Automating post-trip assessment requests doesn’t should sound as impersonal as you assume. In truth, utilizing a system that automates the assessment assortment course of frees up your time so you may supply a personalised expertise to your shoppers. Many tour operators don’t like the concept of asking for a consumer to depart a public-facing assessment for them, which is why most of them fall quick on their sheer variety of critiques.
If you’re a kind of tour operators who shudders on the concept of asking a consumer to depart you a assessment, take into account this: 65% of individuals left critiques as a result of a enterprise requested them to. It’s that complete saying, “Ask and you shall receive.” Now, asking appears to solely work 65% of the time, however that’s a better chance of somebody leaving a assessment for you rather than leaving it to likelihood.
Now you could be questioning, what’s a post-trip assessment request? If not, skip forward.
Table of Contents
What is a post-trip assessment request?
How to automate assessment requests
How to encourage clients to depart critiques
What are the very best practices for responding to critiques?
What platforms must you deal with for critiques?
What is a post-trip assessment request?
A assessment request is when a enterprise asks their clients (whether or not formally or informally) to share their suggestions and experiences on a public-facing assessment platform. The objective of a assessment request is to gather buyer opinions, testimonials, or rankings, which can be utilized to construct the repute of the enterprise, enhance providers, and supply precious info to potential clients.
Reviews are extremely necessary for companies, significantly native companies. So a lot in order that 98% of individuals imagine critiques are important once they’re deciding on shopping for one thing. To add to that, 87% of individuals used Google to judge native companies in 2022. So, in case your guiding firm isn’t specializing in critiques, you’re lacking out on profitable enterprise alternatives as a result of folks need the social proof that you just’re guiding enterprise is legit.
Manual versus automated assessment requests
A handbook assessment request is once you personally attain out to your shoppers—both by telephone, e mail, textual content, or in individual—and ask them to jot down a assessment about their experiences with your enterprise.
Unlike automated assessment requests which might be despatched by way of e mail campaigns or different automated methods, handbook assessment requests contain a extra personalised and direct method. They’re additionally rather more time-consuming than automating your post-tour assessment requests.
Why automating assessment requests is best
There are a ton of advantages to automating assessment requests for tour operators. First of all, automation saves you money and time by eliminating handbook follow-ups and outreach. Second, automating post-trip assessment requests means you’re standardizing your messaging and timing and thereby, lowering any inconsistencies which might be usually brought on by us people.
Another nice purpose to automate assessment requests is that it’s simply scalable whereas nonetheless permitting for personalization. If you might have a number of transactions, you’d should observe up with each single one your self should you aren’t utilizing an automatic system. With automation, you’ll attain extra folks with much less work. At the identical time, a system can routinely ship a assessment request instantly after your buyer’s journey, whereas it’s nonetheless high of thoughts. Plus, you may nonetheless use particulars from their buyer profile to customise your message.
You’ll additionally be capable of combine your assessment requests along with your buyer relationship administration system, reserving platform, and different enterprise instruments you utilize, which helps you streamline a number of these annoying duties most of us wish to keep away from.
How to automate assessment requests
The preliminary setup of automating assessment requests could also be a bit of labor, however in the long term, it’ll be value it, like most automated methods. If you’re ranging from scratch, it’ll take extra planning. If you’re on a reserving platform that already collects critiques for you, then you definately’ll be far forward of your competitors.
This is a simplified method to implement automated post-trip assessment assortment should you’re ranging from scratch.
1. Select a Review Management Platform
If you’re not utilizing a web-based reserving platform that collects post-trip critiques, then both discover a kind of (ahem) or select a assessment administration platform that works for you.
Be certain to search for a instrument that permits for automated assessment requests and integrates along with your present methods. Some examples embrace Goodreviews, TourReview, and Birdeye. The solely downside with these assessment administration platforms is that they aren’t additionally a reserving platform, so it’s yet one more app you’ll should pay for.
2. Integrate with Booking Systems
When you select a assessment administration platform ensure it integrates along with your on-line reserving platform and buyer relationship administration (CRM) system. This integration routinely triggers assessment requests primarily based on buyer interactions.
During your demo with the assessment administration platform affiliate, ask them how their integrations work so if you should utilize them along with your reserving platform.
If you’re utilizing Origin, there’s already a assessment assortment built-in throughout the reserving course of so that you don’t have to fret about most of those steps.
