Asking for Client Reviews: When and How to Do It

Obtaining feedback from satisfied clients is an important element in building and growing your business. Positive testimonials strengthen brand awareness, your social image, and are also an essential marketing tool for business owners. Asking for reviews is a fairly simple and easy process to integrate into your client journey and client acquisition strategy.

There are several ways to ask for reviews and a number of places to display them once you have them. Depending on the type and nature of your business, you can ask for and display client testimonials on your website, on social media (Facebook, LinkedIn), on Google, and so on.

Before you begin collecting and displaying testimonials, we need to think about when and how to do so. The answers vary, so let us explore a few possibilities.

When should you ask clients and consumers for their opinion?

The nature of your product or service will dictate the right moment to ask. Here are three common situations where it is particularly easy to do so:

• Immediately after a service has been delivered
  If your service primarily depends on client service and human interaction, do not be afraid to ask for a review straight away.

• At the end of a project
  When you complete a project, go ahead and ask your client to leave you a comment. Their experience will still be fresh, and you will have a better chance of getting a response from them than if you wait.

• Fifteen to thirty days after a product purchase
  You may sell a product or service whose results need a little time to become apparent. If so, give your client some time to try it, then ask the question.

Asking for reviews is a very individualised process. The timing truly depends on the nature of your relationship with the client, the level of interaction involved, and how long it takes them to evaluate your product or service. In some cases, you will need to wait longer before asking for feedback.

How should you ask for these reviews?

Just like the timing, the method used varies. Depending on your products or services, you may choose to ask personally or to automate a satisfaction request system. Each approach has its advantages and disadvantages, but both are effective.

Asking personally

Collecting this information yourself means you will need to devote some time to contacting your clients and having one additional personal interaction with them once your work is done. This is not necessarily a bad thing. The more positive touchpoints you have with a client, the greater your chances of securing repeat business or strong referrals from them.

Once your project is complete, do not wait. Let your client know that you enjoyed working with them and that you would appreciate hearing their thoughts on how the project went. Make it clear that you would like to display the testimonial on your website or social media. You can also direct them to the platform you would like them to use (if you want them to leave a review on Google, Facebook, or LinkedIn, for example).

Here are a few ways to ask a client directly for their testimonial:

• Ask them by email at the point when you complete your project
• Make a brief closing phone call during which you make your request
• Use a video call to close things off and ask to record their impressions
• Send them a form or survey to complete

In addition, consider leaving them a review or recommendation on a platform such as LinkedIn. You can let them know you have left them a review and ask them to do the same for you.

Through process automation

Asking for reviews through automation takes time to set up and adds steps to your process. This method of requesting feedback is very useful if you sell a product or service that takes time to show results.

It must be scheduled to be sent within a specific timeframe after the transaction is complete. For example, if you sell a social media training course, you might follow up with your clients within 30 days to see how the course has influenced their results.

Do not be afraid to follow up

If your client agreed to provide a review but has not yet done so, there is nothing wrong with following up and politely reminding them to leave a comment. Try to give them everything they need from the outset to make the process as quick and easy as possible, so they complete it promptly.

There is nothing wrong with incentivising your clients to leave comments. For example, you could offer a small gift card or a discount on your next project. You can also offer discounts for every client they refer to you.

When should you not ask for feedback?

Avoid asking for feedback if your client has not had enough time to form an opinion of your product and its results. For example, you would not ask a client who purchased your skincare product for their impressions just one week after using it.

Obviously, avoid asking for testimonials if the project did not go well or ended badly. While honest and constructive feedback is important in a private, one-to-one feedback session, you may not want critical comments to be displayed on your website or social media.

In general, do not request a testimonial if you or your client had to end the project prematurely. It is best to limit requests for public comments to positive experiences as much as possible.

How should you collect client testimonials?

There are many tools you can use when asking for reviews. Here are a few:

• By email, via a form or survey such as Google Forms or SurveyMonkey
• Asking for a short video testimonial
• Directing them to the social media platform of your choice, such as Facebook or LinkedIn
• Asking them to leave a review on Google, Yelp, or a similar platform

Where should you display them?

Once you have collected your feedback, display it proudly in as many online locations as possible. Post it on your website, on social media, and in other relevant marketing materials so that your clients and prospects can see the positive experiences of others. Make a point of repurposing testimonials wherever possible by creating social posts, stories, and using them in newsletters, etc.

In conclusion

Asking for experience feedback is as varied and nuanced as it is straightforward to do. Ultimately, your method of requesting and disseminating testimonials depends entirely on the nature of your business, your client interactions, and the needs of your prospects.

What is your preferred way of asking for testimonials? Let us know in the comments.

Freely translated from English: article from Elegant Themes