Google reviews can be the lifeblood for local businesses. Reputation is extremely important since 90% of buyers will read reviews before making a purchase. On top of that, the more positive reviews you have, the higher your chances for ranking at the top of Google’s 3-pack. In this article, we’ll show you how to get google reviews on auto-pilot.
The Impact of Google Reviews on Your Rankings
Not only do positive reviews help establish your credibility with consumers, they also help you rank higher on Google’s 3 pack.
On Google’s support article How to improve your local ranking on Google, it states: “Google review count and review score factor into local search ranking. More reviews and positive ratings can improve your business’ local ranking.”
How to More Get Google Reviews | Two Methods That Are Often Overlooked
1. The QR Code Method
This works great for in-person businesses where you interact directly with your customers. Most business owners can tell when their customer is satisfied and willing to give an honest Google Review. Most customers are also more than willing to help support companies that helped them in one way or another.
Here’s what you’ll need to do:
Step 1. Go to business.google.com where you manage your Google listing and look for the review form – it looks like this:
Copy the link to your clipboard and we’ll use it in the next step.
Step 2. Go to qr-code-generator.com and paste your review form to create a QR code.
Step 3. Print your QR code and keep it somewhere handy in your place of business.
Step 4. ASK FOR REVIEWS. This is obviously the most important part, because if you don’t ask, it will never happen. The worst they can do is say no.
You can get creative with this as well and hand the QR code out to as many people as possible. We’ve seen companies give away suckers with a note that said “Let us know we don’t SUCK” and a QR code like the above.
2. The ‘4-Star & 5-Star Reviews Only, Please’ Method
This is a method that helps filter out the Negative Nancys of the world, leaving you with only 4 and 5-star reviews. The way it works is we build an automated email sequence that sends after your product or service has been delivered. The email simply asks for feedback and gives the recipient 1-5 stars to choose from.
We program the stars so that if they click on 1-3 they’ll be taken to a customer satisfaction survey. If they click on 4-5, they’ll be taken straight to Google to leave a review.
Here’s a live example of what your email could look like:
Hey There,
Thanks for reading my blog. We rely heavily on the feedback from our readers to create content that is relevant and helpful. Would you mind taking 1 minute to share your feedback?
We appreciate you taking the time to help improve our company!
Best,
Blue Fox Advertising
See, now if you click on 4 or 5, it will go straight to Google, but if you click on 1-3 it will go to the homepage of my site – I would recommend building a customer satisfaction survey so that you can collect the negative feedback as well – I didn’t do that for this live example.
Here’s How You Build It:
Step 1: Copy the HTML code below
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title></title>
</head>
<body spellcheck="false">
<p><br></p>
<table class="main-wrapper" style="border-collapse: collapse;border-spacing: 0;display: table;table-layout: fixed; margin: 0 auto; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%;text-rendering: optimizeLegibility;background-color: #ffffff; width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr></tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0;vertical-align: top; width: 100%;">
<!--[if gte mso 11]>
<center>
<table><tr><td class="ms-sixhundred-table" width="600">
<![endif]-->
<table class="main-content" style="width: 100%; max-width: 600px; border-collapse: separate;border-spacing: 0;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto; border: 0px solid #EAEAEA; border-radius: 0px; -webkit-border-radius: 0px; -moz-border-radius: 4px; background-color: #ffffff; overflow: hidden;" width="600">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0;vertical-align: top;">
<table class="main-content" style="border-collapse: collapse;border-spacing: 0;margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;width: 100%; max-width: 600px;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="padding: 0;vertical-align: top;text-align: left;">
<table class="contents" style="border-collapse: collapse;border-spacing: 0;width: 100%;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="content-padding" style="padding: 0;vertical-align: top;">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; line-height: 30px; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">
<div style="margin: 0;color: #60666d;font-size: 50px;font-family: sans-serif;line-height: 20px; text-align: left;">
<div style="width: 100%; text-align: center; float: left;">
<div class="rating" style="text-align: center; margin: 0; font-size: 50px; width: 275px; margin: 0 auto; margin-top: 10px;">
<table dir="rtl" style="border-collapse: collapse;border-spacing: 0;width: 275px; margin: 0 auto; font-size: 50px; direction: rtl;">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td class="star-wrapper" lang="x-star-wrapper" style="padding: 0;vertical-align: top;" width="55">
<div style="display: block; text-align: center; float: left;width: 55px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 60px;"><a class="star" href="https://g.page/r/CXaYb6DiU8G6EAg/review" lang="x-star-divbox" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: #FFCC00; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block;height: 50px;width: 55px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 60px;" tabindex="1" target="_blank">
<div lang="x-empty-star" style="margin: 0px; display: inline-block; text-align: center;">☆</div>
<div lang="x-full-star" style="margin: 0px; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; float: left; display: none; height: 0px; max-height: 0px; text-align: center;">★</div>
</a> <a class="star-number" href="https://g.page/topjobasphalt/review?gm" lang="x-star-number" style="font-family: sans-serif;color: #AEAEAE; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; text-decoration: none; display: block;height: 50px;width: 55px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 60px;border-bottom: 0px solid #FFFFFF; text-align: center;" target="_blank">5</a></span></div>
</td>
<td class="star-wrapper" lang="x-star-wrapper" style="padding: 0;vertical-align: top;" width="55">
