Why You Need Reviews And How To Get More Of Them

In the early 90's when I got started in the beauty industry as a hair extension artist, I managed to get myself booked solid in a short period of time by handing out loads of flyers.

Since I knew nothing about designing flyers, I would use WordArt on my computer to design a basic flyer on a sheet of neon colored paper, print out a thousand and then go to a festival or event where I knew my ideal clients would be.

I'd have my flyers in one hand and a photo album with pictures of my work in the other. Then I'd hand out flyers to everyone walking by and if someone had questions about my work, I’d show them my photo album on the spot.

Talk about HUSTLE, right?

Back then, it was easy to hand out fliers and get flooded with clients. And even today, I’m sure with enough face to face interactions like I had with people anyone could get a lot of clients. But these days, there's a more efficient way to get in front of your ideal clients without as much time, effort... and printer cartridges. :)

And that’s where online reviews come in.

We live in a digital era where your potential client can literally find hundreds of lash artists in their area with the click of a button. And while that makes it challenging for your business to stand out, you can get noticed more than your competitors by having positive reviews front and center from clients you've worked with. Positive reviews can literally take you from being an unknown artist to being at the top of clients list of businesses they'd like to work with.

Reviews are the new word of mouth.

Gone are the days where people need a personal referral from someone they know. Sure, it’s always better if someone they know refers your business but positive reviews from a group of strangers is the next best thing. As long as you have a few reviews from people that seem honest and credible, potential clients will respond.

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:

When a client searches for local lash artists on Google, the first thing they see are businesses that have claimed their location and business on Google Maps, Google reviews if they’re available and review sites like Yelp. The next step they usually take is they click over to Google reviews or Yelp to find the artist with the highest rating and they read those reviews. The more positive reviews they see for your business, the more credible you appear and the better your chances that client will book with you.

What I love about review sites is they spend a lot of marketing dollars to be at the top of Google search results. So, as long as your business is on their site and ranked on the first page, the review site is practically marketing for you without you investing any money for ads. It’s kind of like you’re piggybacking on the marketing efforts of the review sites to attract clients.

So, how can you get more reviews so your business stands out to potential clients, you ask?

There's a few ways you can go about it but in this article, I’m going to outline the two methods that's worked best for me and my students.

ASK for it

As simple as it sounds, the easiest way to get more reviews is to just ask for them. Anyone that you've applied lash extensions to is a client. That includes models, family members, friends or paying clients. Anyone you’ve done business with and provided a service is a client.

Let your client know that it would really help you to attract new clients and keep your doors open if they would kindly leave a review sharing their experience doing business with you.

Friends, family and models are more than happy to leave reviews to support you. Clients will leave reviews because they don't want to see you go out of business because if you do, they'll have to find and take a chance on another artist. Presenting your review request in this way encourages them to leave you a review.

SEND AN EMAIL

If you're uncomfortable directly asking your client for a review, send an email or text thanking them for their business with a link to leave a review for your business. I suggest automating this process so you’re not sending out texts and emails manually. Acuity Scheduling is an online booking service that does this automatically for you after your client has gotten their lashes done within the time frame you select.

Here’s what you don’t want to do…

You don’t want to ask for reviews that encourage a specific rating. In other words, don’t ask for a 5 star rating because that's against the terms of use for most review sites. If the review sites find out you're doing that, they can permanently ban you from using their site.

Another thing you don’t want to do is have your clients leave reviews on your device or theirs while they are at your business. Review sites are smart. They have technology in place working hard behind the scenes that tracks locations. If they notice reviews coming in from your location, they assume that you may have bribed the client to leave the review with a free offer which makes the review deceptive.

So there you have it friends! Why you need more reviews and the top two ways to get more.

Let me know in the comments below how many reviews you have and how you plan to get more.