3. Identify Key Touchpoints
After you’ve selected a assessment administration platform or determined to stay along with your on-line reserving platform as an alternative, determine the important thing touchpoints in your buyer journey the place automated assessment requests will likely be handiest. This may embrace post-booking, after the tour, or each.
Using Origin, a textual content and/or e mail is routinely despatched to your friends with a one-click assessment hyperlink for his or her journey and information after they full the tour—whereas it’s nonetheless contemporary of their minds. Plus, we ship one other mild reminder one week later in the event that they haven’t left you a assessment but. In truth, 34% of individuals surveyed by Brightlocal mentioned they’d depart a assessment if the request got here by way of e mail. Following that, 33% mentioned in the event that they had been requested in individual throughout their expertise, they’d depart a assessment.
4. Personalize Automated Messages
It’s necessary to jot down personalised and fascinating automated messages that replicate the distinctive expertise of your excursions and what your enterprise and guides supply that different firms don’t.
Whether you’re sending messages manually or routinely, you’ll wish to embrace particulars such because the tour identify, date, and a thank-you message to make the request extra particular. With Origin, we already embrace pertinent particulars out of your clients’ particular journey, however you even have the chance so as to add your message to your friends.
5. Set Timing for Requests
As they are saying, “timing is everything.” Sending too early may very well be a turn-off and sending too late and your visitor has already forgotten journey particulars. So, take a while to find out the optimum timing for sending automated assessment requests for the very best likelihood of getting a assessment.
This may very well be instantly after the tour or a particular variety of days later, guaranteeing that the request aligns with the client’s expertise. When Origin sends our automated assessment request instantly after the tour, 58% of consumers full it.
6. Offer Incentives
According to Brightlocal, “81% of consumers will leave a positive review if they feel the business went above and beyond to ensure an exceptional experience,” “79% of people will leave a positive review if the business turned an initially negative experience into a positive one,” and “73% of people will leave a positive review if they know that the business is fairly new.”
Their report doesn’t cowl what number of clients depart an incentivized assessment, which may imply a few issues: 1.) Brightlocal didn’t survey for that info or 2.) incentives aren’t that large of a deal to clients.
Try asking for critiques with out incentives first and see the place that will get you. If you’re nonetheless struggling to assemble extra critiques, then take into account including incentives like reductions on their subsequent journey with you or free merchandise.
7. Multichannel Outreach
You don’t have to limit your self to utilizing one channel to request critiques from clients. Utilize a number of communication channels for automated assessment requests for a better likelihood of consumers finishing them. This may embrace e mail, textual content, or in-app messages, relying on the place your clients join with you probably the most. Origin emails and texts your shoppers with a hyperlink to assessment your organization and your information. We ship a pleasant reminder one week later in the event that they haven’t left a assessment but. But you don’t should cease there. You can put up in your social media channels, and embrace a hyperlink in your e mail publication to assessment your organization.
Something to notice: Make certain you adjust to privateness and knowledge safety rules by having clear opt-out choices for purchasers who don’t want to obtain assessment requests.
How to encourage clients to depart critiques
So you know the way to automate assessment requests, however how will you encourage your clients to depart critiques—both routinely or not? There are a number of methods and typically, you simply should get artistic.
We have two lists for you: normal but worthwhile suggestions most operators use when getting friends to depart journeys and extra artistic methods to encourage your friends to depart critiques. Experiment and see what works and what doesn’t.
Standard methods to encourage friends to depart critiques
Provide Exceptional Service
Hands down, the simplest method to get clients to depart you critiques post-trip is by delivering distinctive experiences and customer support. Satisfied clients usually tend to depart optimistic critiques voluntarily as we famous earlier (81% of customers will depart a optimistic assessment in the event that they really feel the enterprise went above and past to make sure an distinctive expertise).
Ask Personally
It would possibly really feel bizarre to ask your buyer to depart a assessment for you, however when 33% do it after being requested, it might’t be that bizarre. Train your guides to ask clients personally for suggestions on the finish of the tour. A direct and pleasant request can immediate clients to share their ideas.
Offer Incentives
According to Power Reviews, “73% of consumers say they’d be motivated to write a review if they were offered an incentive.” Consider providing incentives for leaving critiques, resembling reductions on future journeys, free merchandise, or unique entry to particular occasions. Incentives can encourage clients to take the time to offer suggestions.
