Today I had the honor of speaking on the “Local” panel at SMX West.
Just thought you might like to see the slides from my presentation on customer reviews – more specifically, how to get them using what I call the “zigzag” approach to requesting reviews.
Any questions or thoughts? Leave a comment!
Darren Shaw says
Great stuff Phil. Wish I was there to see you in action! I like this zig-zag approach. We should see about adding some additional options to the handout generator tool.
Phil says
Hey Darren,
Thanks for stopping by! I wish I could have seen your talk a few weeks ago – sounded awesome.
Good call on the review handout generator (I was thinking exactly the same thing).
matthew hunt says
Congrates Phil! me too, wish I could of been there to see it!
Phil says
Thanks a bunch, Matt!
Nick says
Hey Phil. Thanks a lot for sharing your presentation – Wish I could have been there to see it. Alas, a bit far from me in merry England! Your presentation was excellent and the “zig-zag” approach sounds ideal for the tricky review situation at the moment. It’s certainly something I and others would benefit from if you, Darren&co tagged it onto the review generator. I’m looking at using your template to produce handouts for the UK review websites for my clients.
Phil says
Hey Nick,
Appreciate your stopping by! Yeah, it would have been even more of an epic chuckwagon ride for you than it was for me.
I really look forward to hearing about how it works for your clients over there across the pond.
Mike Zaremba says
This is a great layout for collecting reviews. Love the “circuit” thought and making it easy for the user to follow through on a review.
What do you find generates the most reviews pdf, email, site or verbal?
I’m working with a large eye care practice right now and there are multiple options (email, inhouse specifically) but I’d like to attack the best route to start.
Thanks again, wish I could have seen it in person.
P.S. MacGyver FTW!
Phil says
Hey Mike, thanks for the feedback!
I’m still figuring out myself what works best in terms of medium, but I’d probably go with PDF. Unless your clients can talk with their patients and have that close connection. But I think you guys will just have to test it out a bunch.
MacGyver could use a fortune cookie wrapper
Phil says
No problem, Holly. Amen to all of this being tough to explain.
Thanks for your feedback!
James Sunderland says
I like the make more bullseyes approach. With some clients with over a 100 real filtered reviews it makes sense looking into other platforms. Just not sure of the value of them compared to Google and Yelp in terms of SEO and Branding combined.
Phil says
I completely agree: Google+ and Yelp are the most important by far. It’s just that getting reviews on the other sites is a lot better than getting no reviews or a bunch of reviews that become filter bait. Plus, even though I consider CitySearch reviews a distant third, they really seem to have helped some of my clients.
James Sunderland says
Right we are on the same page Phil. My thinking is just if time and effort are limited witch will net better results (ranks + conversions) . Say you lead a client into a review building strategy for Google and Yelp netting you only 10% actual unfiltered vs 100% show up on other insider, Yp and citysearch which would you prefer? Of course it depends on the category. I’m thinking the only time it’s worth jumping into a new less valuable target is when a placement threshold has been passed in Google+ and Yelp. Bottom line though making it easier for customers to leave reviews is a linchpin.
Phil says
Good points/questions, James. I don’t think either the “10% on Yelp and/or Google” or the “only have reviews on InsiderPages, CitySearch, and YP” are good strategies, but it should never a choice between one strategy or the other. The thing to do is go after a bunch of sites. My approach is pretty simple: get whatever you possibly can, and ask every customer. But yeah, as you say, the key thing is just to grease the skids for your customers.