Reviews and trust: how to collect them and publish them properly
When to ask for a review, how to get people to actually answer, and how to publish reviews so they do not look fake.
In short
- Ask right after the job is done, while the customer is still pleased.
- Send a direct link. Every extra step halves the response rate.
- A full name and a photo multiply the credibility. Anonymous reviews convince nobody.
- Fake reviews are illegal and they are visible.
- A perfect five star rating without a single comment looks suspicious.
Reviews are the strongest sales tool you have and the only one you cannot write yourself. In AI search they carry more weight than they used to, because the systems pull from what other people say about you, not just from what you say.
When to ask
At the moment the customer is happiest, which is usually right after delivery or right after a problem got solved. A week later they have moved on to something else.
If you have a long running engagement, ask after the first milestone that went well. Do not wait until everything is finished.
How to get an answer
- Send a direct link to the review page. Not instructions, not a name to search for.
- Ask personally, in a message from you rather than out of a system, if you can.
- Give a hint about what is useful: what the problem was, what we did, what changed.
- One reminder after a week is fine. Two is too many.
- Thank people for every single review, including the short ones.
How to publish them
- Full name and company. Anonymous reviews are worthless in a reader's eyes.
- A photo, if the person allows it.
- The quote unedited. Do not tidy up the grammar, it reads instantly as though you wrote it yourself.
- Close to the buying decision, next to the button, not in a separate section at the bottom that nobody reads.
- With schema so the rating can show up in search results, provided it is visible on the page too.
What is illegal
Writing reviews about yourself, or having them written, is deception of consumers and it is banned. The same goes for paying for reviews without disclosing it, and for systematically hiding the negative ones.
This is not only a legal matter. Fake reviews are recognisable: several arrive on the same day, they sound like they were written by the same person, and they never mention anything specific.
A bad review
- Answer within twenty four hours.
- Do not argue and do not defend yourself across five paragraphs.
- Acknowledge what went wrong, say what you are doing about it, and offer to finish the conversation off the website.
- Do not demand that the review be taken down. Your reply is what the next hundred readers will see.
A bad review answered well often sells better than ten good ones, because it shows how you behave when something goes wrong.
Frequently asked questions
Where should I collect reviews?
Google Business Profile first, because it has a direct effect on visibility. Facebook and the specialist sites in your field come next.
Can I offer a discount for a review?
Not for a positive review. You can encourage people to leave a review in general, but the moment the reward is tied to what the review says, you have crossed the line.
What if I am just starting out?
Start with the three people you have worked for, even if the jobs were small. Three real reviews beat twenty general promises.
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ReadAbout the author
Kristján Gilbert is co-founder of galdrasmiðjan. He builds websites and online stores for Icelandic companies and writes here about what actually works: speed, search, visibility in AI answers and automation.
Questions about this article go to hallo@galdrasmidjan.is.
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