Customer reviews are a powerful tool for your business. Building up a strong profile of good reviews will build trust and convince potential customers that your business will live up to your promises, which in turn will boost sales and help your business grow.
There are other benefits to reviews, but the long and short of it is that they show the world that people will have a positive experience using your products or services.
Once the power of reviews is shown, the question that follows is pretty obvious: “how can I get 5 star reviews for my small business in the UK”. That’s where this guide comes in.
We’re here to guide you through the art of not just getting reviews, but increasing your rating and encouraging that all-important 5-star rating.
Make sure your business is ready
When we talk about 5 star reviews in this guide, we mean real, genuine reviews. Not fake reviews that aren’t real or are paid for. Trust us when we say that earning those reviews will do much more for your business than you can believe, and likewise, the fake ones will do more damage than you realise.
There’s no way to cheat or trick your way into 5 star reviews. The only way to get a 5 star review is to make sure that you are delivering a 5 star experience.
So, before you do anything, think:
- Is your business ready to deliver that 5-star experience?
- Do you live up to your promises?
- Are your products worth it?
- Do you provide exceptional customer service?
If there’s a part of your business that doesn’t yet live up to the standard you want to deliver, then you need to turn inward and fix that first before you start asking for reviews. Once the product or service is there, then it’s time to move onto phase 2: asking for reviews.
Make sure you ask for the reviews
It might seem a bit simple, but one of the key steps in getting 5 star reviews is to make sure that you’re getting reviews in the first place.
And don’t think that this will be received negatively, because studies have shown that people are happy to be asked and will then provide feedback. (Söderlund and Mattsson, 2015)
We’ve covered this before in some of our review guides, but essentially, the best way to get reviews is to ask for them.
There are plenty of different methods that you can use for this, including:
- Using email or SMS messages, especially after a purchase
- Using website pop-ups for your website
- Directly asking customers in person or over the phone
- Making use of social media and building groups
There are multiple ways to encourage reviews. The most effective will depend on your type of business and how you operate. For example, if you have a small cafe, you might want to focus on asking customers in person when they’re paying their bill and creating QR codes that can be used on menus or receipts.
If you’re running an e-commerce store, you might want to use automated emails that ask for reviews post-purchase.
Whatever you choose, it’s important that you focus on a strategy that works, and don’t go too wide for your platforms. We’ve gone into more detail on this in our guide on building real customer reviews for your business, but the easier you make it for your customers to leave reviews, the more likely they will be to do so.
Learn, improve, and repeat
Once you start asking for reviews, you need to make sure that you take on and acknowledge the feedback seriously. Reviews are a way for customers to share their exact thoughts about your business with you, and they should not be taken for granted.
Although the goal is to reach the 5 star review, you shouldn’t just focus on the stars – it’s far more important to listen to what your customers are actually saying. Especially if you’re getting the same comments from multiple customers, then you definitely need to listen.
For example, let’s say that you get a few 3 star reviews that say the product is good, but delivery took a long time. Now, you might not have the power to pull an Amazon and get it on a customer’s doorsteps the next day, but you can look at your current delivery and dispatch options. Is there anything in this process that you can streamline? Can you add an alternative delivery provider with guaranteed faster delivery?
They may seem like little changes, but it shows what’s important to your customer. And ultimately, it’s those tweaks that show you’re listening and willing to go the extra mile. That’s 5-star service right there.
You don’t get 5 stars by overpromising
When it comes to marketing your business and services, there’s a temptation to really big up what you do and what you can offer. And yes, if you’re proclaiming that you’re the best piemaker in the area, then you will draw people in.
But… if you’re after 5 star reviews, you really need to be careful with what you promise. There’s a difference between advertising ‘great homemade pies’ and ‘the single greatest pies in Nottinghamshire. One bite and you’ll never want to eat another pie ever again’.
Delicious sounding? Yes. Achievable? Not likely. By doing the latter, you’re literally sabotaging your own reviews. Instead of customers praising your pies and giving you 5 stars, you’ll get 3 or 4 star reviews that say that you do good pies, but they are not as magical and amazing as you promised.
If you want 5 star reviews, you need to go back to the old chiche: under-promise and over-deliver.
Don’t ignore (or delete!) the bad reviews
Here’s a very real fact that you will need to accept: not every review you get will be good. There’s no single business in the world that’s perfect, and even if one did exist, it would still likely have a troll or someone with a bad attitude who wants to leave a bad review for the sake of it.
Bad reviews happen. But getting them isn’t as bad as you think they might be. In fact, they can make your business look better, as data shows that 68% of customers trust reviews and businesses more when they see a mix of both positive and negative feedback. It shows that your business is more authentic and prevents people from thinking you’ve fabricated your well-earned 5-star reviews.
Secondly, the way you respond to negative reviews can also make them an incredible tool for growth. As long as you don’t use templates, because studies have shown that personalised replies are much more effective for both negative and positive reviews. (López-López et al., 2021)
If you follow our advice on handling negative feedback, your response can build more trust and respect by showing potential customers that you listen to feedback, make amends, and actively improve your products and services.
Our review: Be a 5 star business, get 5 star reviews
The short answer for those asking “how can I get 5 star reviews for my small business in the UK?” is to be a 5 star business. Getting top-notch reviews involves making sure that your business is worth it, that you’re delivering the best product or service that you can.
It’s kind of like those self-help books that say that you need to love yourself before others can love you, or that you need to look inward before you look out.
There are a lot of cliché sayings we could use here, but the principle is that you need to focus on making your business the best it can be. And once you do that, the reviews that you get will reflect the hard work and achievements that you’ve put in.
Speaking of making your business the best it can be, this is an excellent opportunity to mention the top business tips and advice that we offer at Business4Beginners. No matter what industry your business is in, or the hurdles you are facing, we’re here to help.
- Looking to grow your business? Our online business guides provide in-depth insights and hands-on tools to help you grow.
- Need some inspiration? Our ideas section will get the creative juices flowing.
- Struggling with daily admin? Our practical accounting and legal articles will guide you through even the most complex tasks, step-by-step.
Together, let’s get inspired and bring your business to the 5 star level that you deserve to be.
