Learn how to get Facebook reviews with this ultimate guide. After reading, you’ll have actionable steps to take to improve your business’ rating on Facebook.
Contents
Understanding Facebook Recommendations
How Facebook Reviews and Recommendations Drive Sales
How Facebook Reviews and Recommendations Affect Local SEO
How Facebook Reviews and Recommendations Affect Paid Ads
The Simple Key to Success with Facebook Reviews and Recommendations
Getting Started with Facebook Reviews and Recommendations
How to Respond to Negative Facebook Reviews and Recommendations
Chapter 1
What’s the difference betweek Facbook “reviews” and “recommendations?”
In August of 2018, Facebook announced it was making the switch from “reviews” to “recommendations,” which work differently.
While Facebook previously allowed for ratings of one to five stars, now there’s more of a pass/fail system, where customers can say they either do or do not recommend a business, either publicly or just to their friends. If your business received several reviews before this switch, the average star count you had is included in your new rating
Facebook recommendations also behave more like posts, so when a customer recommends your business, they have the option to just show the recommendation to his or her friends like a typical post. If a reviewer chooses to do this, that recommendation will not show up in your final rating. A recommendation must be public for it to count as part of your overall rating, which appears like this on your business’ page:
How does Facebook calculate your rating from recommendations?
The overarching Facebook rating is determined by a ratio of how many individuals recommend your business to those that don’t. These are then posted on a scale of one to five.
So, if your business received 8 positive recommendations and two negative, you would receive a 4/5 overall rating. Reviews from before Facebook made this change can affect the calculation differently because a three-star rating is counted as a three and not a “yes” or “no” in the final score.
What happened to the reviews I got before Facebook switched to recommendations?
Nothing! All the reviews you received before Facebook made the switch are still there, and the star ratings you had are included in your business’ new, overall rating.
What are the advantages of showing customer reviews on Facebook?
There are a few potential advantages to displaying customer reviews on Facebook:
- You show that your business values transparency. Everyone knows you can’t make the whole world happy and that you will eventually get negative recommendations. When you turn on Facebook recommendations anyway, you let people know that you care about honest, real experiences at your business: positive or negative.
- You allow your business’ biggest fans to cheer you on publicly. Your biggest fans want to see you succeed, and when you give them the chance to review you, they’ll happily do so in a way that encourages purchases from others in the future.
- You embrace the opportunity to show off quality customer service. It may come in a day, a week, or a year – but someday, you will receive a negative recommendation. When that day comes, you have a unique opportunity to deliver excellent customer service in a public way, which other potential customers will notice (and appreciate).
- You benefit from a boost in sales. As mentioned previously in this post, Facebook reviews drive sales. This is potentially the most important advantage to displaying Facebook reviews.
What are the disadvantages of displaying customer reviews on Facebook?
While there are several advantages to displaying Facebook reviews, there are some disadvantages you should be aware of:
- The time commitment. When you turn on Facebook reviews, you also need to be able to monitor them and respond. While we believe reviews are highly valuable, if you don’t have the time to commit to doing it well, it may not be the right time to accept reviews of your business on Facebook.
- Harassment potential. Sometimes, though rare, businesses can experience harassment from dissatisfied customers or disgruntled employees by way of constant negative reviews. These can be reported or disputed, but are time consuming to deal with.
- Improperly dealt-with negative reviews. When you turn on Facebook reviews, you want your most satisfied customers to leave recommendations. The best way to ensure that happens – and bypass poor reviews – is by pre-screening customers and only directing your happiest to Facebook to review you. Check out our facebook review tool to automate the pre-screening process for your business.
Chapter 2
How Facebook Reviews and Recommendations Drive Sales
This chapter will unpack why Facebook reviews matter from a business perspective. If we’re going to tell you how to get Facebook reviews of your business, we’re going to begin by telling you why they matter in the first place. They’re not just about looking good – they’ve actually been proven to drive sales.
Are Facebook reviews important for businesses?
Consumers who click on a product review shared to Facebook are 40 percent more likely to convert than those who click on a Facebook post from your business.
Facebook reviews aren’t just about building a reputation (which is important, don’t get us wrong), but they work for your business. When you take a look at every stage of the sales funnel, there’s an opportunity for Facebook reviews to impact your potential customers:
- Awareness: Facebook reviews educate potential customers about your products, services, and the overall experience customers have of your business. When a user shares a review or recommendation of your business, all of their friends are then introduced to it.
- Consideration: Facebook reviews give potential customers a method of comparison between you and your competitors. The higher quantity of positive recommendations you have, the better.
