As an Estate Agency business, you probably put a lot of time and effort into marketing your services. Facebook Ads, Instagram ads, leaflets, portal “upgrades”, imaginative copy, flawless property images, virtual tours, even letting the drones loose to capture some aerial photography! We could go on and on.
As you probably already know, show and tell style marketing is limp, people have heard and seen it all before. What they want and respond to is validation. Social proof that you are as good as you say you are and get the results they want. They want this from people that they can identify with and who better than clients you’ve already worked for?
The issue is…
You give your clients the best possible service, you build an amazing relationship, they LOVE you, then you say goodbye and that’s it (most of the time). That’s where reviews come in.
90% of buying decisions are influenced by online reviews. Seeing real customer reviews of your services helps potential clients take action and sign up! Even poor reviews can potentially increase sales by 45% according to Shopify. Whaaat??
In this post, we’re going to go over 6 ways to generate more customer reviews for your Estate Agency.
Create a Simple Review Process
If you want someone to do something, make it easy for them. We have a saying at EAanalytics keep it stupid simple (KISS). I know, you’ve heard it before! We love the golden oldies.
That’s how you want your review system to be: stupid simple. Customers are happy to contribute feedback when you take the work out of it. Make it really easy for then to give you the review and post it to Facebook or Google, because that is where potential clients are looking!
Then put your reviews front and centre on your conversion pages (home, appointment request). Don’t make people click through several pages, and don’t ask them to log in first. Spotlighting reviews and real feedback on your conversion pages might give casual browsers the nudge they need to click “book appointment”
Pro tip: Use a first-class reviews platform to create a simple, seamless website review experience. Ask us about ours!
Timing Is Everything
When should you ask for a review? Long story short, any time is better than no time. You might feel nervous to ask your customers, but have no fear—70% of consumers will leave a review for a business if they’re asked.
According to experts, the best way to get a response for a review is to ask via email 3-5 days after a customer has completed their transaction with you. When your brand is top of mind.
Target Your Efforts
No matter how good you are, not everyone is going to give you a rave review and that’s ok, but there are ways to increase your chances by targeting your efforts on those who are more likely to.
For example, you’re probably not going to get a 5-star review from a customer who has just had a less than stellar experience. Maybe you could remove those customers from your review outreach. Personally I think that’s a missed opportunity to get some constructive feedback.
You should definitely take the opportunity to reach out to customers who have had a positive experience with your team. Honestly it’s almost expected these days. The same goes for customers who have posted praise on social media. If they took the time to share the love on the socials, chances are they’d be more than happy to leave you a proper review.
If you’re not sure where to begin with customer reviews, start with your most recent completions and work back from there.
Once you’ve chosen your audience, think about how you will ask for the review. My advice is to keep it really personal and avoid stuffy industry terms. Keep your tone friendly, lighthearted and use words as though you are speaking them. Asking for a review is an opportunity to build a stronger relationship with your customer by letting them know how much you appreciate them taking the time to give you feedback about their experience with you.
Utilise Social Media
Wherever possible, share positive reviews or feedback you receive on social media. Happy customers who have praised your services on social media are your Brand Ambassadors. Spotlight these organic reviews by reposting or sharing them out on your social channels.
Add a reviews tab to your Facebook page so customers can easily leave feedback, and prospects can see what other people are saying about your brand.
Pro tip: Keep track of your mentions, monitor keywords related to your services, and watch hashtags that include your company so you can easily spot a positive review in the wild. Social media is a great place to reiterate positive feedback because you can share it with your entire audience with a click of a button.
Offer a Reward or Incentive
Incentivise your reviewers with a coupon or discount code for a local business—it takes time and effort to write a review, and receiving a reward adds to the overall positive experience with your brand. Also this is a great way to forge relationships with other local businesses that will also refer you. WIN WIN
People are more likely to take action when they have an incentive, so give customers that extra nudge.
Automate, Automate, Automate
If you’re wondering how in the world you’ll get more customer reviews on top of everything else on your plate, we have an answer for you. Make it easier for yourself—and your customers—by automating your review process. Send automated reminders via SMS and email, this massively increases the reviews you collect, not everyone remembers the first time…
Using a tool like our Review Collector you can connect your email marketing tool to your review platform to create a seamless automated customer experience.
Are you collecting reviews for your Estate Agency, how do you do it, would you like to streamline the process? Comment Below
