Every business owner and marketer is aware of the power of customer reviews. In today’s ultra-competitive market, businesses should leverage customer reviews to lift sales and boost revenues. After all, a good word of mouth is a proven way of driving sales.

According to a survey conducted by Dimensional Research, 90% of respondents said positive online reviews influenced their buying decisions and 86% said their buying decisions were influenced by negative reviews.

These stats clearly show that today it’s not what you say about your business that matters, rather what your customers have to say about your business that is of cardinal importance. No amount of traditional advertising, social media marketing or email marketing has the kind of impact that customer reviews has on your business.

Certain business owners are skeptical about encouraging customers to post reviews about the products and services they are selling as they fear negative reviews. But here is something that will surprise you – The biggest problem is not attracting negative reviews, but not getting any reviews at all. Many businesses that you find on review sites have no reviews at all.

If you thought getting customer reviews is easy, think again. Most customers find posting reviews, a time consuming task and typically only think about reviewing a product or service if it’s been a massive disappointment.

So, how do you persuade a customer to review your products? Hoping and praying for a review will not do the trick. You have to proactively seek reviews:

Here are 6 ways you can get your customers to review your business:

1. Setting up Profiles on Review Sites

Review sites are places where people post their opinions or come to research for a particular product or service. Today, mostly people make their purchasing decision after reading reviews of the product or service they want to use.

According to a Harvard Business School study, a one star increase on Yelp lead to a 5% to 9% increase in revenue for a restaurant. This particular stat clearly proves being visible on review sites is a key factor for companies looking to grow their business.

There are many review sites similar to Yelp – Google Local, Yahoo Local, LinkedIn, etc. Apart from these sites, every industry has its own niche sites as well. Make sure you have a presence on all review sites relevant to your industry. Also do some research and find the review sites on which your competitors are present.

Important tip: Ensure your profile on review sites includes a link to your website.

2. Asking for Honest Reviews

Many business owners are skeptical about asking for reviews, worrying customers might find this request inappropriate. But getting reviews from your customers is like making a sale; if you don’t ask, it won’t happen. There are various ways you can ask customers to leave reviews about your business without being annoying.

Ask your customers if they use any online review sites and then let them know you have a presence there. This way without being too pushy, you are asking your customers to leave a review for your business.

If they don’t use review sites, you can ask them to review your business on social networks like Facebook or LinkedIn by saying: “Your opinion matters to us, so we’d really appreciate it if you take a few moments to review your experience.”

A caution here: Don’t ask customers for good reviews. Ask for their unbiased opinion about your business.

3. Conduct Reviews via Email

One way to entice customers to review your business is to send them emails which allow them to write and send their reviews from the request mail itself, without being required to leave the page or download any kind of forms. This is a very convenient way for them to review your business.

The other way is to put links in your email signature. So whenever you send an email to your subscribers, it will automatically show your contact information and a link to review your business and its products and/or services at the bottom of your outgoing emails.

4. Thank Your Reviewers

Thank the reviewer for taking the time to share their experience. This will show your customers that you care about your reputation and customers’ opinions.

Thanking them for their feedback will help you build a relationship with your customers. This gesture will not only turn your satisfied customer into a loyal customer, but also encourage other customers to review your business. In short, this will give your customers (who haven’t reviewed your business yet) a good reason to review your business.

Along with a ‘thank you reply’ you can even apprise them of a new product/service/initiative that they might be interested in. However, avoid using the same standard reply for every response, as that can come across as being repetitive and insincere.

5. Post Reviews on Website and Social Media Profiles

Make sure you share your customers’ reviews on your company’s website at a prominent location. You can even add an entirely new page that features a couple of reviews with a link in your top navigation menu on home page. If you have reviews for specific products, publish them on the related product page.

You should also post reviews on social networks like your Facebook and Twitter profiles. This will not only make your followers trust your business, but also make other customers review your business. When posting on social networks, ensure you add the source of review, like Yelp.

You can even include customers’ name and picture when you post the review. This will add a level of credibility to the review.

6. Incentivize but Don’t Buy Reviews

Giving discounts, freebies or gift coupons in exchange of positive reviews violates the terms of services agreement of review sites. Also, Google says it is against their guidelines for a business to pay for a positive review. Instead, you can offer your customers incentives for creating reviews.

Think about offering them an ‘indirect incentive’.

For instance, you can run a contest and say the first reviewer of your product or service will be featured on your website. The other way is holding a contest in which the best review will be posted on your site and social profiles.

You can even randomly select any of your customers and feature their review on your website and social profiles, without informing them beforehand. Your customers will value this pleasant surprise and may even inform their friends and family about your business. This will encourage your other customers to review your business.

Bonus: Respond to Negative Reviews

Responding to negative reviews that you receive on review sites or social platforms will clearly demonstrate to your followers and/or customers that you are interested in feedback and that you take your customer’s opinion seriously.

Replying to negative reviews and informing unhappy customers that you are addressing their complaint quickly will convince them to give your products/services another shot and go a long way in building trust.

Make sure you capitalize on customer reviews, even the negative ones. The more reviews you have, the more likely that your customer’s voice will come through and it will show that you are a business worth considering!

Author Bio:

Pete Peranzo is the CEO of Imaginovation, a Web Design and Development and firm. He has recently launched a new venture called Testimonial Central – an online customer review software/application to receive, manage & publish Testimonials in the easiest way. Pete holds more than 12 years of experience in the field of IT with a background in Web development, standalone windows applications, customer support, and enterprise business implementations. He is responsible for the overall business direction of and technical deployments at Imaginovation.