- Decision: Potential customers are ready to make a choice, and are seeking validation of their decision. Facebook reviews reinforce the decision to buy from your business.
How do consumers use Facebook reviews?
According to Market Force research, 81 percent of surveyed consumers from the U.S. and the UK made purchasing decisions based on recommendations shared by their friends. And it’s not just recommendations from friends that consumers trust: 91 percent of those aged 18 to 34 take online reviews from strangers just as seriously as those personal recommendations.
Facebook takes that personal touch a step further by displaying reviews from a user’s friends first, so a potential customer can see what their friends have said before anyone else. That establishes a kind of connection you don’t get from Google or Yelp reviews.
Bottom line: consumers use Facebook reviews to make purchasing decisions. Sometimes the decision to buy is influenced by a friend’s recommendation, sometimes it’s reinforced, but either way, purchasing decisions are made.
Chapter 3
How Facebook Reviews and Recommendations Affect Local SEO
In this chapter, we’ll touch on the relationship between Facebook reviews and local SEO. By the end, you’ll have a better understanding of why Facebook reviews and recommendations matter – and not just to your social media presence.
How Facebook Reviews Can Boost Local SEO
When it comes to local SEO, even the smallest factors can make all the difference. Google pulls from multiple sources to get information and seek credibility of your business. The more Google has, the more confident they are to include your business in the local three-pack, which is a selection of local businesses related to the user’s search:
Facebook reviews can help boost your ranking because it’s possible for them to show up under Google’s “Reviews from the web” section:
Positive Facebook reviews and recommendations can play a role in improving your local SEO.
Chapter 4
How Facebook Reviews and Recommendations Affect Paid Ads
In this chapter, we’ll briefly discuss the power of Facebook reviews in how they can affect the overarching costs of your paid advertising.
How Facebook Reviews Lower Paid Advertising Costs
Facebook ads are cost-effective and can be helpful for many businesses. Anyone who is served a Facebook ad is likely to check out the Facebook Page the ad came from, including the reviews, before making any purchasing decisions.
Since your Facebook reviews will affect conversion rates, that also means your Facebook reviews and recommendations can affect the overall advertising cost per acquired customer.
Chapter 5
The Simple Key to Success with Facebook Reviews and Recommendations
In this chapter, we’ll break down how your business can find success with Facebook reviews. We’ll discuss the rating your business should have, how to get more recommendations, and by the end of the chapter, you’ll have actionable steps you can take to improving your business’ Facebook review presence.
How high should a Facebook rating be?
Simple answer: Ideally, at least a rating of 4 (out of 5).
Better answer: Higher than your local competitors’.
Detailed answer:
According to a Bright Local survey, 57 percent of consumers will only use a business with a rating of four or higher. When a rating is lower than that, consumers worry that’s a low-quality business and will purchase elsewhere.
On the flipside, consumers can become suspicious when you’ve got a perfect five out of five stars. They’re more likely to wonder whether those reviews are real – even they know you can’t make everyone happy all the time.
Facebook has actually made it easier for you to get many positive recommendations without raising suspicion. With the new Facebook recommendations, Facebook has removed the ambiguity between a four and five-star review. Now, you either get a “thumbs-up” or “thumbs-down,” and the rating displayed is the ratio of like-to-dislike. You can have an average rating of five because there are only two options to choose from, as opposed to five.
How to get a high quantity of Facebook reviews and recommendations
The answer to how to get Facebook reviews is simple: ask every satisfied customer to recommend you on Facebook. This is especially true of this review platform, as review conversion rates on Facebook tend to be lower than those for Google or Yelp.
While Google and Yelp have specific review popup links you can send customers to in order to encourage reviews, like this:
Facebook does not:
As you can see, those directed to Facebook have to click on “Yes” to recommend the business – and there’s a lot to distract them away from it. That means you need to ask a lot more people to recommend your business in order to get the quantity of recommendations you need.
It may seem like a lot of work, but there are a few ways to ease the burden and get results for your business, as we’ll discuss in the next section.
How to get raving Facebook reviews
The best way to get raving Facebook reviews is to ask your most satisfied customers to leave recommendations. Here are a few best practices you can follow in order to effectively get more positive Facebook reviews:
- Pre-screen your customers so only the happiest leave positive, public Facebook recommendations. Those who were dissatisfied should be directed to provide feedback that is kept private between you and the customer.
- Follow-up regularly. Customers who don’t respond to the first review request should be sent emails or text messages as follow-ups. You can easily double the number of reviews you get by doing this.
- Frequently ask new customers to leave reviews. At least weekly, you should send out review requests to customers. They’re more likely to leave reviews when the experience is fresh in their minds.
