is therea limit on how many reviews received

[grasshoppersean]

Thanks to RossP template on another thread it pushed me to get more reviews but i was thinking should i stagger the requests to my past customers asking for a reviews on google just incase for example they all added a review within the same few days. would this make google think something strange is goin on. i only have 2 reviews at the moment and i will be sending requests out to about 40 people, i dont think they will all post a review but just wanted to make sure.

 

[Laustin1878]

Google pulls reviews from a number of sources. Yelp, Insider Pages and several others to name a few. Include a few sources for your past customers to leave reviews instead of just Google. Phil Rozek has a great document that can be custom made for your business to utilize. He recently updated it too. Check it out here: The 3-Site Review Handout for Yelp, Google, and Other Reviews | LocalVisibilitySystem.com

This doc provides customers with a few options and gives step by step instructions. The benefit is that if a customer doesn't like Google or Yelp, etc., they can find one they feel the most comfortable with.

I'm thinking too many at the same time can raise a flag but you'd have to be pretty lucky to have them all hit at the same time. I'm sure it's a decent problem to have considering all the other things that can go wrong...lol

 

[grasshoppersean]

Thanks for the quick review. on the email i have created i have included 3 places for them to leave a review. google+business, yelp and yellow pages. would this be a problem if each customer left reviews on all three of these. i would be quite unusual if they all posted the same day.

 

[Laustin1878]

I'd start asking you to write these emails for me if you aced all three, even across several days...lol This isn't a shot at you in any way. Some people just don't feel like taking the time to write reviews. I'm sure there are some who do though.

I think it's a great idea to customize an email and provide more than 1 option. I think your success rate will definitely be higher this way. I don't think you should have a problem if 3 reviews were left on 3 separate sites in the same day.

 

[Scott Rawlins]

I would caution as to the frequency of reviews on Google+. I would recommend maybe 2 -4 per month. An influx of reviews on your Google+ page could trip a filter and those reviews may not even show. And you certainly don't want to simply rely on Google reviews. There are plenty of other review sites that Google will look at and even put on your Google+ page as "reviews from around the web". However, if you have a customer that wants to post a review on several sites, I would suggest they make each one uniquely written. Don't simply copy and paste. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Scott and Luke are right on all counts. A sudden influx of reviews all at once especially if historically you have not had many can trip a filter.

However emailing 40 old clients, I'd be surprised if you'd get 2 or 3. Would likely not be that many. So if it were me, to be safe I'd email 20 this week and 20 next.

But then the key is to start regularly asking for reviews the day of service, with an email follow up the day after. They are most likely to review right after having the service while it's fresh in their minds. PLUS that way they trickle in slowly and naturally.

Big tip - I'd implement some of these suggestions too:

Boost Review Follow-Through With this "How to Ask for Reviews" Formula & Script

 

[grasshoppersean]

Thanks for the quick reply's. Laustin1878 no worries i wouldn't take that as a shot and it would be a miracle if they all left comments on all sites.
i have only sent 2 out yesterday up to now as i wanted to see what you people had to say about it. they have both left reviews on google+ , yellowpages and one on yelp but they were two good customers.
Rawly that was i good thing to mention about the reviews being unique on each site i didnt think about that, the two customers who left reviews did leave unique reviews on each luckily but i might put something in the email about that. i was hoping more reviews could be left in a month though before it trips a filter
thanks for the video linda i will have a look at that later. And yes it would be good to start regularly asking for reviews the day of service with a follow up email, it would look a lot more natural.
i didnt know if it would be worth emailing google about this saying i was going to ask some of my customers to have a look at my google page and ask them to leave reviews if they were happy with the service and if google had any limits on them leaving reviews just in-case they did take any reviews away i would have it in writing. but i guess i wouldnt see the reviews if they were taking them down straight away so probally not a very good idea.

 

[Linda Buquet]

i was hoping more reviews could be left in a month though before it trips a filter[/COLOR]

There is no set number for the review filter. I believe it's about flow and what is expected/normal for that business and that industry.

So if it's a restaurant in a city where most get 50 reviews a month and your restaurant has gotten an average of 50 a month for 2 years, then you could probably get 20 in a week without tripping a filter.

But if in an industry where most businesses in that city have few reviews and you only have 2, then any big influx would be seen as suspicious by comparison.

 

[grasshoppersean]

I see. When I look at most garden services in my area and my old area I dont think I have ever see any with more than 5.

