Five Ways to Boost Your Google Business Rating in 30 Days

Do you know what your business’ rating is on Google? Believe it or not, these ratings can not only affect your local SEO rankings, but also the decision-making process of your potential customers! In fact, 90% of consumers read reviews before visiting a business. If you don’t have a rating above the average 4.4 stars, that customer could be going elsewhere for their repair services.

Make it a resolution to increase your rating in 2020! We’re going to share five ways you can easily boost your Google Business rating in the next 30 days.

1. Respond to EVERY review

Yes, responding to every single review of your business on Google can help your rating! Sometimes, customers that leave the dreaded one-star review are just looking for a resolution to an issue. Respond to the more recent negative reviews with something to the tune of this:

“Hello [name]. Thank you so much for your review. I’m very sorry to hear that your experience with [company name] was not up to your expectations. Would you mind contacting me at the store at [phone number]? I would like to get to the bottom of this and see if there is anything we can do to resolve this issue.
-[your name], [your title]”

This shows that you truly want to help your disgruntled customer with a solution. You may even be able to convince them to change that one-star to a five-star!

If you find a negative review that is older than three weeks, it may be too late to change that customer’s mind, but it’s still a good idea to respond. Go with something like this:

“Hi [name]. My name is [your name], and I am the [your title] at [your company]. I first would like to apologize that there was no follow-up on your issue. Secondly, I am sorry to hear of your negative experience at [company name]. We strive to exceed customer expectations, and when that doesn’t happen, reviews like this are important in giving us actionable feedback on how to do better. Thank you for your review, and please feel free to reach me at [your number] if there is anything we can do to resolve this matter.”

Negative reviews aren’t the only ones that should receive a response; make sure to respond to positive reviews as well! This will encourage more of your customers to take the time to write about their own experiences. Here’s an example of what to write for your next five-star review:

“Hey there [name]! Thank you so much for taking the time to write us a review. It was truly a pleasure doing business with you. We hope you will continue to consider us for your phone repair or upgrade needs!”

Make it a habit to check your reviews and continue to respond to every single one. You will probably see your number of reviews go up!

2. Follow up with every customer from the last 3 weeks

If you don’t already call repair customers for a 25 to 30-day follow-up, add this to your task list. If your front-of-house staff is taking accurate notes on each repair, you should have all of the information you need in front of you. You can accomplish a number of things in this follow-up call:

Ask them how their newly-repaired device is performing. Make sure that your repair service solved their original problem and that no other issues have arisen. (We know that it’s not likely that they will have issues, but this shows that you truly care about their experience!)
When they say that their device is performing well and that they are pleased with the service, thank them again and ask them for a review on Google or Facebook. Go with something like this:

“We’re a small business, and we’ve been part of this community for __ years. We live and breathe on reviews and referrals, so if you have a chance to write us a review or tell your friends about our services, it would mean a lot to us!”

If they have an older device, let them know that when they’re ready for an upgrade, you would be happy to offer them a trade-in. You can even incentivize them with an extra $10 (or more) credit on the trade-in if they come within the next 6-8 months. Just be sure to make a note on this customer in your system so that your front-of-house staff is aware of this special offer.

3. Add a link to review your store on Google to your website and emails

Google allows you to generate a link that goes directly to your review page, making it super easy for customers to type in a review when clicked. Here’s how to make the link:

Visit business.google.com/dashboard and sign in to your business account.
On the “Home” tab, look for the section titled “Get more reviews”. Click “Share profile”.
The link will look something like this: https://g.page/MobileDefenders/review?gm. You will be able to copy the link and put it wherever you’d like!

We recommend adding this link to the bottom of your followup emails or messages, creating a section on your website, and even linking it in a post on social media. If you have a customer satisfaction survey link on your receipts, you can link to your review page at the end of the survey too.

4. Train your staff to ask in-store after every purchase

When your customers leave your store with a smile on their face after you’ve repaired their device, they’re more likely to take the time to review your location on Google or Facebook. Train your staff to casually ask for the review as they are walking out of the store. Remember, it never hurts to ask!

You can also incentivize members of your staff to ask for reviews by holding monthly or quarterly contests on who can get the highest number of positive mentions on Google. Even if it’s just free lunch one day, they’ll be more likely to want to provide that five-star experience to your customers.

5. Mention Google Reviews on your marketing materials

If you don’t hand out rack cards to your customers, now is a great time to start! A rack card is a remarketing document that you hand out to customers before they leave your location. They’re called “rack” cards because they are traditionally found in racks of high-traffic areas like hotels, convenience stores, and rest areas.

Design a rack card that offers your customers an incentive for visiting (or coming back to) your location. It should also have your business’ location information, website, and a call-to-action to ask them to leave a review.

54% of consumers say that their next step after reading a positive review is visiting the company’s website. Make sure that your Google Business listing gives potential customers plenty of reasons to visit you by earning more five-star reviews! Set a goal to get 15 more five-star reviews in the next 30 days by implementing each of these suggestions. You’ll see your ratings shoot up in no time!