Did you know that 91 percent of young consumers say they trust online reviews? Did you know that the same is true for 79 percent of consumers aged 35–54 and 61 percent of consumers over the age of 55?
If you want your target clients to trust your business and hire you for health coaching or personal training, online reviews can be incredibly helpful. It’s not always easy to get your current clients to leave reviews for your business, though, even if they are happy with the help you’ve given them.
Read on to learn 10 tips from marketing pros that will help you get more online reviews and grow your health coaching or personal training business.
Why Do Reviews Matter?
Online reviews play a major role in helping businesses grow in the digital age. This is especially true for health coaching, nutrition coaching, and personal training businesses.
There are so many different options out there for these kinds of services, and it can be easy for your business to get lost in the shuffle. With enough positive reviews, though, you can develop a great reputation and increase the likelihood that people will choose you over one of your competitors.
Here are some other benefits that online reviews can provide:
- Increased sales: When a product or service receives at least five reviews, the likelihood of it getting sold increases by 270 percent.
- Increased revenue: Businesses can see an increase in revenue of 5–9 percent for every one-star increase they get on Yelp.
- Increased credibility: Remember, people trust online reviews; if they see that your business has lots of positive reviews, you can gain credibility and establish yourself as an expert.
Online reviews can lead to a boost in your business’s search engine rankings, too. They help with local SEO, in particular, and make it easier for people who are actively searching for a business like yours to find you.
Top 10 Tips to Get More Reviews
Clearly, reviews matter if you want your personal training or nutrition coaching business to grow and thrive. How do you get more reviews, though? Start by following these tips from marketing experts:
1. Ask for Reviews
You might be lamenting the fact that you don’t have as many online reviews for your business as you’d like. Stop and consider, though, when the last time was that you asked for a review.
Asking for a review can feel awkward at first. It might feel like a waiter asking a customer at a restaurant to leave them a tip.
Reviews are too powerful to skip over, though. Remember, too, that your clients most likely aren’t intentionally trying to hurt your business by failing to leave a review. They might not know how or realize how important it is to you.
According to marketing wizard Neil Patel, asking for reviews is the first step to getting them. If you reach out to your clients and ask that they review your services and talk about their experience, chances are they’ll be happy to do so, especially if they did, in fact, have a positive experience working with you on their health and fitness goals.
2. Provide Lots of Review Opportunities
The easier you make it for people to review your personal training or health coaching business, the more likely they’ll be to follow through. One way to simplify the review process for them is to provide them with lots of opportunities to talk about their experience.
Sophia Bernazzini, founder and manager of the HubSpot Service Blog, encourages business owners to allow for reviews on several third-party platforms, including the following ones:
- Yelp
- Better Business Bureau
The more places where reviews are available for your health coaching or personal training services, the more opportunities people will have to learn about them when they’re doing research to find a coach or trainer who meets their needs.
3. Try an Email Campaign
Mike Swigunski, the founder and CEO of Global Career, swears by email campaigns for collecting reviews. A well-crafted, appropriately timed email sequence can help encourage your clients to leave reviews and provide you with feedback about your services.
In the email, request that they leave you a rating ranging from one star to five stars (five being the best). Then, let the star rating they give you determine where they’re headed next. If they leave you a rating between one and four stars, for example, they can be redirected to a private form where they can provide more feedback on their experience.
If they leave a five-star rating, they can be redirected to a landing page that provides more information on the benefits of online reviews and provides them with an opportunity to leave your business a more fleshed-out review.
4. Make a Review Page on Your Website
Another way to make online review collection easy is to provide clients with a place to leave a review right from your website. If you have a review page available, they’ll be more inclined to follow through with leaving positive comments about their experience, especially since they won’t have to worry about creating an account with a third-party review service.
According to Dan Foland, the SEO director of Postali LLC, your website’s review page should be clean and easy-to-use. Remember, the goal here is to make the process as simple as possible. Limit the number of steps people have to take and you’ll increase the number of reviews you receive.
