Updated March 2024 – Garnering reviews are necessary for any business that wants to grow. Reviews are an essential part of your business’s marketing strategy and can dictate your online reputation.

As a tour and activity business owner, gathering positive feedback can be a direct line of contact with your existing customers and can even increase your SEO ranking on search engines like Google. Furthermore, direct and negative reviews give you insight into any problems within your services – allowing you to create improvements that will help in bettering your customer experience.

Showcasing good reviews is also beneficial when it comes to gaining new customers. Positive product reviews increase the trustability of your business which will boost your chances of reeling in potential customers. Research shows that 93% of people use online reviews as a point of reference before purchasing a product or service.

how to ask for a review

Pinpointing the best way to ask customers for reviews can feel like a daunting process for many tour and activity operators. However, it really does feel like second nature once you get your messaging, timing, and method right. In fact, you can completely automate the process so the reviews can roll in without requiring a second thought.

In today’s article, we’ll uncover tips on how to ask customers to leave a review, along with real examples you can implement into your business.

What can you expect when you ask for customer testimonials?

It’s fair to expect that some customers will be happy to provide a review for your business, while others might not have the time or inclination to share feedback. However, you’d be surprised that most of your happy customers actually leave without writing up a review.

Reviews are an important element of increasing your conversion rates, so it’s important to make sure you have a process in place to actively collect them.

Of course, it’s impossible to get customer feedback without asking the customer first, so here’s how to request reviews that will build up your company’s online presence.

How to ask for a review

How to ask customer to leave a review

Knowing how to gain customer feedback is more complex than simply asking your customers to write a 5-star rating online. Chances are, your customers will forget any verbal review requests soon after their departure. This may be for the best, as giving your customers time to reflect on their experience will likely result in a more in-depth review. However, satisfied customers generally do not leave a review without prompting. It’s important to understand the line between encouraging online feedback while also not overwhelming your customer with constant, automated review request emails.

There are four important elements to choose from when considering how to get your customers to write reviews:

1. Get the timing right

There is no singular, ideal time frame to ask for a review. If a customer approaches you after their tour with unsolicited praise, you can point toward the review platform your company prefers. For example, you can provide your customers with a Google review link if you want to direct them to leave a Google review.

Generally, the best time to ask for a review is a day or two after the tour or activity. With the right program in place, you can set automated messages to go out at a set time, so you can request a review while everything is still fresh in your customer’s mind. Or, if you have time, a personalized email thanking the customer for their business can also be a great tool to encourage online reviews.

2. Choose the right channel

Online reviews encourage a level of honesty as customers may feel uncomfortable providing reviews in person.

Emails are an ideal way to ask for customer reviews because people will often check their inboxes when they have time to spare. Emails are great for encouraging customers to upload a review on an external site like Yelp, TripAdvisor, or Facebook.

Automatic email templates can also be used to circulate surveys amongst customers and can be set up with a Customer Satisfaction Score (i.e. on a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied were you with the experience?).

How to receive reviews

A text message or sms is another quick and easy way to ask for reviews. People constantly have their phones with them, so text messaging is an extremely accessible form of communication when asking for customer reviews. By using an advanced online booking system like Rezdy, you can organize automated customer communications using both email marketing techniques and text messages.

3. Make the message clear and engaging

If you’re perplexed about what to ask in a review request, you’re not alone. But what’s important is to be human, and humble, and speak in your brand’s unique voice. It’s also worth including a personal messaging option in case the customer feels they had a less-than-ideal experience.

We’ll cover a few different messaging examples and options that you can follow below.

4. Choose the right review destination

It’s also important to consider where you want to build up your bank of reviews. You might ask for reviews on Facebook, TripAdvisor or Google, or even provide multiple review locations. However, you should keep in mind where and how your customers book with you to guide this decision.

Also, if your company has a review page linked to your website, then it’s best to choose that platform when asking for reviews.

Requesting reviews from OTA bookings

With bookings made via OTAs projected to grow by 300% by 2025 (Arival), harnessing reviews from customers who book through these platforms is crucial for diversifying your range of testimonials, which can be prominently displayed across your site.

GetYourGuide mobile

Tour and activity operators leveraging online booking software like Rezdy gain a significant advantage in soliciting reviews, particularly from customers who booked through OTAs like GetYourGuide. With Rezdy’s automated communication feature, operators can streamline their efforts and target customers based on their booking sources.

The process is seamless: operators can configure Rezdy to automatically send personalized review requests to customers who booked through GetYourGuide, directing them to leave a review on the preferred platform. This targeted approach ensures that the review request reaches the right audience at the right time, optimizing the chances of receiving positive feedback.

How to set up automated communication for OTA bookings with Rezdy

Configuring automated review requests on Rezdy is straightforward and customizable to your preferences. Here’s how:

1.  On your Rezdy dashboard, navigate to “Settings”

2. Select “Email,” then choose “Follow-up Review”

3. Craft your email, specifying the preferred send time (e.g. 6 hours after the tour has concluded), and link it to the OTA’s review form

By implementing these steps, tour and activity operators can efficiently solicit feedback from OTA bookings, enhancing their online reputation and driving business growth.

4 clear and creative examples of requesting a review:

customer review

Example 1

We hope you had a brilliant time with us here at [Business Name]! We wondered if you’d like to leave us a review? This will help other people just like you find and enjoy our tours. You can click the link below to leave a review for [Business Name] on [Review site].

Example 2

Did you enjoy yourself as much as we did? We’d be delighted if you could help spread the word about how awesome [Business Name] is. Head on over to TripAdvisor now at this link to drop us some love. If your experience was anything less than perfect we’d love to hear about that too – please get in touch directly so we can make things right.

Example 3

Roses are red, violets are blue, we loved having you – did you love us too? If yes, why not leave us a review!

Example4

[Name], we’d love your feedback on your recent experience with us. What did you like? What can we do better? You can get in touch by replying to this email, or give us a review on [Review site] if you would like to recommend us to others.

Conclusion

Encouraging positive business reviews is an essential component of running any kind of tour or activity business. But knowing how to ask for reviews effectively can be difficult without the correct tools. Rezdy’s tour reservation software makes it incredibly simple to capture reviews. With Rezdy, you can create automated email templates that will prompt review request emails to be sent within a certain period after the completion of your tour or activity.

Furthermore, Rezdy’s advanced software equips tour and activity operators with features that will streamline business processes. These include features such as real-time availability viewer, automatic manifest updates, and integration into various payment gateways to name a few. These are one of the many features Rezdy offers that have helped many tour operators free up time and get back to doing what they love.

Curious to see how Rezdy can fit within your business? Explore a free 21 day trial or book a personal product demo today.

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