Hi Reader,

Today, we’re talking about a key thing that all business owners need to consider (& be doing)...

We’re confident you’ll find it helpful.

Here is a break down of 3 ways you can get reviews from customers (& why you NEED to be doing this).

Let's start with why....

There's then more chance that you'll read the how section.

The reason reviews are so important for any business is that they act as social proof. This gives potential customers more confidence that your business is suitable for them and increases their chance of working with you too!

There’s another HUGE benefit though….

It can be a really helpful way to understand your customers better & attract new customers. The way in which they describe your services or how you have helped them can give you a unique insight into how they consider your business to solve their problems. You can take the same language and wording that your customers use to describe their problems or your business, to attract new customers!

You don’t need to pay a fancy marketing agency.

This leaves the question of how do you get reviews....

It sometimes isn’t as straight forward as setting up an email automation asking clients for reviews.

These emails notoriously get ignored, left un-opened or deleted.

Here are our 3 ways you can try to increase your likelihood of getting reviews:

1. YOU NEED TO ASK.

It sometimes takes a little more than an email…. Try calling them, asking them to provide a review/feedback and explain how it helps you grow and work with more incredible people like them!

2. Try to make it as easy as possible!

You need to make sure there are no barriers to someone actually leaving a review…. This means no complicated links, ask specific questions & provide prompts/examples to help them get started! There are some people (ourselves included) who can find leaving reviews a stressful process…. How much should you write? What do you want me to mention? Do you want specific details? You can help them to answer some of these questions by giving a few examples for them to use as a starting point.

3. Offer an incentive or thank you gift.

Lastly, you can also try to incentivise customers to leave a review. This could be a discount on a future purchase or a gift card (you could even partner up with another local business to offer this). A gift card or cash incentive might be more appropriate in an industry where it will likely be a long time for a client to need your services again!

It can be quite nerve wracking asking for reviews but don’t forget it can also be nerve wracking for your customers.

Try to encourage them (they will likely want to leave a kind word and help where they can if they are happy with your work), make it easy for them & if needed offer an incentive to thank them for their review/testimonial!

They are a really important form of social proof and arguably an essential tool to help you grow (& improve) your business.

We hope you have found this helpful or at least interesting. Let us know by replying here if there is anything you’d specifically like to discuss or help you with!

See you next week,

Elle & Lawrence

P.S Any time you need more help there are 3 ways we can help you....

1. FREE - Take a look at our Instagram (making sure to read the captions) where we share our learnings about all things related to starting a business & marketing it on social media. You can find our account here. You can also browse our resources including our blog & guides to download on our website which step you through various aspects of starting a business. Here's a link to our website.

2. 1:1 SERVICES including coaching & social media content creation - We've recently had some more availability to take on additional clients. We offer various services to help other existing or aspiring business owners. These including our 1:1 consultations or coaching where we can review business ideas, marketing plans or social media strategy as examples. We also work with clients to design them their very own social media content or websites - please send us an email if you would like to learn more.

3. The Business Manual (£20/month) - We will be launching as of April a special type of email where we breakdown a specific topic to help aspiring & new business owners. It will be a 10 minute read every 2 weeks where we will be covering breakdowns on specific subjects such as ordering stock, marketing strategies, step-by-step content creation & so much more all based of real life examples from our own businesses. The reason for this paid newsletter? It keeps our weekly emails totally free of annoying sponsors & it means as our capacity to work with others 1:1 gets stretched, we can still provide very specific help as time & cost effectively as possible for us & you! Click here if you don't want to miss an edition of The Business Manual (you can read old editions too).​