CHICAGO — In today’s competitive business landscape, online customer reviews are crucial for growing your business and standing out from the competition. For service providers such as dry cleaners, Google reviews are an excellent way to show up in searches and build trust with potential customers.
In Part 1 of this series, we examined two ways to gather online reviews, and today we’ll round out the remaining methods you can use to get your
Follow Up with Customers via Text
Texts have a high open rate and are a guaranteed way to get your review request seen almost instantly. Get customers opted in to receive texts from you by:
- Having them text a keyword such as DRYCLEAN to your business number
- Putting an SMS Chat widget on your homepage, which customers can use to start text conversations with you
- Asking customers to agree to receive texts via your contact forms
After your customers are opted in to receive texts from your business, send a quick thank you along with a link to your review page. Since you’re working with a smaller character count, you need to keep the message brief and straightforward. Pre-made text templates come in handy here, so you don’t have to draft a message every single time you send a review request.
Touch on all key points, such as:
“Hi, [First Name]! Thanks for choosing [Your Dry Cleaner]. To best serve you and others, would you mind leaving us a review? Here’s the link: [URL]. Thank you!”
A well-equipped business texting software with review management capabilities can help you connect with your customers and manage reviews all in the same place.
Encourage Customers to Interact with You on Social Media Platforms
Maintaining an active presence on your Facebook and Instagram business pages helps draw attention to your brand. With the right posts, you’ll encourage customers to engage, and you’ll ultimately gain more reviews. Here’s how:
- Highlight photos of happy customers with their clean clothes (with their permission).
- Post a link to your review page, encouraging customers to freely share their thoughts.
- Share existing positive reviews and testimonials.
- Run giveaways or contests that require participants to leave a review to enter.
Social media works well for people searching for local recommendations from their friends and family, giving you an opportunity to jump in and engage when you’re tagged in posts or comments. From there, you can ask for feedback and direct them to your review page via a link.
Leveraging social proof is valuable for your page and demonstrates that you value what customers have to say about your drycleaning business. It builds credibility, encourages others to share their thoughts, and even helps prospective customers make a buying decision.
Respond to All Your Reviews — Both Positive and negative
Whether your customers leave positive or negative reviews, the most important thing is that you respond to every single one of them — regardless of what they say. Responding shows that you value your customers’ opinions and are willing to get involved to provide the best experience possible.
Customers value transparency from businesses. In fact, it’s expected from consumers as part of their relationship with you. Replying to all reviews is a great way to strengthen your bond, especially when you are:
- Being empathetic and positive
- Expressing gratitude for feedback
- Using the right tone of voice
- Providing solutions where applicable
- Noting valid criticisms to make existing solutions better
This gives you a chance to humanize your brand, positioning yourself as a company that listens and cares for its customers. The more you monitor and respond to your reviews, the more customers will be encouraged to leave you feedback.
For Part 1 of this series, click HERE.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].
