The new Google Verified Customer Reviews not only boost your
business’ reputation, but can also boost your visibility and authority online.
But what is a Google Verified Customer
Review? And how do you get them?
What is a Google
Verified Customer Review?
A verified customer review is a review a customer
can leave after making a purchase from a company’s website. Seller ratings
appear on Search Ads, in Google Shopping, and on an optional badge that can be
displayed on your site.
This type of review differs from a typical Google review in
that in order to leave one, a customer MUST make an online purchase. This means
that in order to get this type of review, your business needs to have an online
store.
Traditional Google reviews can be left about anything (an
online purchase, an in-store purchase, a customer service experience, etc.) and
they can also be written by basically anyone, even though Google discourages
fake reviews.
While these types of reviews are not going away, for
businesses with online stores, the new verified customer reviews gives a more
reliable way for actual customers to leave feedback.
How to Sign Up for
Google Verified Customer Reviews
The following steps come directly from the Google
Blog and explain how to enable customer reviews:
- Sign in to your Merchant Center account (or sign
up if you do not have an account).
- Select “Merchant Center programs” from the
dropdown in the upper right-hand corner.
- Click “Get Started” in the Google Customer
Reviews card and accept the Program Agreement.
- Add the survey opt-in code to your website.
- Optional: Add the badge code to your site
wherever you want. This will make the badge appear on your site, allowing you
to display your seller rating and show customers that you’re integrated with
Google Customer Reviews.
The key to this explanation is that you must opt-in for this
feature. It does not occur automatically. It is however a free feature, so if
you’re selling online it’s a no-brainer to set up these verified reviews.
Tips for Getting More
Positive Reviews
People generally don’t go out of their way to leave positive
reviews. Unfortunately it’s often the customers who have bad experiences who
are most likely to leave a review.
Here are a few ways to boost the chances of getting your
customers to leave you a positive review:
1. Offer an incentive
Make it worth your customer’s time for leaving a review (you
can’t specifically state it has to be positive, but it likely will be if you’re
offering incentives).
Your incentive can be anything from free shipping on their
next order to a percentage off. All you have to do then is post about it in
your newsletter, on social media, and/or on your website.
2. Send a
personalized follow-up
Google is already helping tremendously with the verified
review follow-up by automatically emailing a link to customers after they’ve
received their product, but you can take it a step further and send a
personalized email of your own.
Customers will appreciate the personalization and it may
sway them to participate and leave you that positive review.
3. Respond to all
reviews
Whether it’s positive or negative, it’s essential to respond
to any review left online.
If you’ve asked someone to leave you a positive review, it’s
important to take the time to thank them after they’ve done so and to deliver
on any incentives. People are more likely to want to engage positively with
your brand if they see that you’re taking the effort to respond.
If you do get a negative review, respond politely and try to
rectify the situation. Find out why they’re unhappy and try to make it right.
(It’s best to have full conversations privately if possible. Try to have them
email or call you with their concern but don’t let it marinate either.)
Reviews are still an essential part of your business’
success whether they are Google Verified Customer Reviews or not. However, if
you have an online store, we foresee these Google verified reviews holding even
more weight, so it’s best to start collecting positive ones for your business.
To learn more about the benefit of reviews or to begin
working on a review acquisition strategy, call us at (407) 682-2222 for a
free consultation with one of our marketing experts.