Today’s Ask An SEO addresses a question from Kayle, who asked during a recent webinar:
How can we encourage older consumers who are not well-versed with computers to leave reviews for us? Some do not understand how to leave a Google review.
Consistent Reviews Come From A Consistent Process
Businesses that have strong and consistent reviews often have a system in place to request reviews from satisfied customers. Those without such a system usually end up with a less favorable online reputation.
Implementing a process to engage with happy customers and encourage them to review your business is crucial for improving both your online reputation and local rankings.
It’s important to note that you should “interact” with customers, not simply "request a positive review."
Requesting positive reviews or offering compensation for reviews is against the terms of service for many sites and can incur severe penalties.
While you should not ask for a positive review directly, it is acceptable to encourage customers to leave a review, as you cannot control the sentiment of that review.
Offering incentives for reviews might be tempting, but the negative consequences greatly outweigh any potential benefits.
Older Demographic Outreach Tips
Reaching an older demographic can be challenging. Encouraging them to take specific actions, like writing a review, can sometimes be difficult.
There are plenty of older consumers with strong opinions, but their representation in reviews can be lacking. Therefore, obtaining reviews from an older customer base might require more effort.
Here are some strategies that have proven effective in soliciting reviews from a more mature audience.
Bing Is Your Friend
Bing is the default search engine on most Microsoft products, and older consumers are less likely to change this default setting.
In many instances, Bing has been found to convert better than Google, though it lacks the same volume.
Provide Instructions
Create a webpage specifically with detailed instructions on how to leave an online review. This page should be easy to access but not linked to public navigation or indexed in search results.
Sales representatives or customer service reps can send a personal email with a link to the instructions page.
Take A Car Dealership Mentality
When purchasing a vehicle, salespeople often ask customers to complete a survey and emphasize the importance of high scores. While your business might not need to be as forceful, consistent follow-up is essential.
Automate What You Can
Managing correspondence to request reviews can be overwhelming if you have a large customer base. Tools like GatherUp or ActiveCampaign can help automate many aspects of review management.
More resources:
- How To Build Links That You Didn’t Ask For
- How Can We Improve Rankings For Older Content? Ask An SEO
- What’s The Top SEO Focus For 2022? Ask An SEO
Featured Image: fizkes/Shutterstock
Editor’s note: Ask an SEO is a weekly advice column from top SEO experts. Have an SEO question? Submit your queries, and you might see the answer in the next Ask an SEO post!