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[Laustin1878]

Asking for honest feedback is the best. As much as we'd all love a dozen+ 5 star reviews, I think you'll agree that it will start to look fake if you've accumulated a bunch of 5 star reviews. A 4 star review thrown into the mix helps make the reviews look a little more genuine. But if you have that many satisfied customers than you can't change that. Great for you. Tell us how you do it...haha

It may be worth asking the customers you know are satisfied to write a testimonial for you. Plaster those bad boys right on the front page of your site and let people see the quality of your work through the eyes of your clients.

Glad to help. You seem to be asking the right questions so keep up the good work.

 

[grasshoppersean]

Haha. Thats a trade secret laustin but not all of my customers have been happy with me but you cant pleade everyone. I do have a testiminials bar and page on my website as well.

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[Phil Rozek]

@Luke
Thanks.

@Rawly
Linda's right on the money. It depends on the industry. I have a client who - against my warnings - got 40+ reviews in 2 months.

As I've written before, Google is on a feeding frenzy with reviews. They do not filter them aggressively. A far cry from 2012. Of course, than means there's still the issue of a lot of junk being piped through - although it's not as bad as pre-Google+ Local. But if you're in an industry where you see more than a handful of customers / clients / patients each week, I would say it's fine to ask more than 2-4 people / week. Again, it just seems to depend on the industry.

 

[grasshoppersean]

Thanks Phil.
ok that sounds like a plan. I will will look at sending about 4 emails a week and as linda said start asking customer as i am doing the work.

 

[grasshoppersean]

I would suggest they make each one uniquely written. Don't simply copy and paste. Just my 2 cents.

i just wanted to go back to what rawly said about uniquely written comments. is it ok to copy and paste review from google+ to add in with my testimonials on my website.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Not advised. Google does not like duplicate content and many feel that if you copy reviews to site or to other review sites they'll be deleted from Google.

 

[Former Member]

Glad to hear my template is helping someone out there! The success rate really shouldn't be extremely high so I wouldn't worry about sending them to every customer. One major tip for conversion: my company makes a "happy call" within one hour of service to every customer to make sure they are 100% satisfied. This is when the customer rep mentions our reviews and sends them the template I've attached in an earlier thread.

On another note, Linda is right that google does not like duplicate reviews. I recently got a negative review removed because it was duplicated on google and yelp. The google was removed because it was duplicated and the yelp review was later filtered. Since it was a negative review I got lucky and it worked in my favor but be careful. Maybe a good idea to add a note about that in the email.

Good luck!

 

[grasshoppersean]

i did have a review from google that i put in my testimonials but i have just changed it now.
i like happy call technique, thats a good way to lead on to getting reviews.
i am going to send a few emails now.

 

[ARKlady ARKtechCo]

Great thread and I think I am late to the party since most valuable points were hit but don't forget the leverage of the social reviews now in place on platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn and sharing those lovely reviews via Twitter, etc.

We do syndicate reviews via a slider, videos, etc., so you can leverage those reviews and avoid a duplicate content issue.

Also a strong ongoing practice is to develop a system for asking for those reviews and then follow up with a reminder via another channel such as you are already doing.

 

[Adam Steele]

Lots of great advice above.

I think it is also worth adding that if you are pushing reviews to influence rankings, I've read, and it seems that once you hit a certain threshold, at least in Google Local, more reviews matter less. I don't know if this is industry specific, but something to keep in mind.

Also, be sure to be aware of how many reviews your competitors have. If for example you are in the personal injury space, you will find that reviews just aren't plentiful, and for you to be aggressively soliciting them, and end up with 30 and your competitors have 1 or 2 might look a bit weird.

When it comes to reviews, my advice to you would be to spread the love. Don't focus too much on any one directory. Get them on 4-6 directories that accept reviews, even if they aren't super popular spots in your mind. If Google sees them as an authority, this diversity will go a long way in my mind.

 

[Former Member]

Lots of great advice above.

I think it is also worth adding that if you are pushing reviews to influence rankings, I've read, and it seems that once you hit a certain threshold, at least in Google Local, more reviews matter less. I don't know if this is industry specific, but something to keep in mind.

Also, be sure to be aware of how many reviews your competitors have. If for example you are in the personal injury space, you will find that reviews just aren't plentiful, and for you to be aggressively soliciting them, and end up with 30 and your competitors have 1 or 2 might look a bit weird.

When it comes to reviews, my advice to you would be to spread the love. Don't focus too much on any one directory. Get them on 4-6 directories that accept reviews, even if they aren't super popular spots in your mind. If Google sees them as an authority, this diversity will go a long way in my mind.

Definitely agree! As you gain reviews in certain sites you should edit the email to help persuade reviews on other sites. For example, you can simply remove an option, explain the importance of reviews on a certain site, etc..