A Guide to Reviews From Clients
Reviews from clients are a great tool in the business world. Whilst it might seem self-explanatory, there’s actually lots of reasons to chase for client reviews when working freelance. The freelance industry, in most lines of work, is often fiercely competitive and with so much competition you can find yourself needing additional ways to stand out from the crowd. Working as a freelancer you are effectively your very own business, and a great way to grow your business is through the recommendation of your existing clients. With this in mind, you should never underestimate the role of positive feedback from clients, as these reviews can turn into successful new deals with new clients in the future. As we work with freelancers on a regular basis, we’ve put together this guide to client reviews and the best methods of obtaining them.
Why are reviews are important?
Both offline referrals and online reviews can be vital to any freelancer who wants to keep control of their reputation and grow their customer base. The need for reviews from clients is becoming more and more important as freelancer’s are having to grow their business online and compete with fellow freelancers for work. A simple Google search from a potential client should give them enough information to reinforce their decision to work with you. Seeing positive reviews of your service online will create a solid foundation for your working relationship going forward. Online reviews also tell you whether you are doing a good job or what you might be doing wrong and how to improve your service. This allows you to better serve your clients by quickly resolving any issues they may have.
Traditional reviews in the form of testimonials and referrals are also vitally important for freelancers. When a client refers you to another business, it not only reaffirms your relationship with that client is strong and you are doing a good job, but it also gets you more business which results in your success!
How to ask for reviews
Getting positive feedback from clients can certainly help land new clients and projects, but we often find most freelance professionals either aren’t sure about how to go about getting the review, and are reluctant to do so or are not sure what to do with it. Here’s what we think you need to be doing to get some positive reviews.
Build strong relationships
This is the most important aspect of getting reviews from clients. Firstly, your work needs to be up to scratch as you can’t expect your client to recommend your services to others if your service isn’t exceeding what the client is expecting. You need to be over-delivering on all of your projects, and ensure you communicate regularly with your clients.
Ask for client feedback
Once you’ve finished on a project that you are proud of, it’s very important to ask the client on their feedback. If the feedback is really positive then you can ask the client if they would be ok if you turned the positive feedback into a written review. More than likely they will agree.
Be direct
If your clients offer little in terms of feedback, just because a client doesn’t outrightly compliment your work doesn’t mean they are not happy with it. If this is the case then it’s worth simply asking directly for a review, and as long as you have a strong working relationship, this shouldn’t be an issue. If you can, always try to ask in person as there’s no better way to ask for, and get, reviews than to do it in person. A person-to-person request is usually incredibly effective, particularly if you have spent a lot of time with that client.
Use online review and character feedback tools
A more relaxed laissez-faire approach is to use online tools that will allow your clients to score/endorse you based on your work and character as a person. There are many professional tools you can utilise to build a base of reviews and testimonials. These include the LinkedIn skill endorsements tool, Facebook reviews, or Trustpilot. This approach is ideal for those just starting out as a freelancer.
How best to use your reviews
As you deliver great work for your clients you’ll find over time that you’ve amassed some great reviews, but before you can use them it’s important to ensure clients are happy with how you use them (unless they have reviewed you online already). Once you have permission, how do you use them to promote your work and freelancing business?
On your website
Like most modern-day businesses, a website is the key marketing asset for any Freelancer, and it’s important to have some of your best reviews featured here. There are a few ways to do this, you could integrate your online reviews to show on your homepage where potential clients looking at your website will see them or alternatively have a separate testimonial page.
If you have longer in-depth reviews then we recommend a testimonial page, but if you have shorter, ‘star rating’ based reviews, use an integration of your online reviews.
Through Facebook
Lots of Freelancers will have a company Facebook page where clients are able to leave reviews and comments. You can manage reviews on Facebook through the settings on your company page and reply to comments when necessary.
Listed on your CV or in your work portfolio
Once you’ve achieved some really positive reviews make sure you include a few on your cv or in your portfolio. Alternatively, you could add testimonials throughout your portfolio next to the corresponding pieces of work – this will support the work you have undertaken and make it clear to future clients that you are easy and good to work with.
What our clients say about us?
Here at 3 Wise Bears, we are customer focused in everything we do. Much of our business still comes via word of mouth as trust and reputation is important to us. We have a collection of great reviews from a variety of small businesses, take a look at some of our Google reviews.
If you like what you see and think we’d make a great fit as your accountant, get in touch or call us on 020 3793 1703.
