Driving Google Reviews With SMS

For many customers, their first impression of your business comes from a Google search. It’s more important now than ever to have a complete Google Business profile with key business information, photos, and reviews.

Getting authentic reviews on your Google profile can be challenging when you’re just starting out. One way you can do this is by sending out SMS text messages to your customers after they’ve made a purchase encouraging them to leave a review.

Why are Google Reviews so important?

In today’s digital world, most consumers turn to the internet when they are looking for a new product, service, or experience to purchase. This is particularly true for local businesses, as 46 percent of Google searches these days are local. Having a robust online presence is essential if you want to capture the attention of new customers, and Google reviews are a huge part of that.

Your Google My Business page is likely the first thing that someone will see when they search for your business. The more fleshed out this page is, the more professional your business looks. Having a Google My Business page can even help with SEO, as Google’s current algorithm factors business information and reviews into your rankings.

Consumers also value authenticity when it comes to deciding where to spend money. They want to hear from other people who have purchased a product or service to determine what to buy in the future. In this sense, a positive Google Review can essentially serve as a free advertisement for your business.

How To Use Text Messages To Drive Google Reviews

One of the most challenging parts of building up your Google profile is that you cannot force customers to leave a review. It’s very important for the reviews on your page to be authentic in order to really resonate with potential customers.

While you cannot force customers to leave a review, you can encourage them to do so after they’ve used your product or service. One easy way to streamline this process is via text message.

Collecting customer phone numbers during a transaction has become easier over the past several years, as many POS systems and ecommerce tools now have features designed specifically for this purpose. If you have a loyalty program, this is also an effective way to collect customers’ phone numbers.

You can now set up your mass text messaging campaign to send an SMS to customers shortly after they have made a purchase with you. This is a great time to ask users to leave a review because the experience is still so fresh in their mind. The sooner the customer leaves the review after their purchase, the easier it will be for them to provide a detailed review - and detailed reviews are incredibly helpful for building your online presence.

Additionally, you can use text messages to send a link directly to your company’s Google review page. Some customers may want to leave you a review, but aren’t sure where to go in order to do so, especially if they aren’t tech savvy. Sending out a text message streamlines the process and makes it easier for your customers.

The final benefit of sending a review request via text message is that there is no pressure for your team to ask for reviews in person. Asking customers for a review in person can feel awkward and disrupt the natural flow of the sale. A text message is a much less intrusive way to encourage customers to review their experiences.

Incentivising Customer Reviews

In order to maximise your chances of a customer leaving a review, you’ll need to use the right language in your text message. The best way to do this is to be polite and friendly while also being concise.

Many consumers won’t read a text message that requires you to scroll, so it’s best to keep things short and sweet. It’s also important that you’re very clear about what you’re asking the recipient to do. If they don’t understand where the review link is leading them, they’re going to be unlikely to click on it.

If you’re looking to generate more Google business reviews, SMSGlobal can help. Our custom SMS marketing services can help you reach your customers more efficiently and grow your digital presence.