Simple & Free Tools To Get More Google Reviews

You’ve come to the realization that you need Google reviews to be found on the internet.  Or maybe you’ve known this for a while but you simply don’t know how to get customers to write them at scale.  Don’t worry, you’re not alone.

Some of the most popular search terms on Google for small business owners revolves around Google review generation, automating review collection, or online reputation management.  Therefore, if you’re not being proactive in Google review collection, your competition very well may be.

Today we’re going to share with you some of the top tools that marketing agencies are utilizing to get Google reviews for small businesses they work for.  Except you don’t have to pay thousands of dollars per month to some big company to gain access to them.  Many of them are completely free and others cost less than $30/month.  Without further introduction, let’s jump in and see what these tools are all about:

Create A Google Review Handout

We know the typical song and dance.  You tell a past customer who is thrilled with your work or business to go leave you a Google review.  They say they are going to and for a second you believe them.  Until hours, days and weeks pass and you don’t get anything.  Did the customer lie?  Were they never intending to leave you a review?  No, they simply forgot.  Or maybe they went to try to find a place to write the review but they misspelled your business name.  Or maybe they did leave a review but for a different business entirely because they thought it was you.  Let’s fix all the above scenarios with a single page printable handout that provides a direct link to write a review for your business.  A handout that somebody can take home with them, put on their desk as a reminder.

Here are a few great FREE tools to generate a one-page PDF handout to get more Google reviews for your business:

• https://arrivala.com/google-review-handout-generator/ ( our favorite 🙂 )
• https://whitespark.ca/review-handout-generator/
• https://reviewhandout.com/google-review-handout-generator/

Create A Google Review Link

The above handout works great if you are meeting the client in-person but what if you have to follow up after the fact or you are a business that does not meet the client face to face?  We have a solution for that as well!  A Google review link is a direct link that when opened on a desktop computer or mobile device would take the customer directly to the review screen on Google.  No more searching to find your business or having trouble locating where to write a review.  Just a simple link that eliminates all confusion.  Sounds great right?  Well it’s very easy to create thanks to a couple of great tools listed below.  And guess what, they’re completely FREE!

• https://arrivala.com/google-review-link-generator/ ( our favorite 🙂 )
• https://whitespark.ca/google-review-link-generator/
• https://www.brightlocal.com/free-local-seo-tools/google-id-and-review-link-generator/

Create A Google Review Collection Process

Every well-run business has processes in place for key tasks.  If you’re a retail store there may be a process for opening up in the morning and shutting down.  If you’re a salesperson there is likely a process in place for onboarding new clients.  Likely, these processes have been written down and can be shared as needed when new employees are on-boarded.  Why not create an internal process for asking past clients/customers for reviews?  You already know the significant benefits as well as the consequences of not doing so.

This task doesn’t take a fancy tool since it will be unique to your business but it will likely utilize some aspects we created in the previous points.  As an example, if you are an electrician it may go something like this:

• Upon job completion, thank the customer for choosing our company and asking if they would be willing to share a review
• If yes, hand them our Google handout generator and show them where the link is that they can go to to leave the review
• Ask them for an email address where you could send a customer survey.  If they oblige, write it down and hand into the office manager

Then the office manager task may be:

• Look at Google profile every other day and make a note of new reviews
• If a customer with an email address you have been provided has not yet left a review, follow up with the customer and provide them our Google review link
• Wait 1 week, if customer still has not submitted a review, send a follow-up request

Automate Review Follow-Ups

If the last task that discussed creating a follow-up process sounded daunting, it’s because it can be.  Trying to keep track of who has reviewed you and who hasn’t may be possible if you only deal with a handful of customers per week but it can quickly get out of control.

That’s where review collection automation comes into play.  This will be the only tool I recommend that actually costs a little money and is entirely worth it compared with time spent doing it manually.  What is review collection automation?  Well, basically you enter in your past customers into a database or CRM type of backend and then the system automatically sends out review request by email or text message to your past customers that has direct links to review your business.  It then has the ability to follow-up with customers if they do not respond to the first request to ask again.  How much better does that sound then keeping track of dozens of past customers and their review status?

There are a few really great tools on the market to make this review automation happen.  Here at Arrivala, we have some fantastic plans that begin at $29.99/month for premium features.  Our plans are much more focused to the small business owner and therefore we price it for small businesses to afford.  There are many other platforms on the market as well but many cost $200- $500+/month and are simply too expensive in my opinion for what they provide.  I’ve listed a handful of these companies below so you can review and compare:

• https://arrivala.com/pricing/ ($29.99/month)
• https://birdeye.com/pricing/ (kind of hard to tell but looks to start at about $200/month)
• https://rizereviews.com/ (don’t provide pricing but based on info we obtained, looks to cost between $250-$500/month)
• https://reputationstacker.com/pricing/ ($79/month for a plan that includes SMS requests)
• https://www.grade.us/home/plans/professional ($180/month)

In Conclusion

I set out to write this article to help educate business owners on the importance of reviews and I hope it achieved it.  Yes, I work at Arrivala and we offer many of these services & tools (both paid and unpaid) but this article was not meant to be a pitch.  In the past, word of mouth used to be a huge driver of future business.  Your neighbors, friends, colleagues, etc. would recommend businesses based on experience.  While this still happens, reviews are beginning to take their place and over 80% of people trust reviews as much as they trust those recommendations from people they know.  If you want to drive business growth in years to come, obtaining positive feedback from past customers may very well be the single most important thing you can do.

Best of luck in your future business endeavors.  If you have any questions about the above tools & tips, please feel free to email me at cabe@arrivala.com.

Are you a digital marketing company or marketing professional looking to offer review collection & reputation management services to your clients?  Checkout the Arrivala reseller plans now available!