Make It Easy
You know once you’re restricted on time and should do one thing on-line and it will get sophisticated quick? You don’t need that to be your assessment course of. Simplify the assessment course of by offering a one-click assessment hyperlink or an easy suggestions type. The simpler it’s on your clients to depart critiques, the extra seemingly they’re to take action.
Highlight the Importance
It’s not at all times apparent to your friends how necessary critiques are, though they seemingly learn them earlier than signing up for a tour with you. Assume they don’t understand how vital they’re to rising your enterprise and respectfully talk that.
Follow Up
Send pleasant reminders to clients who haven’t left critiques after an preliminary request. A delicate follow-up can immediate those that might have supposed to depart suggestions however forgot. Psst.. Origin does this for you.
Show Appreciation
Finally, specific gratitude to clients who take the time to depart critiques. And don’t cease there. Post a number of the greatest critiques in your web site and social media platforms to showcase buyer appreciation and set up belief with potential clients too.
What is the best timing to request critiques from clients?
The greatest time to request post-trip critiques from clients is dependent upon your tour, the general buyer expertise, and the way your friends work together with your enterprise. Until you discover out the very best time on your tour guiding firm, listed below are some concepts to assist get you began:
Immediately After the Tour
Sending a assessment request instantly after the tour whereas the expertise remains to be contemporary of their thoughts is tremendous efficient. This timing permits clients to offer detailed suggestions primarily based on vivid reminiscences.
Next Day or Within 24 Hours
If you may’t ship a post-trip assessment request instantly after, attempt sending it inside 24 hours of the journey ending. This timeframe nonetheless captures the post-tour pleasure and it’s nonetheless quickly sufficient that your clients haven’t forgotten the small print of their expertise. It additionally provides them time to get again residence and replicate on their expertise earlier than leaving a assessment.
After a Positive Interaction
If there was a very optimistic interplay through the tour, take into account timing your assessment request to observe such moments. For instance, after a information goes above and past or after a memorable exercise. This is when it’s necessary to show your guides to ask for critiques in individual as a result of this may very well be an ideal second.
One Week Later (Reminder)
Send a pleasant reminder one week later to clients who haven’t left a assessment (Origin does this for you routinely). This follow-up can function a delicate nudge and improve the possibilities of receiving suggestions from those that might have initially supposed to depart a assessment and forgotten.
The greatest timing will rely in your particular enterprise and buyer dynamics. Test completely different timing methods and monitor the response charges to see what works greatest on your tour operation. Additionally, be respectful of your clients’ preferences and don’t inundate them with requests, in any other case, you may find yourself getting a adverse response.
Examples of assessment requests
Email Review Request
Subject: Your Adventure Awaits – Share Your Experience with Us!
Hi [Customer’s Name]!
Thanks for selecting [Your Company Name] on your latest tour journey! We hope you had an incredible time on [Trip Name] with [Tour guide’s name].
Your suggestions is extremely precious to us and we’d love to listen to about your expertise. Share your ideas on the tour, our guides, and any memorable moments you’d like to focus on. Your insights is not going to solely assist us enhance our service but in addition educate fellow adventurers about us!
To depart your assessment, merely click on on the hyperlink under:
[Review Link]
We can’t wait to listen to about your journey and sit up for welcoming you again for one more thrilling journey.
Safe travels,
[Your Company Name]
[Contact Information]
[Social Media Links]
In-Person Review Request
“If there was a particular aspect of the tour that stood out for you and you enjoyed your time with us, we’d love to hear about it in your review. If you enjoyed your time with us, we’d appreciate it if you could share your experience on Origin and Google. Your insights can inspire future travelers.”
Social Media Review Request
🌟 Share Your Adventure with Us! 🌟
If you’ve been on a latest journey with us, we’d love to listen to all about your unforgettable moments! And we’re certain different vacationers wish to hear about it too!
📣 How to Leave Your Review:
1️⃣ Visit our [platform you’re using to collect reviews] web page (hyperlink in bio).
2️⃣ Rate and assessment your tour.
3️⃣ Share your favourite reminiscences and tag us!
Your suggestions helps us create extra unbelievable experiences for adventurers like your self. Remember to make use of #[TourCompanyName] and let the world find out about your epic journey! 🚀
Thank you for being part of our journey. We can’t wait to learn your tales and see your superb photographs!
