How to Get More 5-Star Reviews

We spoke with Clay Lawrence, owner of Review Harvest , a service that helps home service businesses get more 5-star Google reviews and manage their online reputation.

Clay has helped businesses increase their Google reviews 1,110+% by using personalized outreach campaigns and automating responses to every Google review.

In our conversation, we covered the importance of Google reviews, tactical methods to get more reviews, how to rank in the Google Map Pack, a Review Harvesting case study, and more.

The 9 Key Takeaways

Below are the 9 most essential insights from our conversation with Clay that you can apply to your business.

1. Why are Google reviews important?

You may ask yourself: What’s the big deal with Google reviews?

Well, Google owns over 80% of the world’s internet search traffic , and a recent Birdeye survey found customers check online reviews 68% of the time before engageing with a local business.

So, it’s safe to say that many of your prospective customers will find your business via Google and will likely be influenced by the reviews on your Google Business Profile.

Clay and his clients find that Google reviews provide a unique marketing opportunity by increasing brand awareness and conversion rates.

Unlike many marketing strategies that focus only on one stage of the sales funnel, Google reviews are effective throughout the entire funnel.

“Google reviews are so important because they accomplish two things: They get you more awareness and help you convert leads. When we’re doing marketing activities, we’re either working to create more awareness or converting that awareness. Google reviews do both. With more reviews, you get more awareness by ranking higher on Google, and when people are scrolling Google for service, and you have 50 or 100 more reviews than the next competitor, consumers will pick you.”

— Clay Lawerence (@claywlawerence)

2. How to get your first Google review

Now that it’s clear why Google reviews are important, how do you get your first one? Well, all you have to do is ask.

Clay says it’s as simple as sending a quick text asking your customers to leave one.

Grab your Google Business profile URL and paste that into a brief message to your customers, and you’re on your way.

How to find your Google Business link for sharing

“Get a list of clients, grab the link from your Google Business profile, then copy and paste this into a text to your customers that says, “Hey, we’re trying to get more reviews on Google. If you enjoyed working with us, would you mind leaving a review?”. Send this to 40 or 50 customers, and you’ll receive your first five reviews today. I guarantee it. If they don’t leave a review the first day, follow up two days later.”

— Clay Lawerence (@claywlawerence)

3. The 4 pillars of getting Google reviews

The basics are clear: Provide top-notch service and ask your customers to leave reviews. When you’re ready to up your game, you can follow Clay’s four pillars to rack up hundreds of five-star reviews for your growing business.

Ask

Remind

Incentivize

Make It Easy

“Ask, and you shall receive” rings as true to Google reviews as it does anything else.

Clay follows up with customers several times to ensure they leave a review.

Although Google’s terms and conditions do not allow offering direct compensation for a customer review, Clay has found an innovative approach to encourage customers to leave reviews.

Finally, Clay says to make it easy for the customer to leave the review. Don’t make the customer jump through hoops to find your Google Business profile—make it stupidly simple for them to ensure they take action.

“The last one is “Make It Easy. Give the customer a direct link to your Google Business profile or share a QR code so they can get right to it. Don’t make them type in your business and find where to write a review. You’re not going to get very many reviews that way.”

— Clay Lawerence (@claywlawerence)

4. The DNA of a great review

The most important thing with reviews is volume—the more reviews, the better. However, not all reviews are created equal. While Clay doesn’t advise asking customers to follow a specific template, as this could lower the number of people who leave reviews, there are a few parameters that make for a great review.

Longer is better (5+ sentences)

Having keywords in the review is good (e.g. “heating” for HVAC)

Photos are great

“You don’t want to ask too much of the customer as this can hurt the total amount of reviews being left, and I always optimize for getting my clients the maximum amount of reviews. I’ve found it best to simply ask the customer to share their experience with the business, and you can explain what makes a good review. The best reviews are long, like five, six, seven plus sentences, and have your keywords in them. You can ask for photos too. A recent, long review packed with your keywords and photos is the ideal review.”

— Clay Lawerence (@claywlawerence)

5. Do I need to respond to reviews?

Is the work done now that reviews are flowing in for your business? Not quite.

