most control over what is shown on your website, but you’re also more likely to receive spam.

What to Do When You Get Business Reviews

The best thing you can do when you get a business review is respond to it.

If someone left a positive review, say that you’re glad they had a positive experience and thank them for taking the time to leave a review.

If you received a negative review, say that you’re sorry that they had a negative experience and ask them to contact you so you can learn more about the problem and try to improve their opinion of the business. Don’t make empty promises, though – if you don’t follow through, their opinion of your business will only get worse.

Conclusion

Reviews are absolutely essential to building trust in your company and making sales. While there are many ways to encourage customers to leave reviews, don’t expect the reviews to come flowing in overnight.

Your customers will leave reviews when they have feelings to express about your business, so make sure that every customer experience is a good one.