In case you hadn’t realized by now, customer feedback is valuable stuff. In fact, it’s thought an average 91% of people now look at online reviews before committing to a service. That’s quite a few, and it’d be fair to say you can’t afford to skip this.

But, perhaps you knew that already. After all, it’s no secret that publishing both good and bad reviews is a fantastic way to get more clients for your business. And, what entrepreneur in their right mind wouldn’t want that? As such, there’s every chance you’ve been on the feedback bandwagon since the early days. There’s just one issue; you don’t receive anywhere near enough completed reviews.

The fact is, we’re all busy. Even if they mean to leave a review, your customers might not get time to do it. If that happens a few times, it can seriously damage your feedback attempts. And, that’s why it’s worth asking yourself what you can do to increase the frequency of your reviews. If you’re stuck for ideas here, read on for a little inspiration.

Don’t forget to ask

This point seems painfully obvious, doesn’t it? But, many companies out there fail to reach out and ask for feedback. In many ways, this is due to not wanting to annoy customers. Surely it’s better to let them come to you? Not at all. In fact, if you don’t ask for feedback, there’s very little chance you’ll get it, Think about it. Have you ever gone to a website off your own back and left a positive review? We didn’t think so. And, the same likely stands for your customers.

So, stop being shy and get into the habit of requesting feedback. You could provide a form the moment they complete a purchase online. Or, you could wait until they have their products and then send an email request for review. As well as helping to keep your brand in their minds, this will remind them to get around to that positive feedback. It’s a win-win situation all around. And, by limiting this to one email per customer, you can ensure no one gets fed up with you.

Offer incentives

We’ve all left feedback for entry into a free prize draw, haven’t we? As such, it should come as no surprise to you that this next point involves providing incentives. When it comes down to it, you’re asking your customers to do you a favor here.

And, that’s a pretty bad thing to do from a business standpoint. But, given that this is essential for your success, you can’t skip this point. So, you should at least lessen the blow a little by providing a reason to give reviews.

That way, this will become a ‘you scratch my back, I scratch yours’ situation which is more in keeping with business etiquette. And, you can be sure a simple incentive will boost the amount of feedback you get no end.

After all, customers are rightly out for what they can get. And, you should feed into that. These incentives don’t have to be massive things which leave you out of pocket. You certainly don’t want to offer something crazy like $10 for every review you receive. But, something as simple as entry into a draw for $100 would do the trick here.

It’s a small amount of money, and you’ll only have to hand it out once this way. Or, you may want to provide a small amount of money off next purchase, or something along those lines. If you’re reluctant to lose that money, consider the fact those reviews are liable to bring in a whole lot more profit.

Keep it simple

Even if you do encourage people to leave feedback, they’ll soon click off if they face a four-page questionnaire. Remember, they’re doing you a favor, and you’re skating on thin ice as it is. As such, you should keep feedback as simple as you possibly can.

An ideal aim would be no more than three or four questions, but less is always best. If possible, you should aim to work with a company like http://www.simplesat.io, who provide one-click feedback forms. These would suit your needs perfectly, and increase your chances of a response no end. After all, few customers would object to feedback which is this fast.

Apply this with an incentive in place, and the vast majority of your customers will start letting you know what they think. And, that’s exciting news all around. So, whatever you do, avoid asking for their life story. All you need is a simple yes or no. It’s also worth providing a comments box so that you can publish what customers say about you. But, leave this voluntary to ensure maximum engagement.

Provide service worth shouting about

Of course, through all this, you shouldn’t forget that your service is the main thing. If you just provide a mediocre standard of service, customers may feel lukewarm about leaving a review. After all, your company won’t manage to make much of an impression in this case. And, why should a customer go out of their way for service which was just okay?

Instead, make sure you provide service worth shouting about. This way, you can be sure customers will go much further out of their way to sing your praises. You can find out more about how to provide outstanding service from sites like thrivehive.com. For the most part, though, this is common sense stuff.

Go the extra mile, and make sure both you and your staff are as helpful as possible. Make sure, too, to keep on top of your training regime. The more knowledgeable your team are, the better chance they have to impress.

A final word

As you can see, it’s far from practical to sit back and expect reviews to fall into your lap. But, if you put a little work into this area of your business, you’ll have comments coming in left right and center.