88% Of Consumers Trust Online Reviews As Much As Personal Recommendations – Myles Anderson, SearchEngineLand

With 88% of consumers going online to find reviews, it is imperative that you collect customer reviews.  Some small business owners are crafty and instinctively know how to collect customer reviews, but many of us are in the dark as to how to do this easily and efficiently.

Tips on Collecting Customer Online Reviews

Xizzee homepage QR code

This QR code will take you to the landing page of Xizzee.com.

The best time to get a customer review is before the customer leaves the business or shortly after receiving a service.  I am going to focus on the former: getting customers to fill out a review while in your store or business.

One of the most popular ways to capture people’s attention and share information with them is to create a QR code.  If you are serving food, and the customers will sit at tables, you can easily create a QR code that takes the customer to a site to leave a review.  This can include Yelp, Trip Advisor, Google+, Angie’s List, Facebook, and more.  If you want to increase your following by asking customers to “like” your business, “follow” you, or subscribe to your email list, you can use the QR code to take them to any site you want including Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and LinkedIn.  I’m sure there are many other sites out there that work like these, but I’ll focus on the most popular.  If you want them to go directly to your website, a QR code can do that, too.

How to Create a QR Code

Many people know what QR Codes are or look like, but how they are created is a mystery to them.  It’s like using a telephone; I know how to use it, I just don’t know how to create it.

Well, here are some tools to help you create your first QR code.  My favorites are QuickMark and Kaywa.  Each of these works differently and has different features.  QuickMark is a Google Chrome extension while Kaywa is a website.

How does QuickMark work?Quickmark Logo

QuickMark is a Google Extension that works on the Chrome browser, so it works on devices like desktops, laptops, and chromebooks.  You must be working in Google Chrome for this to work.  Here are the steps you will need to follow:

1-Go to the Google Webstore.
2-Search for QuickMark in the top left search bar.
3-Look under the section marked Extensions and click the blue + Add to Chrome button to the right of the extension or in the top right corner of the pop-up window if you clicked on it first.  If you have pop-ups disabled, you’ll have to enable them for the Google Webstore.
4-Click the “Add Extension” button in the second pop-up window.
5-Look for the QuickMark icon to appear at the top of your Chrome browser.  This is a Google extension, and it will sit to the right of your URL address bar.  As you add more extensions, they will add themselves to the right of this extension.
6-Click on the extension to learn how to use the extension.  Be sure to scroll up and down to see all of your options.
7-Go to your small business website on your browser.  Right click anywhere on the page and look for the QuickMark icon in the pop-up menu.  Choose Encode next to the icon.
8-A QR code will pop up on your screen.  At this point you can right click on the QR code and choose either “Copy image” or “Save image as.”
9-Once you have the QR code saved, you can paste it into any document or file you are using.  You can add it to your business card, your menu, your coupons, your flyers, your magazine adds, a store poster, a stand-up sign on your counter or table, etc.  The list goes on and on.

Another valuable Chrome QR code extension includes Quick QR Code Generator.

If you would like to insert your logo into the QR code, try out the QRZebra chrome extension.  Here is what my QR Code looks like with my logo in the center:

Xizzee Web Design QR Code with logo in center.

It doesn’t matter which QR code generator you use so long as you are using something to reach out to your customers and get more customer reviews.  The data support it, and you should, too.

If you would like support creating your first QR code, feel free to contact Eileen at Xizzee.

Empowering small business owners is what Eileen does best!  If you found this blog helpful or would like to leave a comment, feel free to comment below or hit one of my social media links at the top and bottom of the page and leave a review.  Thanks and remember to #harnessthepower of social media!