In 2013 a friend of mine approached me with the idea of establishing a smartphone repair center where he would offer mobile repair and pre-owned retail phones.
Fast forward a few months and he had managed to secure a decent lease in a local shop/office space in Atlanta. An extremely dense, competitive market.
One of the main obstacles of being the little guy in town with this business model, was that the larger franchise’s in his area had a tight grasp on the market since they were able to offer much lower prices, backed with a corporate name and some pretty extreme warranties.
He noticed that despite his competitors being the most popular, they weren’t getting many online reviews. This was where he had to focus. Getting as many of his customers to leave an online review as possible.
We utilized a Text message and Email Feedback Request campaign with some pretty astonishing results.
At the 30 day mark we had received 25 positive reviews on both Facebook and Google. All reviews were from his customers, and they were all 5-star reviews!
By day 90 we had over 110 excellent reviews posted all over the place from happy customers. Google picked up on the fact that we were getting a LOT of good reviews and placed our business listing on the first page of results for when people searched for “iphone repair in Atlanta”.
Here’s exactly how he did it:
1. Installed semi-automated review system – Chasing down customers asking them to leave reviews is obviously not something he wanted to spend our time doing. But when customers say they’ll leave a review – only 1/10 of those will actually leave a review.
Life happens, we get busy, and we totally forget to leave the review. They only seem to remember to leave a review if they’re upset about something.
Setting up a system to send them a friendly reminder text and email to leave a review is the absolute best way to get them to actually leave the review.
If you’ve ever shopped at Amazon, you’ll get an email shortly after your item has been delivered asking you for your feedback. This is exactly what we did.
Our system automates this process as long as you have a customer phone number or email address. No additional time needed – and I know you know time is money!
2. Handed out a feedback card with the customers receipt – Very easy to implement into your current process. We needed something quick and easy – a business card size feedback card stapled to the receipt did the trick.
The key is to be sure that you are strict with yourself and your employees to ensure every single customer gets one. It takes about 30 days to create a habit so we had a checklist printed and posted on the checkout computer. Simple solution to a simple problem.
3. The 10 Second Pitch – He gave a 10 second pitch as he handed the customer the receipt and their feedback card. Here it is…
“This is our feedback card where we ask everyone to leave us a review on Google or Facebook – These reviews help us tremendously and the whole process only takes seconds”
4. The 1 Hour Rule – Customers are most likely to leave a review within the first hour of doing business with you.
So we set his system to automatically send a text and/or email to the customer 45 minutes after they left his repair shop. A basic message did the trick..
“Thank you for doing business with Q___ Smartphone Repair – Your feedback is greatly appreciated! To leave a review tap here REVIEW LINK”
5. Filtering Negative Reviews – If you’re in business, you’ll inevitably get that customer that will be unhappy no matter what you do.
Bad reviews are just a part of business today with the power consumers have. But there is a way to mitigate that.
Our automated system will send the customer to a complaint form if they select a bad rating. If they select a positive rating they’ll be directed to leave the review online.
It’s a win-win because the customer’s negative review goes to your inbox where it can be addressed privately, and positive reviews go out for the world to see.
Within one year of offering phone repair services in Atlanta, Mark had grown a single startup to what is now a 25 location franchise. Customer testimonial was the competitive edge he’s always utilized.
With each location having hundreds of reviews now, he’s the obvious choice in town. It wasn’t always that way though and it goes to show how important your online presence is becoming.
People are getting used to shopping on Amazon where most purchases are based on reviews and recommendations. These buying tendencies are floating over to local business as well and it will only become more critical from here.
If you have any questions about how you can get more online reviews for your business, without investing additional time take a look at this system.
We’re always around if you have any questions – send us your question below!