Tripadvisor has become one of the leading online review sites…and not just for tourists. Learn how to get more Tripadvisor reviews for your business here.
Tripadvisor has a reputation as a great source of information for travelers.But what many business owners don’t realize is that the site isn’t just for tourists. It’s become one of the most popular review sites in the world, and locals use it to scope out eateries and attractions in their own cities.
Don’t make the mistake of discounting the importance of Tripadvisor for your business.Currently, the site hosts reviews for four types of businesses: hotels, restaurants, attractions and vacation rentals. If your business falls into one of these categories, you can get customers to write reviews about you on Tripadvisor, even if they’re all locals.
Tripadvisor: A Big Deal in Travel…and Local
While the site is a powerhouse today, Tripadvisor had humble beginnings.Started in 2000, Tripadvisor’s founders originally planned to create a database of travel information. The idea was that travel sites would license the information to share with their customers, but that didn’t take off.
Instead, Tripadvisor changed course to allow individual users to contribute reviews of travel destinations.It worked: Tripadvisor calls itself “the world’s largest travel site,” and offers proof to back up that claim:
- The site attracts 390 million unique visitors each month. By contrast, Yelp reports that it has a total of about 162 million unique visitors each month, across all platforms.
- About seven million locations are represented on Tripadvisor.
- The site hosts about 465 million reviews, and that number continues to grow.
In fact, Tripadvisor is one of the fastest-growing review sites. Consider a recent survey, which found that 15% of respondents had reviewed or recommended a business using TripAdvisor, up from 12% from the prior year and 5 percent from the year before that.
How to Take Advantage of Tripadvisor
Here’s what you need to know about getting reviews on Tripadvisor:
First, your business may already be listed on the site, whether you’ve set up a page for it or not. Find out by searching for your business on the site’s home page. If you don’t find a page for your business, you can create one yourself. It’s a pretty simple process and should take you just a few minutes.
Once your business is listed on Tripadvisor, you can claim it. This is an important step.Basically, by claiming your page, you’re stating that you’re authorized to speak on its behalf.
- Sign into Tripadvisor, or create an account if you don’t already have you. You must be a Tripadvisor member to claim a page.
- Navigate to the Owners page.
- Enter your business name in the search box, and click on the correct listing.
- Click on the orange “Claim Your Business” box.
- Follow the instructions. You’ll be asked to provide contact information and state your role at the business.
Once Tripadvisor verifies that you are who you say you are, you can do things like respond to customer reviews and edit information on the page.
You’re ready to start getting reviews from customers. Here’s how to do it…
Get Reviews on Tripadvisor
Research (including the survey mentioned earlier) proves that the most effective way to get customers to write reviews is simply to ask.
It might look like this: At the end of a customer interaction, when the person is leaving your restaurant or checking out of your hotel, ask for a little feedback. Say something like, “Did we meet all your needs today?” or “Was there anything we could have done better?”
If the customer expresses satisfaction, respond with something like, “So glad to hear it. We’d love it if you would review us on Tripadvisor.”
Of course, if the customer isn’t satisfied, turn your attention to finding out what went wrong and how you can fix it.
Diversify, Diversify, Diversify
When you have a freshly claimed Tripadvisor page, it might be tempting to direct every happy customer to it.But it’s crucial that you diversify your reviews – that is, suggest different review sites to different customers.Some customers have favorite review sites or just don’t visit Tripadvisor for whatever reason. So make a habit of asking for reviews, but vary the sites that you name to make sure you’re getting good coverage on all the big sites, including Yelp, Facebook and Google.
Systemize Your Approach To Make It Easy
Getting more reviews on Tripadvisor sounds pretty easy, right? It’s a simple process: All you have to do is ask, and all the customer has to do is remember to write the review. And yet, most customers won’t remember.
That’s why it’s so helpful to use an automated system like ReputationStacker.Enter a phone number or email address of your customers into the system, and ReputationStacker will send a one-question survey to them to get their feedback about your experience with your business. Then, ReputationStacker will direct them to Tripadvisor (or another of the review sites of your choice) so they can post a review.
The Last Word
Some business owners think Tripadvisor is only for tourists, but it’s become so popular that consumers use it to make local buying decisions too.Create or claim your business page on Tripadvisor, and start reaping the rewards by asking customers to write reviews.Make sure no customers slip through the cracks by using ReputationStacker. It’s a systemized approach that can help you get a steady stream of reviews on Tripadvisor and other major review sites.
