How to Get Glowing Online Reviews

How to Get Glowing Online Reviews

Would it surprise you to learn 9 out of 10 people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations?

As an increasing number of real estate websites allow agent reviews, it’s important prospects searching online see high praise from your past clients.

The good news is some of your clients will write glowing reviews without being asked. In most cases, however, you’ll need to reach out and request them.

This can be easier said than done.

Clients who agree to give reviews will often forget to write them. Also, many sites require users register before writing a review. Not all your clients will take that extra step.

Finally, those clients who do register and write reviews won’t always write the glowing praise you’d like to see.

Thankfully, there’s a way to get online reviews that virtually eliminates those issues.

Step #1: Get a Verbal Review

As soon after closing as possible, ask your clients to tell you what they liked most about your service. This can be done in-person or by phone.

Write down their responses. If they don’t give you enough information at first, ask them what else they liked about your service. After asking this one or two times, you should have everything you need.

Step #2: Turn the Comments into a Testimonial

Take what your clients told you and turn it into a written testimonial. Three or four sentences is plenty, although you can make it longer if your clients had lots of great things to say about you.

Be sure to stay as close to the original verbal review as possible. This is important because your clients need to feel the testimonial you write is accurate.

Step #3: Get Approval on the Testimonial

Email your clients the testimonial you’ve written. Tell them you’d like their permission to use it on marketing materials, social media, and your website.

Ask them to reply with a “yes” if they approve of the testimonial. If they’d like to make changes, let them know they are free to do so.

Almost everyone will approve what you’ve written without changes. Now you have a testimonial you can use for marketing.

Step #4: Ask for the Online Review

Choose the site (or sites) you want your clients to use for the review. Email them the web address, instructions for posting the review, and a copy of the testimonial they’ve already approved.

The easier you make it for your clients, the more likely they’ll post the review. So, be thorough in your instructions.

While not all your clients will post online reviews for you, following the four-step process above will give you the best shot at getting them.



P.S. – Don’t try to combine steps 3 and 4. People are more likely to approve a pre-written testimonial than they are to go through the process of posting it online. Even if you can’t get the online review, you at least want the testimonial to use for marketing.

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