This Secret Method Will Skyrocket the Number of Positive MSP Customer Reviews You Receive

Asking for reviews can be uncomfortable for some IT business owners. They don’t want to put someone out or seem like they’re asking for something of a customer that they might not have time for.

But IT business reviews are a vital part of your marketing engine. Without them, you could be losing many potential leads and customers that you don’t even know about.

If you’ve been struggling with how to get more positive reviews for your business, we have a tried and true “secret method” that will help you increase your number of reviews and ratings in no time!

What Could I Be Missing If I Don’t Prioritize Reviews?

First, let’s discuss the reasons reviews are important for your IT business and why you should make them a regular part of your content marketing strategy.

You Lose Leads & Sales Without Reviews

Reviews have become an important part of a customer’s sales journey. 9 in 10 people consult a company’s reviews before deciding to do business with them. If you don’t have any or many reviews for potential customers to read, they may decide that looks bad and go with a competitor instead.

How many potential sales are you losing that you don’t know about? One way to judge is by looking at your website analytics to see if you have high traffic but low lead conversions (meaning a low percentage of your traffic that contacts you).

If you don’t have any major website issues (speed, etc.) turning them off, it may be a lack of reviews they can use to evaluate your company.

Old Reviews Age Out and Become Irrelevant

Maybe you have a golden set of wonderful reviews from a few years back, so you think you’re all set on the review front. It’s a big mistake not to continuously ask for new reviews because those older reviews age out into irrelevancy for many people.

73% of consumers don’t fully trust reviews older than a month.

When your reviews are several months or years old, consumers tend not to trust them as relevant any longer. A person may ask, “What if the company changed staff since that good review from six months ago?” They also could wonder, “Why don’t they have any new reviews, has their service gone downhill?”

Not having an influx of fresh reviews can nearly be as bad as having no reviews at all.

You Could Miss an Important Marketing Channel

Reviews provide you with an opportunity to reach new leads that may have not even been looking for your company in the first place. For example, earning reviews on Google can help your Google My Business page rise in the ranks and give you a chance at earning a spot in the coveted “Map Pack.”

Someone searching on “Denver IT Services” is more likely to choose one of the companies that comes up with additional information in the map pack. Besides them being able to make a quick decision based upon star ratings, business hours, and more, they can easily click to visit a website or get directions.

86% of people look up local business locations on Google Maps.

Reviews give you both “star” power from the rating, which may be what causes a person to call one IT provider over another, and earn you visibility in the local map pack.

Reviews help you get in the Google Map Pack for great visibility.

You Miss Valuable Insight That Can Make Your Business Better

Reviews give you valuable insight into how customers perceive your business. Yes, even bad reviews can be helpful. Customer reviews can help you identify a problem that could be hurting your bottom line.

When customers provide reviews, they’ll typically give you feedback that you can then use to your advantage. For example, if someone says that they love how proactive your team is “calling to ask how things are going regularly, instead of waiting for us to call,” it can give you a reason to congratulate your team and encourage them to continue being proactive.

A review stating, “great service, but they’re a little slow to respond” can clue you in to the fact that you need to work on your initial response time to a call and possibly automate some of your processes.

Without regular reviews coming in, you’re missing an important part of the customer conversation about your company that customers may not tell you directly, but they’ll write about in a review.

Tech Reputation’s Proven Method for Generating Tons of Positive Reviews

Asking for reviews shouldn’t be a cause for anxiety because you’re not putting anyone out. 76% of customers are happy to give a review if asked.

Many people like to give kudos to a company they’ve worked with and even more so if they feel well taken care of. This leads us to our proven secret method for skyrocketing your number of positive reviews.

This method revolves around one simple practice: Sending a Thank You card before asking for a review.

But that seems so simple!

Yes, it’s not rocket science to send a Thank You card to your MSP customers, but you’d be surprised how many IT business owners don’t do this. Thank You cards are even more effective when timed before a review request.

Thank You cards hold a lot of power for several reasons and can put someone in the perfect frame of mind to want to rush to write you a positive review.

Here’s why this method works.

Thank You Cards Make Someone Feel Special

When you reach out with snail mail these days, it stands out. Most communications have converted to digital, so getting a hand-written physical card makes a client feel special.

With everything being automated these days, doing something manually like sending a Thank You note tells the recipient that you truly “see them” and care about the business relationship.

After Receiving a Thank You Note Someone is More Likely to Write a Review

You may already think, “Well, I already send out review requests all the time, why should I do something different?”  The answer is that if someone has just received a Thank You card from you, they’re more likely to take the time to click that review link when they get your review request email afterwards.

People are busy, so there is a percentage of clients that mean to give you a review, but they forget about it and your request gets buried under a ton of other messages in their inbox.

However, if a client has just thought, “Awww how nice!” after receiving your Thank You card a few days earlier, they’re more likely to take the time to give you a review as soon as they receive the email.

You Give Them a Reason to Say Something Positive

Not everyone knows what to say in a review. Maybe the boss is not the one your team interacts with the most on a daily basis but would be the one to review your company as the account owner.

So, they may get your review request and think, “Well my team hasn’t said anything about the IT support one way or another, I’ll table this for later.”

However, if that business owner or CEO has just received a proactive Thank You card from your company, you’ve just given them a reason to review you and say something positive.

That Thank You card could generate a perception of your company as:

• Being proactive
• Going out of their way for their clients
• Having great customer support

Your Business is Fresh in Their Mind

If you haven’t personally spoken with a client in a while, it can be awkward to suddenly send them a review request. So much is done remotely and automated these days, if someone doesn’t have an issue to call you about, it can be months before you speak to someone in person.

By sending a Thank You note prior to requesting a review, you “warm up” your relationship and put your company fresh in their mind. They’ve just interacted with you, so will instantly remember that card when they receive your request for a review.

You could even do a combo that would increase your chance of a positive review even more and include an additional touchpoint:

1. Make a quick call to “touch base” and see if they have any needs or requests.
2. Send a note to thank them for their time and business, and a reminder to reach out anytime.
3. Email a review request about a week or so after the note should be received.

This Additional Step to Your Review Process Can Boost Review Results    

Adding the one simple step to your review process of sending a Thank You card in advance of your review request, can increase your results significantly and shower your business with positive reviews.

Do you send snail mail Thank You cards to your clients? Share your experience in the comments.