Publishing reviews on your membership site and asking for feedback on other platforms is an effective way to grow your user base.
Reviews are proven to encourage others to sign up and become your customers, clients, and of course, members. In fact, there are countless studies on the power of online reviews out there, and although the numbers vary, they all conclude that positive reviews can help your business grow.
However, in most cases, members won’t leave a review unless you ask them, or at least make it very easy for them to do so. As many online businesses are starting to realize the importance of reviews, people are being asked more frequently to leave feedback for products they’ve bought and services they’ve received. So if you want to get reviews for your membership site, you’re going to have to be proactive.
But how do you go about getting reviews for your membership program?
That’s exactly what we’ll cover in this guide. By the time you’ve finished this article, you’ll have some clear and actionable steps you can take to start using reviews to make your membership site look more trustworthy and appealing to your audience.
Let’s begin…
Ask for Reviews
This might seem obvious for some, but to others, the thought of actually asking for a review might not occur to them. For others, the idea of reaching out to members to request a review could even make them feel uncomfortable. After all, not everyone is a natural born marketer.
On the other hand, if you don’t ask you don’t get. Also, if you feel like you’ve created a quality membership program that offers real value to your target audience, then it’s your duty to ask for the reviews that will make it easier for your tribe to make a decision and join your program and get the help they need.
In some cases, it might not be the asking that’s difficult. Instead, fear of getting a bad review can be enough of a reason not to ask for one. However, receiving negative feedback is the risk you have to take in order to get good reviews.
Negative reviews aren’t all bad either. Hopefully, if the criticism is constructive, it will give you an opportunity to improve your membership program and make it even better. Also, according to one study, negative reviews don’t have as much of an impact as you might think.
If you really do find the thought of soliciting feedback too uncomfortable, you can bake the process of asking for a review into your membership site. For example, you could add some content to your membership program, at key points in your sequence, asking for feedback with links to the online forms or platforms you’d like a review for. At least this way you only have to ask once, then let your membership platform take care of showing the request to your users when the time is right.
Remember to give your members time to experience your program and get a good understanding of it before asking, rather than requesting a review as soon as they sign up.
Make It Easy to Leave a Review
One thing that often stops people from leaving a review is the extra work required on their part to complete the process. So when you do ask for a review, or decide on how you’re going to collect reviews, try to consider the experience of your members and whether you’re making the process as straightforward as possible.
If you want to publish reviews on your website, then creating an online form specifically for accepting reviews is a good idea. A good WordPress forms plugin makes it easy to create and publish a custom form for soliciting reviews that includes fields for all the information you want to collect. A plugin like WPForms even has pre-built forms for this purpose, along with the ability to add user rating fields to your forms. Try to keep the form specific, rather than asking open-ended questions or just seeking general feedback. Give the user prompts, such as “did the program provide good value for money” or “did it help you with your goals” instead of “tell us your thoughts”.
If you’re seeking reviews for a third-party platform like Facebook for Google, then include links to the exact page where the member can leave a review in your emails or on your site.
To help your members further, you can provide them with some inspiration for what they could include in their reviews. While you don’t want to put words in their mouth, adding links to reviews other people have left for you, or including some examples in your outreach email, can help make the task of writing a review less daunting.
Give Your Members an Incentive
The last thing you want to do is bribe or pressure your members into leaving a positive review. However, by making it worth their while, you can increase the chances of getting reviews for your membership site.
One way you can reward your members for leaving a review is to include a link to their social media profile or website when you publish their feedback. This creates a win-win situation where you get a review for your membership site and they get exposure for their business or service.
Depending on where the review will be published, you might not have control over what content, such as a link, is included in the review. For example, if you’re asking for a review to be published on Google, you won’t be able to guarantee that a link is included in the appraisal.
In these circumstances, you could offer something else to encourage a review for your membership site. One option could be to give the member access to some premium content on your site, or an opportunity for some one-to-one interaction such as a Skype call or email correspondence.
When it comes to offering an incentive in exchange for a review, as long as you don’t insist that the review is positive in order to qualify for the reward or try to pressure them in some other way into publishing flattering feedback, you shouldn’t run into any ethical issues.
Respond to Feedback and Reviews
Whether you’re getting reviews via your website or on sites like Google and Facebook, it’s highly recommended you keep an eye on the feedback you’re receiving.
Publicly thanking members for their reviews or responding to their concerns and criticisms demonstrates to others that haven’t yet left feedback that you appreciate what you receive and that you’re following up on what your members have to say. Showing your review process is a two-way communication should encourage others to join the conversation by leaving their own feedback.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, you now have the information you need to start getting reviews for your membership site.
By being proactive and asking for reviews, as well as making it as easy as possible for your members to submit their feedback, you should be able to start receiving the feedback and social proof that will make your membership site more appealing.
What did you think of this article? Share your feedback or leave a review in the comments below.
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