Reviews and referrals are the lifeblood of any detailing business. But getting customers to leave reviews can be tricky if you don’t know the right techniques. The average business has just 37 reviews on Google. Fortunately, the average detailing business just needs 50 reviews to rank on page 1 of Google.
If you want rank on the first page of Google getting more reviews is key. To get more reviews for your detailing business you need to make easy and valuable. Follow the guide below to grow your reviews and start ranking higher on Google and Facebook today.
Why Reviews Are Important For Your Detailing Business:
Reviews Build Trust & Lead To More Sales
Having good reviews is the number one way to build trust with online visitors. Overtime people have become more skeptical of online businesses and seek out more information on the businesses they buy from. Since your customer’s cars are very private, they want to make sure detailers are trustworthy and have a good track record.
GoogleMyBusiness Reviews Rank You Higher
Having more reviews is critical to your Google page ranking. Detailing businesses with reviews rank 60% higher than their less reviewed competitors. What’s even more suprising is the difference between “average” and top 10% is extremely small. Just 20% more reviews could be the difference between a page 1 ranking or a page 5 ranking. Ranking high is especially important because more than 80% of traffic goes to the first few pages on Google. More reviews means more leads.
Testimonials Give You Free Word-of-Mouth
Google and Facebook reviews are great, but the best way to get referrals is when someone posts your work on THEIR feed. When someone posts your work on Facebook or shares it with friends, you get free word-of-mouth that generates a massive amount of business. Later in this article, I’ll share the key tactic to getting these testimonials and turning them into amazing referrals for your business.
Reviews Can Be Turned Into Great Ads
Video testimonials, reviews, and posts about your services make for amazing ad content. Usually these reviews are affectionally called a “wall of love” and they make for great social proof at the top of your advertising funnel. Putting these reviews on your website, landing page, or ads is a great way to boost conversions.
Reviews Make Amazing Social Media Content
Reviews also make great social media content. It’s great for your business any time you get the chance to highlight a positive customer review on your page. Make sure you always get permission before posting these reviews and always ask if they’re willing to share it on their own page as well.
Before You Start Asking For Reviews, Have These In Place:
Setup A Page To Direct Your Customers To
If you don’t have a GoogleMyBusiness page, Facebook page, or Yelp you should set those up before trying to get reviews. Getting reviews for your website or to post on your socials is great but it won’t affect your search ranking unless you’re plugged into those platforms.
Verify Your GoogleMyBusiness Page
Click here to read Google’s guide on verifying your GMB page:
https://support.google.com/business/answer/7107242?hl=en
Usually it takes anywhere from 7 days to a few weeks to verify your page. Once it’s verified you’ll be able to create short links and customize your review requests. Later in the article I’ll show you how to send a review request with a pre-filled star rating and message.
Create Links To Your Review Pages
Once you’ve verified your GMB page follow this guide to create a link to ask customers for reviews. Repeat the process for Facebook, Yelp, and anywhere else you want to direct customers.
Now you have the links, it’s time to share them in the right places at the right times to maximize reviews. Below are 7 ways to get more reviews for your detailing business.
7 Ways To Get More Reviews As A Detailer
Send Text Message Requests After Each Job
This is the first thing I recommend for any detailer who wants to get more reviews. Text messages have a 90% open rate and the number 1 tool detailers are using to get more reviews. Keep the request short and casual. Introduce yourself if you’ve never texted them before and attach some photos of the work you’ve done. If you can, tell them in person you’re going to send them some photos and a link to leave a review. 70% of customers will leave reviews when asked. So you can easily get 1-2 reviews per day and within two months have more reviews than 95% of your competitors. The first step is always… ASK.
Give Your Customers Something To Brag About
If you want customers to leave reviews and share your amazing work on social media, you have to give them something to share! You’re already taking pictures for Instagram, for Facebook, and for your website. Why not share your work with your customers and ask them to leave a review or share your work on social media? This is an amazing way not just to get reviews but actually more referrals.
Incentivize Video Testimonials (And Repeat Business) With Discounts
source: Vocalvideo
Video testimonials are the highest quality reviews you can get for your detailing business. They massively boost your credibility, increase conversion rates, and improve your SEO according to Biteable. Video testimonials are also great for use in advertising. Some of the highest converting campaigns use video testimonials at the top of their funnel. To get more video testimonials, and get repeat business, offer a discount to customers willing to record a 30-second video of their experiences buying from you. You can ask to highlight specifics like the quality of your work, how their clean car makes them feel, or how easy it was to work with you.
Write The Review For Them, Just Let Them Sign
This tip comes straight from my old college professor when I asked him to be a reference on my resume. He me, “You’ve an A in this class and I like you, so I’m more than happy to be reference. But I’m a busy guy, I don’t have time to write a glowing review of you or your skills. So I’ll make you a deal. YOU write the reference and I’ll just sign it. Sound good?”
So I wrote a reference for MYSELF and he signed off on it. It seemed a little embarrassing at the time, but I found out later it’s extremely common for busy professionals to do this. Sometimes, people just don’t know what to say and they’re not going to spend 10-15 minutes thinking of something just to placate their detailer.
So make it easy! Write a few review templates, print them out, and have them sign it. You can hang them up on your wall and create a “wall of love”.
Or you can write a review template and share it as a link so when someone clicks it, they automatically leave a 5-star review with a pre-filled review on GoogleMyBusiness. Check out this tutorial on how to do that:
Link To Your Review Page Right At Payment
If you use a point of service system like Square, you can collect reviews at checkout. If you collect payment in cash or through Zelle, CashApp, or Venmo you can still ask for a review if you have your phone at the ready when you go to collect payment.
If you’re a mobile detailer collecting payment at their door, when they hand you the cash you can hand them your phone with a link to review your work on Google or Facebook.
Put A QR Code In Their Rear-view Mirror
Including a QR code somewhere in the car (favorite spots are rear-view mirror or door handle) is a great way to get more reviews. Customers are most likely to leave you a review after they’ve just had a good experience with your business. And they’re feeling the best when they first sit in their freshly detailed car for the first time. When I take my car to get detailed there’s no better feeling than sitting in the driver’s seat of an immaculate car. Usually if I’ve taken it to a garage, I’m on my phone anyway looking up directions or setting up my Spotify. If a detailer has left a QR code in the car there’s a really good chance I’m scanning it and leaving a review.
Include A Review Link In Your Emails
Finally include a link to leave a review in your email signature. If you send receipts via email this is another great way to solicit reviews, especially if you send some pics of the car along with the receipt.
It’s also a good idea to include a review link in your inbound email campaigns. If you’re sending out an educational email to former customers, leaving a link to your review page and scheduling page is a great way to get more reviews and work at the same time.