What are the very best practices for responding to critiques?
An enormous factor with critiques is that you must reply to each single one—optimistic critiques and adverse ones. When you reply in a well timed ({and professional}) method, this reveals to different clients that you just worth your shoppers and their expertise. Here are another issues to think about when responding to post-tour critiques.
Monitor and Respond on Multiple Platforms and Respond Promptly
Consistently monitor critiques on all of the platforms you’re taking reservations (e.g., Origin, TripAdvisor, Google, Yelp, and many others.) and reply shortly. As in, three days or much less. According to Review Tracker, “53% of customers expect businesses to respond to negative reviews within a week. 1 in 3 have a shorter time frame of 3 days or less.”
Take 20 minutes at first of your day to scan the platforms you utilize for reservations to search out new critiques. When you see one, take 5 minutes to learn their expertise totally, then write a real response again. This makes a distinction to future clients who learn your response.
Express Genuine Gratitude and Personalize Your Response
Start by thanking the client for taking the time to depart their assessment. You may say one thing alongside the traces of, “Thank you so much for your kind words! We’re thrilled to hear that you enjoyed your experience with us.”
Personalize your response by utilizing the reviewer’s identify and addressing particular factors they talked about. You may say one thing like, “We’re stoked you loved the [specific activity]! It’s always great to hear that our guests had a memorable time.” This reveals them that you just truly learn their assessment and care about what they mentioned.
Invite Them Back
Encourage them to e-book with you once more by inviting the client to come back again for one more journey. Something like, “We can’t wait to welcome you back for more incredible experiences. See you on your next journey!” is motivating for somebody who simply left you a assessment.
Learn from Feedback
Finally, what’s the purpose of critiques should you’re not utilizing them to enhance your choices? Use each optimistic and adverse suggestions as a chance to be taught and regularly enhance your providers.
How to cope with adverse critiques
In our article, “How To Respond To Negative Reviews About Your Guided Tours,” we cowl the very best methods to answer adverse critiques as a tour operator. We emphasize the significance of sustaining professionalism and avoiding retaliation, highlighting a research that reveals shopper desire for companies that reply to all critiques.
Acknowledging considerations, genuinely apologizing for his or her adverse expertise, providing options, and requesting suggestions for enchancment are really useful methods. Timely responses are essential, as they present your dedication to buyer satisfaction and may positively influence your repute when different clients see your response.
What platforms must you deal with for critiques?
Different platforms will give you completely different perks and so they all have drawbacks as nicely. For this part, we’ll deal with three assessment administration platforms: Origin, Google, and TripAdvisor.
Origin
Make It Easy For Your Customers To Leave Reviews
Origin’s automated messaging requests critiques from previous clients utilizing their registered contact info so that you don’t should. We’ll textual content or e mail your friends a one-click assessment hyperlink for his or her journey and information.
Upgrade The Quality Of Reviews
Origin verifies your friends’ id to forestall spammy or irrelevant critiques as a result of there’s nothing worse than a 1-star assessment by somebody who by no means went in your journey which lowers your total ranking.
Display Reviews On Your Website
Showcase how unbelievable your tour firm and guides actually are, your professionalism, and your skill to alter your shoppers’ lives by way of adventures with the Origin assessment widget. This no-code widget seamlessly integrates along with your web site and reveals all of your earlier friends’ feedback about their expertise.
Drawbacks of Origin
To maintain it truthful, we’ll embrace our personal disadvantage which is you could’t take your critiques with you need to you determine to depart Origin. Those unhealthy boys keep on our platform.
It’s onerous to compete with Google, however we’ll embrace them in right here anyway.
Using Google Reviews provides quite a few advantages for companies, together with:
Increased Online Visibility
Google Reviews contribute to your enterprise’s on-line presence and visibility on Google Search and Google Maps. Google prioritizes companies with optimistic critiques in native search outcomes, making it simpler for your enterprise to be found by native clients.
Free Marketing
Google Reviews are form of free advertising and marketing. Positive critiques act as endorsements, attracting new clients with out spending more cash on promoting.