- Automate the process so these best practices are followed in the most efficient way.
- Check out our Facebook review management tool to help you get more Facebook reviews, or watch the video below to learn more about how it all works:
It all begins with a basic pre-screening of your customers. They’re sent an email that looks something like this:
If your customer gives your business a thumbs-up, they’re asked to leave you a recommendation:
If they give you a thumbs-down, they’re sent to a different screen to provide more feedback which goes directly to you so you can make improvements within your business:
Customers who do not respond to the initial email are sent follow-ups, which can often double the number of recommendations you receive.
Remember: because Facebook recommendations work a little differently, the average conversion rate is low. It’s a bit harder for customers to figure out how to recommend you, and there’s a lot that can distract them away from the task at hand. You should regularly ask for recommendations from your customers and provide them with instructions on how to recommend you, so they’re less likely to become confused.
The best part is that it’s all automated. Just be sure you or a member of your team is monitoring reviews left on your Facebook page so you can hop over and say, “thanks!”
Chapter 6
Getting Started with Facebook Reviews and Recommendations
Now that you know the “why” of Facebook reviews, now we’re going to talk about the logistics of how to get Facebook reviews. This chapter will give you the step-by-step guides to turning Facebook reviews on and off, and how to get the nifty “Reviews” button to show up on your Facebook page.
How do I get the “Reviews” button to show up on my Facebook page?
If you’re wondering how to get Facebook reviews, you first have to allow your business to receive them. By adding the “Reviews” button on your Facebook page, you are automatically turning on reviews for your business. It’s fairly simple:
1. Head to your business’ Facebook page.
2. Click “Settings” at the top of your page:
3. Locate the tab called “Templates and Tabs” on the left-hand side:
4. Scroll down until you find “Add a Tab:”
5. Next to “Reviews” or “Recommendations,” click “Add Tab:”
How do I hide customer reviews on Facebook?]
If you do decide to hide customer reviews on Facebook, it’s fairly simple:
1. Head to your business’ Facebook page.
2. Click “Settings” at the top of your page:
3. Locate the tab called “Templates and Tabs” on the left-hand side:
4. Click “Settings” next to the “Recommendations” or “Reviews” tab.
5. Select “Off” next to “Show Reviews.”
Chapter 7
How to Respond to Negative Facebook Reviews and Recommendations
In this chapter, you’ll learn how to deal with negative Facebook reviews. Every business gets them, but not every business knows how to respond to them. These guidelines will help you turn negative Facebook reviews into an opportunity for your business.
How do you respond to negative Facebook reviews?
You don’t ever want to ignore a negative Facebook review. It would come across to other potential customers that you don’t care about that customer’s experience, and that won’t help your business.
Here are some simple steps you can take to respond to negative Facebook reviews:
- Respond in a timely manner. You want your customer to know you care about his or her experience, and you don’t want other potential customers reading that negative review thinking that you chose to do nothing.
- Be authentic. If you’re sorry, say so. If your business was at fault here, tell them that. People respect honest responses and sincere apologies.
- Offer to make it right. Is there something you can do to fix or improve upon the situation? Offer to do that.
- Take it offline. Leave your phone number or email address so they can contact you with any further concerns. Because Facebook recommendations function like Facebook posts, you could end up commenting back and forth with an upset customer – and that’s something you want to avoid.
Should you respond to positive Facebook reviews?
You should always respond to positive Facebook reviews if you want customers to keep coming back.
Positive Facebook reviews are from your top fans: the people who love your products or services and want you to succeed. Take a moment to thank them for their time, for their kind words, and let them know you can’t wait to see them com back.
Can you remove a negative Facebook review?
You personally cannot remove a negative Facebook review simple because it’s negative. However, if the review or recommendation violates Facebook’s Community Standards, you can report it. Facebook does not permit reviews that:
- Are irrelevant to your business
- Are unfair
- Involve hate-speech, violence or harassment
- Are spam
- Involve nudity
- Involve drug-related language or imagery
- Are related to suicide or self-harm
Once you report the review, Facebook will look into it. If they find that it does violate those standards, Facebook will remove it on your behalf.
How do you remove a negative Facebook review?
We wrote an entire article on the subject of how to remove Facebook reviews if you’re looking for serious, in-depth information.
But, for the time being, here’s a brief version of how you can report a review that violates any of the Community Standards:
1. Go to your business’ Facebook page.
2. Click the “Reviews” button on the left-hand side:
3. Locate the review you want to report.
4. Click the exclamation point icon to the right of the review:
5. Select the reason you wish to report the Facebook review:
