How to Send SMS Review Requests?

Introduction 

Reviews play a vital part in forming a brand’s customer perception. They help customers build trust in your brand. 

It helps give more autonomy to the customers as they can create an image of the brand based on customer reviews. In terms of numbers, 83% of consumers report going through reviews before making a purchase. 93% of consumers say that online reviews affect shopping choices (2015). 

Based on these numbers, it is clear that businesses need to put effort into their review management strategies actively. The starting point for the implementation of this strategy is collecting more reviews. To collect more reviews you need to send review requests. You can send these review requests through email, phone, social media, and text. The best way to ask for reviews however is through text message! 

Why should you send review requests via text/SMS? 

Why do we say that texting or SMS is the best medium to request reviews? Let’s have a look at the numbers. 

• The average open rate of a text message is 98% 
• 91% of customers want to receive text messages from businesses 
• Text message promotions have a click-through rate of 19% 
• 90% of customers respond to text messages within 30 minutes of receiving it 

The numbers don’t lie! Another noteworthy point here is that SMS does not require an internet connection. Every person with a mobile phone can access SMS. This accessibility allows you to reach more people through SMS than any other means of communication. So, how do you get started with SMS review requests? 

How to send SMS review requests? 

First things first, businesses can only communicate with their customers via text if they have given their consent to receive text communication from the business. You can get this consent by simply asking the customer over text after they text you, on your website, verbally, on a written form, or by email.  

Once consent is sorted, you will need a texting software to send review requests. With a texting software by your side, you can automate the entire process. All you have to do is upload a contact list and add them to a reminder automation. Your review requests will be sent automatically with minimal manual intervention. We will discuss the details of this texting software later in this article. Let’s now jump into some review request templates that you can use while requesting reviews by text message. 

SMS review request templates

“Hi [Customer’s Name],

We hope you enjoyed your recent experience with us. Your feedback means the world to us. Please take a moment to share your thoughts by leaving a review [Link]. Your input helps us improve and serve you better.

Thank you for your support!

“Dear [Customer’s Name],

Your satisfaction is our priority. We’d be grateful if you could take a moment to share your thoughts about our service. Your review is invaluable to us.”

“Hi there,

We’re always striving to improve. Please help us by leaving a review of your recent experience. Your feedback guides our efforts to serve you better.”

“Dear [Customer’s Name],

We value your opinion. Kindly consider leaving a review to let us know how we’re doing. Your insights are important to us.”

“Hello [Customer’s Name],

Your feedback is essential to us. We’d appreciate it if you could take a moment to leave a review. Thank you for your continued support.”

“Hi [Customer’s Name],

Your review helps us grow. Please share your thoughts about our service. We look forward to your feedback.”

“Hi [Customer Name],

We hope you are enjoying your new [service]! We would love to hear about your experience to improve our services at [Link].”

“Hello [Customer Name],

You will have been using our service for {X} years! Therefore, we would be very grateful if you would share your experience at [Link].”

“Hi [Customer Name],

Thank You for deciding to use our business! As a new customer, it would be great to hear about your first impressions. So please leave us a review at [Link].”

Why should you use a texting software to send SMS review requests? 

As we discussed above, texting software can help you automate the entire process of sending text message review requests. However, it can help you in a lot more ways. Let’s see how. 

1. It needs minimal manual intervention

Reiterating the above-discussed point, texting software allows for automated campaigns. With automated campaigns, all you need to do is upload a contact list, and the automations will take care of the rest. 

2. It helps you manage reviews 

Aside from sending SMS review requests, you can also manage reviews with the help of texting software. Texting software’s often have review management features also. With the review management feature, you can access all the reviews received across multiple review sites under one dashboard. From there you can respond to the reviews. 

3. It helps you manage customer conversations 

If customers respond to your text message review request, you can utilize the conversation management features of texting software. These features include assigning conversations to team members, scheduling text messages, adding notes, marking conversations as read and unread, etc. 

4. You can personalize your text messages 

Texting softwares allows you to personalize messages to your customers by adding their first names, preferences etc. 

Top texting software to send text message review requests

1. Emitrr 

Emitrr is a complete customer interaction and engagement platform offering top-notch review management features. It is consistently the highest-performing software with respect to the features it offers and the support it provides. 

Here is how Emitrr performs in terms of its features: 

• Review generation
• Negative Feedback Management
• Social Media Integration
• Response Management
• Campaign Management
• Review Requests
• Review notifications

Emitrr Pricing 

Emitrr’s pricing starts at $149 and goes up to $249. You only pay for the features you use. 

There is no limit on the number of users. 

Emitrr scores 4.9/5 on Value for Money on Capterra. 

Emitrr Support 

Emitrr offers support in the following manner: 24/7 Live support, Chat, Email, Phone, and Knowledge Base. 

Emitrr has a complete 5/5 rating for customer support on Capterra. 

“I have worked with lots of software, SaaS, and support teams over the years and I can honestly say that Emitrr has a top-level team in place. very responsive to our needs.” (Capterra) 

Emitrr Reviews 

Emitrr has an overall rating of 4.9/ 5 on Capterra. Here is what Emitrr customers have to say about the product: 

2. Podium 

Podium is a customer communication platform that offers review management features. It allows businesses to improve their reviews across different review sites like Google, Facebook etc. 

Podium Features 

• Review generation
• Negative Feedback Management
• Social Media Integration  
• Response Management  
• Campaign Management  
• Review Requests  
• Review notifications  

Podium Pricing 

Podium’s pricing plan consists of three tiers: Core, Pro, and Signature. The Core plan starts at $399 and offers review management with AI features as part of its features. Review response templates, review notes, close reviews, Review response controls, etc are available only at higher tier plans: Pro at $599 and Signature (customized pricing). 

Podium has a 4/5 rating for Value for Money on Capterra. 

Podium Support

Podium offers the following support options:

Chat, Phone Support, Email/Help Desk, Knowledge Base

Podium has a rating of 4.1/5 for its Customer Support on Capterra. 

Podium Reviews

Podium has an overall rating of 4.3/5 on Capterra. 

Here is what Podium customers have to say about the product: 

“Overall, it’s really good. I’m a big fan of feeling valued as a customer, and I don’t feel valued, I feel like a number. I rarely get check-ins from the company. On top of that, I think the ability to get reviews could be a little better. Our customers just don’t really react when we ask them for the review. They are always willing, but then seem to have some difficulty completing the process.” (Capterra)

“Product was okay but ultimately was not comprehensive enough to fit our needs for the price. Their client management was terrible with constant turnover and empty promises. It feels like they need to trap customers instead of providing a quality product at a price that would make me want to stay with them after 3 years. I can handle pricing disagreement but refuse to work with a dishonest company. It says something when you need to trap customers instead of having them want you like we do with our many other service providers.” (Capterra) 

3. Birdeye 

Birdeye is a multi-channel online review management software that allows you to solicit, respond, and amplify reviews for multi-location businesses. 

Birdeye Features 

• Review generation
• Negative Feedback Management
• Social Media Integration  
• Response Management  
• Campaign Management  
• Review Requests  
• Review notifications  

Birdeye Pricing 

Birdeye’s pricing has 3 tiers: Starter, Growth, and Dominate. The starter plan is priced at $299 per month and the Growth plan at $399 per month. Dominate plane is a customer pricing plan that depends on the size of the business and its requirements. 

All three plans offer review management features. Birdeye has a 4.5/5 rating for Value for Money on Capterra. 

Birdeye Support 

Birdeye offers support in the following forms: 24/7 (Live rep), FAQs/Forum, Email/Help Desk, Phone Support, Knowledge Base, and  Chat. 

Birdeye has a Customer Support rating of 4.7/5 on Capterra

Birdeye Reviews

Birdeye has an overall rating of 4.7/5 on Capterra. Here is what Birdeye customers have to say about the product: 

“They have not generated any leads for us & they don’t provide the promised service. They don’t deliver any service and don’t care to respond except to charge us monthly. Seems to be no more than an elaborate scam of small business and would recommend it be avoided. Had to cancel our credit card to stop them from charging us.” (Capterra)

“ Review management features, the social media integration is fantastic! Very easy to use.“(Capterra)

4. Trustpilot 

Trustpilot is a customer review management tool that helps businesses engage and build trust with their customers. Trustpilot allows customers to collect, manage, and display reviews. 

Trustpilot Features

• Review generation  
• Negative Feedback Management  
• Social Media Integration  
• Response Management  
• Campaign Management  
• Review Requests  
• Review notifications  

Trustpilot Pricing

Trustpilot’s pricing plans consist of three tiers: Standard, growth, and scale. Each plan has review invitations and differs in the number of review invitations it allows. Standard allows 500, Growth 750, and Scale unlimited. 

Trustpilot has a 4.2/5 rating for Value for Money on Capterra. 

Trustpilot Support

Trustpilot offers the following support options:

Email/Help Desk, Chat, FAQs/Forum, Phone Support

Trustpilot has a Customer Support rating of 4.3/5 on Capterra. 

Trustpilot Reviews

Trustpilot has an overall rating of 4.5/5 on Capterra. 

Here is what its customers have to say about the product: 

“Used to be great. Nowadays almost all negative reviews are disappearing” (Capterra) 

“We are a business and we understand the value of good customer experience. I am not writing this out of frustration but cautioning other companies on their neglect towards their customers. I would have cancelled any such agreement in a heartbeat had I known my client didn’t get any value and still paid for a year.” (Capterra)

5. NiceJob 

NiceJob is an all-in-one reputation marketing software. It allows businesses to automate the process of review requests and referrals. 

NiceJob Features

• Review generation  
• Negative Feedback Management  
• Social Media Integration  
• Response Management  
• Campaign Management  
• Review Requests  
• Review notifications  

NiceJob Pricing 

NiceJob has 2 pricing plans: Grow and Grow+Sites. Grow is priced at $75 per month and Grow+Sites is priced at $174 per month and costs an additional $399 for set up. 

NiceJob has a 4.8/5 rating for Value for Money. 

NiceJob Support 

NiceJob offers the following support options:

FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Email/Help Desk, Chat, Phone Support

NiceJob has a customer support rating of 5/5 on Capterra. 

NiceJob Reviews 

NiceJob has an overall rating of 4.9/5 on Capterra. Here is what customers have to say about the product: 

“It was inexpensive, so I got what I paid for. Low quality website. I was with them over 6 months and I didn’t increase my online presence like they said would happen. Their software for getting reviews was decent but I cut my costs in half with another program that does exactly what they do. It is overpriced. “ (Capterra) 

“ We were using the tool with review management. It was reliable and meets all the business requirements and needs.” (Capterra) 

Why is Emitrr the best texting platform to request reviews by text message?

Emitrr is a complete customer interaction and engagement tool. This means that businesses can use Emitrr capabilities to generate more reviews and also for effective customer communication and engagement. 

From the table above it is clear that Emitrr is the obvious choice to send SMS review requests, given how it ranks highest on all parameters and is cost-effective. 

The standout, however, is that you get a hoard of advanced texting features without any additional charges. 

Let’s have a look at these features: 

• Centralized dashboard: You can add as many team members, locations, and phone numbers as you can. The best part is that you can manage all these elements from one single dashboard. 
• Conversation Management: When you open a conversation, you can: Mark the chat as read/unread, Assign it to a team member, Add a note for a team member, Print the conversation, Block the contact Set a status/disposition.

• Folders: You can even create folders for your conversations to keep them in one place. You can add as many folders as you like, edit those folders, and delete the folders. Folders help you keep your conversations organized.
• Effortless Contact Management: Select and delete multiple contacts hassle-free.
• Limitless Contact Addition: Add unlimited contacts to the platform.
• Simple Reminder Automation: Easily automate reminders for efficiency.
• Complete Text Messaging Automation: Achieve end-to-end text messaging automation.
• Reliable Message Delivery: Enjoy a 100% message delivery rate.
• Scenario-Based Templates: Access multiple templates for scenario-based texting.
• Extensive CRM Integrations: Seamlessly integrate with over 1000 CRMs
• Broadcasting Feature: Instantly send the same message to multiple contacts. Easy mass texting feature. 
• Transparent Pricing: Experience fair pricing with no hidden charges.
• Analytics: With Emitrr, you can track your missed calls, dispositions, review requests sent, review summary, texting usage, and booking requests. 

Conclusion 

Reviews are an inescapable part of reputation building. The best way to gather reviews is obviously to provide a top-notch service/product, that consumers can’t stop raving about. However, even when your service is impeccable, customers still need an extra nudge to leave reviews. This is where texting softwares can help you. Through the software, you can easily send a text message asking for a review. Just include the review link in the SMS review request text body, to make it super easy for the customer to leave a review and you’ll be halfway there to a new review! Ready to send review requests by text, sign up with Emitrr today!