Google reviews carry a lot of weight for most businesses.
They are often the first thing people look at, especially when they are deciding who to trust or who to contact. In competitive industries, they can make a real difference.
For a real estate client of ours, from the outside, 600 Google reviews looks impressive.
Inside the business, it was the result of a few small changes applied consistently over time.
Principle 1: Ask in person
When we first worked with this real estate team, review requests were happening from time to time, usually via email.
Sometimes it worked. Often it didn’t.
The biggest shift came from asking in person.
When agents asked clients face-to-face, at a natural point in the relationship, people were generally happy to help. It highlighted that a Google review actually meant something to them, rather than just being an ‘automated request’.
Principle 2: Make leaving the review easy
The team followed up that conversation with a message that thanked the client for agreeing to leave a review, which included the link. That small change made the whole process feel quicker and easier.
This message got even more traction once we decided to include some examples of the types of things they may wish to include in their review (i.e. to reduce any writer’s block that may kick in!)
When the next step feels simple, people are far more likely to follow through.
Principle 3: Use the channel that fits the behaviour
We tried sending this follow-up message via both email and SMS.
Both worked but for younger clients, SMS tended to work better.
The message here is to try different communication methods, and tailor this towards the specific of your client base.
Principle 4: Build momentum through friendly competition
The final change was about energy.
There was some initial resistance from the team to get involved in this project, so we sweetened the deal with some healthy competition. We launched a competition, where the person who secured the 100th review received a $500 gift voucher.
All of a sudden, people were interested in asking for reviews!
Like any habit, once a bit of momentum built, asking for reviews started to feel normal.
A nice (and unexpected) side effect
In an industry where feedback often shows up when something has gone wrong, reviews became a chance to hear what was going right.
Team members started to feel recognised for their effort, more connected to the impact of their role in the team, and that encouragement created more positivity among the team, while also making it easier to keep asking.
Today, Google Reviews have became part of how the team worked, rather than something they have to remember to do.