Drawbacks of Google Reviews
While Google Reviews supply a number of advantages, there are additionally potential drawbacks and challenges related to their use:
Negative Reviews Impact on Search Rankings
Negative critiques, particularly if there are a number of them, can considerably influence your enterprise’s repute. Additionally, an absence of critiques or adverse critiques might adversely have an effect on your enterprise’s on-line visibility. You might disappear from the search rankings.
Review Authenticity Concerns
Some companies might face challenges with the authenticity of critiques. Fake or manipulated critiques, whether or not optimistic or adverse, can undermine the credibility of the assessment system and your enterprise.
Limited Control
With Google Reviews, companies have restricted management over the critiques they obtain. Even with wonderful services or products, there’s no assure that clients will depart optimistic critiques, and adverse critiques might happen regardless of greatest efforts. There’s additionally the prospect of malicious opponents leaving critiques in your public-facing profile—and typically Google received’t take away them.
TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is a web-based journey platform that gives critiques, suggestions, and knowledge on lodging, eating places, sights, and travel-related providers all through the world.
Global Exposure
Businesses listed on TripAdvisor achieve international publicity to a giant viewers of vacationers. Positive critiques can appeal to worldwide guests and contribute to a enterprise’s visibility on the platform.
Competitive Advantage
High rankings and optimistic critiques present companies with a aggressive benefit on TripAdvisor. Travelers are extra seemingly to decide on providers which have a robust repute on the platform over these with fewer or adverse critiques.
search engine marketing Impact
TripAdvisor critiques can have a optimistic influence on a enterprise’s search engine marketing (search engine marketing). High rankings and optimistic critiques contribute to raised visibility in search engine outcomes outdoors of the platform.
Drawbacks of TripAdvisor
While TripAdvisor critiques supply precious insights for vacationers and companies, there are fairly a lot of potential drawbacks and challenges related to the platform:
Limited-To-No Verification and Fake Reviews
TripAdvisor doesn’t confirm the id of reviewers, making it troublesome to make sure that critiques are real and submitted by precise clients.
Because they don’t confirm identifies, TripAdvisor has confronted challenges with pretend critiques, the place companies or opponents might try to govern rankings. The authenticity of some critiques could also be questioned, affecting the reliability of the data.
Impact of Competitor Reviews
Behind pretend critiques, opponents or malicious robots might depart adverse critiques to hurt a enterprise’s repute, and it may be difficult to tell apart between real and deliberately dangerous suggestions.
Further, a single adverse assessment, even when unrepresentative of the general buyer expertise, can considerably influence a enterprise’s repute, deter potential clients, and push your journeys to the underside of the listing.
Impact on Small Businesses
Smaller companies are disproportionately affected by adverse critiques, as they don’t have the identical quantity of critiques to counterbalance the influence of some unfavorable ones.
Emphasis on Quantity over Quality
The emphasis on the amount of critiques, slightly than their high quality, might result in a skewed illustration of a enterprise’s repute, particularly if a enterprise has a small variety of critiques.
While all three platforms have completely different perks and disadvantages, it’s in all probability in your greatest curiosity to make use of all of them or should you’re not utilizing these, use many assessment platforms. That provides you the very best likelihood of catching somebody’s eye who doesn’t go to a unique platform (e.g. somebody who makes use of Yelp however doesn’t use TripAdvisor).
TL; DR
In conclusion, automating post-trip assessment requests on your tour operation could be a game-changer, and also you don’t should sacrifice the private contact that makes your enterprise stand out. By utilizing assessment administration platforms, resembling Origin, Google, and TripAdvisor, you may streamline the method, save time, and nonetheless supply a personalised expertise to your shoppers.
The knowledge speaks for itself—99.9% of customers say they learn critiques when procuring on-line at the least typically. So, embrace post-tour assessment request automation. It’ll improve the possibilities of your shoppers sharing their experiences, giving your enterprise the social proof it must thrive in a aggressive market.
Implementing automation might require some preliminary effort, particularly should you’re ranging from scratch. However, the long-term benefits, resembling elevated assessment numbers and improved enterprise repute, make it a worthwhile funding.
In the aggressive panorama of tour operations, embracing automation and efficient assessment administration practices not solely improves your on-line repute but in addition opens doorways to new enterprise alternatives. So, don’t shrink back from asking for these critiques—automate the method, personalize your method, and watch your enterprise develop.
If you’re able to see what Origin has to supply in relation to automated assessment requests (plus a lot extra), create a free account or schedule a demo with us as we speak.