Clay says that responding to positive and negative reviews is a crucial aspect of managing your business’s online reputation. When you get positive reviews, use responses as an opportunity to reaffirm how much you appreciate your customers.

In the case that you get a negative review, you can leverage it as an opportunity to make things right with that customer and prove to future customers that you’re willing to fix mistakes, which will build trust.

“We always want to respond to reviews since potential customers will be reading these responses. The simplest approach is to personalize the response using the customer’s name and the context of the review. If they love your service, tell them how happy you are and that you look forward to working with them again. If it’s a one or two-star review, use it as an opportunity to show potential customers how you handle adversity. Even if you have a few negative reviews, potential customers can see your response, such as: “Hey, let’s talk so I can make this right.” This will prove to potential customers that all of your good reviews are legitimate and that even if you make a mistake, you will make it right.”

— Clay Lawerence (@claywlawerence)

6. How to repurpose reviews

Now that you have received all these amazing reviews, making them visible to customers, regardless of where they connect with your business is crucial.

Since not all potential customers will find you through Google, you can share this valuable social proof across your social media profiles, website, and even in-person meetings.

“Clay Lawerence ( @claywlawerence )”

— Clay Lawerence (@claywlawerence)

7. Using reviews to rank in the Google Map Pack

Google Map Pack is a set of three Google Maps-based results that will often appear when users conduct local searches for businesses.

In the Map Pack, users can view a business’s Google reviews and star rating, a summary of the business, its address, hours of operation, pricing information, and featured photos.

Competition for one of three spots in the Google Map Pack results is fierce because only the highest-rated businesses are featured. Most mobile phone screens are occupied by the Map Pack, making it a natural choice for consumers.

Here is an example of the Google Map pack when searching for “HVAC Santa Monica”:

So, how do you get your business in one of these coveted three slots? Clay says there are a few factors:

Make sure your business is in the right category on Google

Have your service type included in your company name

Get positive, long reviews with photos on an ongoing basis

“Google likes to see recent reviews. If you have 200 reviews but haven’t gotten a review in six months, and your competitor has gotten 50 reviews in the last month, Google may rank them above you. That’s why you always want to make sure you keep requesting reviews.”

— Clay Lawerence (@claywlawerence)

8. Automation + Personalization = More Reviews

Clay has worked with numerous clients and has developed a unique, customized series of automated emails and text messages that he uses with his clients. This automation feature ensures the right number of messages are sent out, given how busy business owners can get.

Clay includes a custom image featuring the business owner’s picture and the customer’s name to personalize each message. This approach, although automated, attracts the customer’s attention and significantly enhances conversion rates.

You can find some examples of these personalized messages at the bottom of the newsletter.

“The biggest thing for getting people hundreds of reviews is making it automated so it can happen in the background. If you have to click a button each time to ask for a review, it won’t happen. We send an image of the business owner with the customer’s name in it. We set it up so that a personalized message with this image goes out to their customer two hours after our client leaves a job. This customized image helps cut through the noise, with people seeing thousands of daily ads. People know it’s automated, but it gets their attention when they see the photo.”

— Clay Lawerence (@claywlawerence)

9. Increasing Junk Punks’ reviews by 181%

One of Clay’s clients, Junk Punks , is a professional junk removal company operating in the highly competitive Tampa Bay market. When Junk Punks initially approached Clay, they struggled to stand out against competitors who already had hundreds of five-star reviews despite being in business for a short period.

To assist Junk Punks, Clay implemented personalized, automated text and email campaigns to target their existing customer base. This approach resulted in a significant increase in their Google reviews, which went from 127 reviews to 357 reviews in two months.

As a result of Clay’s efforts, Junk Punks now regularly attracts new customers from the Google Map Pack and has experienced a significant increase in their conversion rates from Google traffic.

“Junk Punks is in Tampa, a super competitive junk removal market with over 200 businesses. They came to me when they hadn’t been in business very long and were getting overshadowed by all the other competitors with way more reviews. We took them from 127 to 357 reviews in two months, and now they’re in the top three of four most reviewed junk removal businesses in Tampa.”

— Clay Lawerence (@claywlawerence)

Personalized Image Examples

Husky Tree Services

Region Scoopers

Gulf Coast Christmas