3 Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Buy Google Reviews: 4 Easy Ways to Get Reviews

Google reviews

Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

Humans are pretty smart and, I’d say, sometimes, lazy.

These two characters make them both innovative and devious I tell you. Most of the inventions we enjoy today came into being because we are smart and needed to do something faster. In the same vein, most of the bad things happen because we are smart and want to get something quickly.

Get it?

Now, let talk about Google reviews…

Many business owners dream of having a long list of positive reviews. It speaks credibility and shows other potential customers that your product or service is worth the shot. Many business people who want to create such credibility online in a short time may be tempted to game the system.

But first, let’s see what makes Google reviews are so valuable that people are willing to pay for it.

What Makes Google Reviews So Valuable?

I am glad you asked.

Did you know that 92% of customers (including you) search for customer reviews before they make a purchase? Did you know also that 88% of these customers trust online reviews as much as they trust recommendations from family and friends?

This means that you can gain a ton of new customers just by having positive online reviews about your business. The opposite happens if you have got negative reviews.

Can you see the picture?

Google reviews are so important that they can be used as tools to drive sales and increase profits. No wonder many business people want to get a piece of that action by cheating.

So…

What Does It Mean To ‘Buy’ Google Reviews?

Buying Google reviews could be done in three major ways.

It could be done by incentivizing your customers to leave you positive reviews. Some businesses may pay people a few dollars to write positive reviews about them. And others may pay some shady outfit to help them remove bad reviews from Google.

The truth is that bad reviews aren’t all bad. They can be used as a tool to build credibility as well.

How, you ask?

It’s simple. Let me give you one tip: Respond to the bad reviews. Responding to bad reviews shows other potential customers that you care about the opinion of your customers.

And that’s a good thing. Here are 5 positive ways to handle a negative review.

Plus, you can get bad reviews removed. All you need to do is to write a petition to Google with a strong reason to have them taken off.

3 Reasons Why Buying Google Reviews Is a Bad Idea

Google seriously frowns at attempts to buy or put up phony reviews. In addition to that, here are 3 reasons why buying reviews is a no-no:

1. A customer may accidentally rat you out

Incentivizing customers to write you a review could backfire in a terrible way. A customer could write something along the lines of, “Wow, what an awesome service this company offers. They even gave me a $10 discount to write them a review.” Oops!

Even though it’s a positive review, people would see it as fake. They would believe that the only thing positive about your business is the review. And that the reviewer only wrote it because you offered them an incentive.

It will have the opposite effect from what you initially intended.

2. Review Sites Can Smell A Rat

Google is getting advanced by the day and is developing more intelligent algorithm to catch phony reviews. There are several metrics with which reviews are tested for authenticity. So if you pay writers to cook up fake reviews, you will be caught and the repercussion is bad.

Google could ban your business from their listing for life. Which means you will have your business kicked out of the world’s largest review platform. And that is bad for business.

3.  You Can’t Find The Leak

Businesses cannot grow without feedback. And if, for instance, you are losing customers, you can find the leak without customer feedback. Negative reviews may leave a bad taste in the mouth but they also help you know what ingredient is missing in the sauce.

What I mean is that customer reviews can help you know what you are doing wrong and what part of your business needs improvement. By paying for positive reviews, you prevent yourself from seeing the loopholes in your business and hence cannot plug them.

It’s basically like shooting yourself in the foot and trying to walk.

So then…

How Do You Get Google Reviews?

You can get lots of Google reviews, positive ones, without being shifty. There is one guaranteed way to get positive, glorious reviews about your business – provide excellent products or services.

Customers will gladly sing your praise when you provide a great experience for them. They will talk about you everywhere they go. All other review tips are hinged on this one. I have briefly outlined 4 ways you can get reviews on Google.

Here they are:

1. Ask And You Shall Receive

In many ways the bible got this right. Sometimes to get Google reviews all you have to do is ask. As soon as you satisfy a customer, ask them to kindly leave you a review on Google. Do not delay. Strike the iron while it’s still hot. Otherwise it may come off as annoying.

If your customers are making online purchases, be sure to ask them for a review of their experience before they leave your site. When they leave they may get too busy to return to write you a review.

2. Go Mobile

Everyone’s got a cellphone and receives text messages on a daily basis. You can use this as a channel to request for a review. It’s easier to open a text message than it is an email and your customers would quickly respond to your SMS request than they would an email. 98% of text messages get opened unlike 20% for emails.

3. Make It Easy For Them

As with the SMS tip above which makes it easy for your customers to read your requests, you should make the entire process easy. In your SMS you should provide a link that takes them straight to the review site. If your customers deem the process too cumbersome, they’d avoid it. Cut out any jump to another app, login, or search process.

4. Automate The Process

One way to ensure that the process is easy for both you and your customers is to automate it. Using a Wi-Fi analytics and marketing platform, you can send a predefined message to a customer as soon as they make a purchase. You can program this to happen before the customer ever leaves your store. This way you can have reviews dropping in on auto-pilot.

See theses 7 effective ways to get more reviews on Google.

Getting the amount and kinds of reviews you want takes time, I know. But it is better to wait while providing quality service for your customers than to try to fool Google and others with phony reviews.

Before you go…

There’s one thing that can turn a negative reviewer into a life-time loyal customer. And that is speedy response to feedback.

Customers no matter how irate they are always appreciate speedy reply to their complaints. But how can you respond on time when you cannot be on all your review platforms at once?

The solution is SpotOn Review.

With SpotOn Review, you have all your reviews in one place which makes it easy to monitor them. Additionally, this tool alerts you whenever a customer posts a review. Think of it like a feedback alarm that notifies you when someone leaves a review, only with email.

This way, you can promptly respond to reviews as they come.

To learn more about this tool and how it can help you tackle negative reviews, shoot us a message and we’d tell you more.

    Want to take action but don’t know where to start? You’re not alone. Leave your email below, and we’ll get in touch with you ASAP.

    Turn happy customers into positive reviews