You can use multiple channels to request your clients to give you a review, both offline and online. You could send your clients an email, send them a link, or even use custom QR codes offline to redirect them to your online review page.
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5. Provide Great Service
In a perfect world, this would go without saying. However, it’s important to remember that clients will be more inclined to leave positive reviews of your coaching or training if you provide them with great service.
As Jared Weitz, the CEO and founder of United Capital Source, has said, providing a service that exceeds expectations helps you to create brand ambassadors who are eager to sing your praises.
If you’re not getting a lot of reviews and you’ve taken other steps to encourage them, consider reassessing your services and looking for ways that you can improve. Think about the feedback you’ve received in the past or talk to your clients about what else you can do to help them achieve their goals.
It’s not always easy to take criticism at first. It’s worth it if it helps you grow your business, though.
6. Ask at the Right Time
People will be much more inclined to leave positive online reviews for your business when you ask at the appropriate time.
Christina Brodzky, founder and chief strategist of MediaSesh, has pointed out that timing can make a big difference in people’s likelihood to review your business and speak positively about it. She also acknowledges that the appropriate timing is different for businesses in different industries.
In the case of asking for reviews from personal training or health coaching clients, a good time to ask is when they’ve accomplished a goal or have had their first session and are feeling excited about what the future holds for them. You may also want to ask for a review after they’ve referred another client to you for coaching or training.
7. Personalize Your Requests
When you’re requesting an online review, especially if you’re sending a request via email or text message, be sure to personalize it. According to Chas Cooper, the founder and CEO of Rising Star Reviews, personalization can increase the number of reviews you receive in a significant way.
This makes sense when you stop and think about it. If your clients feel that they’re getting a mass-produced email and aren’t being viewed as an individual, they’ll be less interested in leaving you a thoughtful, positive review.
Those who receive what feels like a mass email are also less likely to see the urgency of the situation. If it feels personal to them, though, they’ll know that you really do care about receiving feedback, and the chances of them leaving a review will increase.
8. Share Positive Reviews Online
Thank people for sharing positive reviews, too. When your past or current clients see that others are leaving you good reviews for your training or coaching services, they’ll be more inclined to follow suit. This is especially true when they see that leaving a review will earn them a shout-out on your social media profiles or website.
As marketer and entrepreneur Syed Balkhi has pointed out, sharing reviews is an effective tool for encouraging more reviews. It also helps to grow your business and gets people who have been on the fence about hiring you for training or coaching to develop a greater interest in investing in your services.
9. Incentivize Reviews
Sometimes, people need a little extra nudge before they’ll leave an online review for a business.
According to Alex York of Power Reviews, if your clients can see what’s in it for them to review your coaching or training online, the chances of them leaving a review will go up.
There are lots of different ways you can incentivize reviews. For example, you could run a review sweepstakes competition for your business. This involves entering people into a drawing to win a prize after they leave a review online.
Offering discounts can be useful, too. For example, if a client leaves a review online, they can receive something like a discount on their next month of coaching or a free training session.
10. Engage with Reviewers
Remember to engage with everyone who leaves an online review for your coaching or personal training business. John Li, the co-founder of Pickfu.com, says that the way in which you engage with reviewers tells people a lot about your business.
For example, if you respond to negative reviews in a way that is positive, helpful, and productive, people will see that you care about your clients and want them to have a good experience working with you.
When you respond to positive reviews, you also create deeper connections with your clients. This shows those who might be considering hiring you that you are invested in their progress and will stick with them while they work toward reaching their health and fitness goals.
Start Getting More Reviews Today
As you can see, online reviews play a big role in the growth and success of your personal training or health coaching business.
Follow these tips from marketing experts today to take your business to the next level and encourage your clients to leave behind positive reviews.
With a few adjustments to your strategy, you’ll have much more success spreading the word about your business and finding new opportunities to grow your client base.
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