Everyone likes to talk about how important reviews are for your auto repair shop, but they either don’t know or value the power of having keywords in your reviews.
Yes, we get it, reviews are powerful. You want lots of them, and you want them to be good. That goes without saying. But all reviews are not created equally.
Let’s look at the following 2 reviews for example.
“XYZ Automotive did a great job. They were friendly and their prices were fair. Thanks!”
“I’d been looking for a great auto repair shop to take care of my 2019 Camry. XYZ Automotive was convenient to my home in Green Acres. I scheduled an appointment with Mike to have my brakes checked. They got my car in quickly and gave me a quote on new pads and rotors. They also found that one of my tires was worn badly on the inside edge. They did an alignment and replaced 2 of my tires. They were super friendly and I felt like the prices were fair. I have found my mechanic!
Now it’s pretty apparent that the second review is much better than the first, but why?
Well, let’s look at what was included in the review.
- Our main keyword (auto repair shop)
- The type of car we worked on (2019 Camry)
- Location (close to Green Acres subdivision)
- An employee’s name (Mike)
- Type of work we were doing (brakes)
- Other services we did (alignment and tires)
- Secondary keyword (mechanic)
The second review example I have here is a bit of a unicorn because it contains all of the pieces. I did this to really drive home the idea of getting keywords into reviews. Understand that it’s incredibly rare that this will ever happen, but you can get the various pieces scattered throughout the hundreds of reviews you should be getting over time.
How do you get people to put these keywords into reviews? It’s pretty easy. You ask them to do it.
Asking For Specific Information To Be Included In Reviews
Let’s be clear. You aren’t going to ask just any random client to leave specific information and keywords in their reviews. You’re going to be selective.
Start with your best clients. The ones that have been coming to you for years and refer their friends to you. The ones that you genuinely have a great relationship with. This is what we call “low hanging fruit”. Because you have such a great relationship with them, it’s an easy ask. It doesn’t feel uncomfortable. And it makes it easier to ask your other clients once you get used to asking your best clients.
Aside from your best clients, some of the things you can look for are:
- Clients that are overly happy
- Clients that you’ve given something to (for example you put a set of wiper blades on their car at no charge)
- People you’ve gone out of your way for (like the person traveling through town that had a breakdown and you worked them in)
These people are great to ask because they are thankful to you and feel a debt of gratitude.
What Exactly Do You Ask For?
Don’t overwhelm your customers by asking them to include seven different points in their review. Just ask them to mention one or two things.
“Mr. Johnson, in about two days, you’re going to receive a text from us asking for a review. If you don’t mind, when you leave that review, would you mind including in the review the words “auto repair shop” and that we replaced your water pump?”
It’s as easy as that. Mix up what you ask your clients to include in the review.
Every once in a while, you’ll have a client say, “Just send me exactly what you want the review to say, and I’ll post it.” Trust me; this will happen more often than you think. In those cases, write that unicorn review like I have above and have them post it for you. After they post it, thank them with movie tickets or a gift certificate to a local restaurant.
Include this simple request in your review strategy and watch your Google rankings climb. It will be well worth the effort.