<div style="display: block; text-align: center; float: left;width: 55px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 60px;"><a class="star" href="https://g.page/r/CXaYb6DiU8G6EAg/review" lang="x-star-divbox" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: #FFCC00; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block;height: 50px;width: 55px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 60px;" tabindex="2" target="_blank">
<div lang="x-empty-star" style="margin: 0px; display: inline-block; text-align: center;">☆</div>
<div lang="x-full-star" style="margin: 0px; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; float: left; display: none; height: 0px; max-height: 0px; text-align: center;">★</div>
</a> <a class="star-number" href="https://g.page/topjobasphalt/review?gm" lang="x-star-number" style="font-family: sans-serif;color: #AEAEAE; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; text-decoration: none; display: block;height: 50px;width: 55px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 60px;border-bottom: 3px solid #FFFFFF; text-align: center;" target="_blank">4</a></span></div>
</td>
<td class="star-wrapper" lang="x-star-wrapper" style="padding: 0;vertical-align: top;" width="55">
<div style="display: block; text-align: center; float: left;width: 55px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 60px;"><a class="star" href="https://www.bluefoxadvertising.com" lang="x-star-divbox" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: #FFCC00; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block;height: 50px;width: 55px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 60px;" tabindex="3" target="_blank">
<div lang="x-empty-star" style="margin: 0px; display: inline-block; text-align: center;">☆</div>
<div lang="x-full-star" style="margin: 0px; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; float: left; display: none; height: 0px; max-height: 0px; text-align: center;">★</div>
</a> <a class="star-number" href="https://share.hsforms.com/1xLkyY-w4SxCaJSbO3goIbA1d04x" lang="x-star-number" style="font-family: sans-serif;color: #AEAEAE; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; text-decoration: none; display: block;height: 50px;width: 55px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 60px;border-bottom: 3px solid #FFFFFF; text-align: center;" target="_blank">3</a></span></div>
</td>
<td class="star-wrapper" lang="x-star-wrapper" style="padding: 0;vertical-align: top;" width="55">
<div style="display: block; text-align: center; float: left;width: 55px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 60px;"><a class="star" href="https://www.bluefoxadvertising.com" lang="x-star-divbox" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: #FFCC00; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block;height: 50px;width: 55px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 60px;" tabindex="4" target="_blank">
<div lang="x-empty-star" style="margin: 0px; display: inline-block; text-align: center;">☆</div>
<div lang="x-full-star" style="margin: 0px; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; float: left; display: none; height: 0px; max-height: 0px; text-align: center;">★</div>
</a> <a class="star-number" href="https://share.hsforms.com/1xLkyY-w4SxCaJSbO3goIbA1d04x" lang="x-star-number" style="font-family: sans-serif;color: #AEAEAE; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; text-decoration: none; display: block;height: 50px;width: 55px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 60px;border-bottom: 3px solid #FFFFFF; text-align: center;" target="_blank">2</a></span></div>
</td>
<td class="star-wrapper" lang="x-star-wrapper" style="padding: 0;vertical-align: top;" width="55">
<div style="display: block; text-align: center; float: left;width: 55px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 60px;"><span style="font-size: 60px;"><a class="star" href="https://www.bluefoxadvertising.com" lang="x-star-divbox" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: #FFCC00; text-decoration: none; display: inline-block;height: 50px;width: 55px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 60px;" tabindex="5" target="_blank">
<div lang="x-empty-star" style="margin: 0px; display: inline-block; text-align: center;">☆</div>
<div lang="x-full-star" style="margin: 0px; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; float: left; display: none; height: 0px; max-height: 0px; text-align: center;">★</div>
</a> <a class="star-number" href="https://share.hsforms.com/1xLkyY-w4SxCaJSbO3goIbA1d04x" lang="x-star-number" style="font-family: sans-serif;color: #AEAEAE; font-size: 14px; line-height: 14px; text-decoration: none; display: block;height: 50px;width: 55px;overflow: hidden;line-height: 60px;border-bottom: 3px solid #FFFFFF; text-align: center;" target="_blank">1</a></span></div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<!--[if gte mso 11]>
</td></tr></table>
</center>
<![endif]-->
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</body>
</html>Step 2. Paste the code into the HTML editor on wordtohtml.net
Step 3. Copy your google review share form as we did in the first method.
Step 4. Edit the link on each star by clicking the star you want to edit, then click the pencil icon to edit the link.
It is up to you where you want each star to direct your visitors. We find it sufficient to only have 2 options 1-3 goes to a customer satisfaction survey, 4-5 goes to Google.
Step 5. Copy your updated code from the HTML editor and paste it appropriately to your email marketing software. Typically, you’ll be able to add a ‘code’ or ‘HTML module to your emails. We use HubSpot, but most email marketing software should allow you to do this. If you have questions about specific software, drop them in the comments and I’ll see if I can help!
Step 6. Set up automation for your email. The exact steps on how to do this will depend on your email marketing software, but for HubSpot we build workflows that are triggered when a deal reaches a specific stage in the pipeline, telling us that the project has been completed.
Final Thoughts
Don’t be daunted by the code (I’m not a developer myself, I just know to scour the internet and find resources that I need). All you will be doing is copying and pasting. Plus, once this is set up, you won’t have to touch it again.
Remember that Google Reviews can do a lot to boost your credibility online and improve your ranking in local listings. So, go get ’em!
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