Your business needs Google reviews.

• They create a great first impression when prospective clients, including those recommended to you (always the best type of new enquiry), search for you online
• They help you appear more prominently in the search results when people search for a financial adviser/planner near them
• You can use the reviews elsewhere in your marketing, for example by showcasing them on your website.

That’s great, but there’s a problem.

Google reviews are bloody hard to get.

To leave one, you have to have a Google account, which rules a lot of people out. Plus, they aren’t generally anonymous, which will put some people off.

That’s why we always recommend advisers/planners collect reviews on two platforms: Google and VouchedFor. All the evidence shows that for every review you get on Google, you will get four, five or even six on VouchedFor.

That doesn’t mean Google reviews aren’t important though.

They are for the three reasons we outlined above.

Initial project + changing processes + spotting opportunities = review success

The firms who collect reviews successfully (and we have clients with more than 100 Google reviews and nearly 400 on VouchedFor) do three things. They:

1. Run an initial project (well, we usually run it for them!) to boost the number of reviews on both platforms by emailing all clients at the same time.
2. Amend their processes so a review request is sent after every new client has been onboarded and after every review meeting. As an aside, this is not the time for compliance to poke their nose in and request a client survey. After these key interactions (onboarding and annual reviews) your clients are feeling extremely positive about working with you, so you need to harness that by requesting feedback in public (through reviews) not in private (through a pointless compliance survey that they probably won’t fill in anyway).
3. Look for other opportunities in their day-to-day dealings with clients, prospects and professional connections.

The best firms don’t just do one or two of those things, they do them all.

It’s the third on the list that we’re going to focus on in this week’s blog.

Back in April, you previously read about two easy ways to get more Google reviews and we’ve had some great feedback from advisers/planners who have used those ideas to get more Google reviews.

Since then, because we know how hard they are to get and how important they are, we’ve been thinking of other innovative ways to get more Google reviews.

We’ve come up with three more ideas.

1. Printed postcards at client events

After the difficulties presented by Covid restrictions, we’re seeing more firms go back to running client events.

Whether it’s a golf day, investment briefing, or garden party, these are perfect opportunities to ask clients to leave you online reviews.

Try the three simple steps:

1. Get postcards printed that include a QR code which, when used, will open up a link to your Google and VouchedFor review pages.
2. At your event, when you chat with clients or stand up to address the group, mention the postcards. Ask them to get their phones out, scan the QR code and leave you a review.
3. When you return to the office, remember to leave a detailed and personalised reply (by following these three simple steps) to the reviews you’ve received.

If your events are online, you can still do this.

Get a QR code, stick it onto a PowerPoint slide, and share your screen. Your clients can then scan it by holding their phone up to the screen and then head to Google or VouchedFor to leave you the review.

2. Use text or WhatsApp messages

Instead of requesting reviews by email, mix things up by sending your request by text message or WhatsApp.

• Evidence shows that open rates on text messages are significantly higher than for emails
• People respond to text messages more quickly than they do email
• Our research shows that around 80% of all advised clients regularly use WhatsApp. So, it makes sense to see if you can use both to get more Google reviews.

To get a link that you can send:

• Log into your Google Business profile
• Click home
• Scroll down until you find “Get more reviews” then copy and paste the URL you’re given.

Watch our short how-to video showing these steps.

Ours looks like this – https://g.page/r/CbhcLgvEYJm7EAg/review – so click it now to see how it works. While you’re there, if you like our blogs, webinars and other free content, leave a quick review!

Then try sending review requests out by text or WhatsApp.

See what happens. And let us know if it works.

3. Ask professional connections for reviews

Professional connections introduce clients to you because they’ve seen the great work you do and trust you to do a great job with their clients.

They sound like the perfect people to leave a review, yet most advisers/planners never think to ask.

So, next time you speak with one of your connections, ask them if they’d be happy to leave a Google review that explains why they introduce clients to you.

If they agree, follow up as soon as you can by sending the link by email, text message, or WhatsApp.

Share what’s working for you

That’s five ideas we’ve shared so far this year to help you get more Google reviews.

We want to know what’s working for you.

And, if we’ve missed something, email hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk and share it with us.