So, you want more reviews for your tour company, right? It’s the day and age of checking the reviews out before we commit to any one thing. In tourism, there are usually so many things for our customers to do in our area. Everything ranging from jet skis, boat tours, zip lines, restaurants, boat rentals, snorkel trips, sunset tours and etc.
The list just goes on and on! In any one category, there are a multitude of companies to choose from, both near and far. With more reviews for your tour company, people will keep coming from even farther away, just to have the best experience!
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The Importance of Reviews
Pictured above are verified reviews from real travelers on TripShock.com
With so many companies out there like TripAdvisor, Yelp, Google, and Facebook, just to name a few, it’s easy to see the significance of reviews and society’s reliance on them. According to a recent article from Forbes, over 90% of customers read online reviews before visiting a business, and 67.7% of purchasing decisions have been impacted by online reviews.
Even further, 84% of people polled say they trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation! This just shows the impact reviews have on the consumer, but here are some benefits reviews can have for your website/business, as well:
- Creates proof of the product’s quality and credibility
- Improves SEO, increases online visibility, and starts conversations
- Creates a sense of trust between the company and the consumer
- Convinces those on the fence about making a reservation to book
- Drives traffic to your website, leading to increased revenue
Especially when it comes to small businesses, utilizing customer reviews should definitely be a part of your marketing plan. Not only do they help customers learn more about you and what you have to offer, but you get to learn more about your customers and business as a whole.
Reviews from customers are a great way to not just learn about areas to improve on, but also what works, what works well, and what will keep customers coming back to book with your business, time and time again.
What you Need for More Reviews
If you’re looking to get more reviews, the answer is probably more simple than you think. There isn’t some magic formula to acquiring more reviews, but the results can transform your business and fill out a schedule much faster than any promotion, discount, or special offer.
Whether you want more positive reviews on your Facebook page, Google business profile, or your TripShock activity listing, the method is the same. Follow the steps below for more reviews:
Excellent Customer Service
The first thing you need to offer is an excellent experience! People love good, personable customer service and amazing experiences for their family that they can talk about for years to come.
Reliable/Good Equipment
The second step for getting great reviews would be having reliable/good equipment. The customer experience is dependent upon the equipment in rentals and tours. So offering the best equipment will in turn be a better experience for the customer.
If you are a watersports company that rents jet skis or waverunners, it can be difficult to keep equipment in good working order. Customers sometimes run the vessels hard, causing more wear and tear than your typical personally-owned watercraft.
If you’re looking for tips keeping your equipment in good condition, check out our blog detailing how to best maintain a waverunner for rental companies: https://waverez.com/maintenance-of-rental-waverunners/.
Motivated Customers
The last thing is actually getting the reviews from the customer. Time is in a severe shortage these days, and getting customers to leave a review can sometimes be a struggle. A great way to remind them is to send review requests via email a few days after their trip.
Another great thing I personally had great experience with is review cards with a challenge. We wrote all the working employees names on a review card, and told the customers we were having a contest to see how many times we could be named in reviews.
There was a reward at the end of the season for the employee that won. The customers loved this, and we got a lot of awesome named reviews!
Beneficial Partnerships
Pictured above are TripShock Traveler Stories, a great way to get reviews from customers when signing on with WaveRez
Last, but certainly not least, creating beneficial partnerships can be a great and easy way to generate reviews for your business. Partnerships with companies who have the same goals as you and your business can have a positive impact on so many things, ranging from increased productivity and sales, to a stronger online presence. If you’re looking to boost your visibility and reach to generate reviews, working with someone who has a strong online presence/marketing strategy is a great way to do so.
One of the best things about signing on with WaveRez, is that it automatically comes with TripShock integration. TripShock is the country’s top booking website for activities, tours, and things to do, meaning more visibility, access to a wider audience, marketing assistance, and so much more! TripShock is the best when it comes to collecting reviews for tour operators on their site, as well as Traveler Stories, where customers answer questions and provide photos and videos for the activity they experienced.
Businesses will need to sell a great experience with reliable equipment and happy employees, and the reviews will follow! If you need any help offering that great experience, consider updating or installing WaveRez reservation software. WaveRez is crafted for watersport companies and tour providers to help with inventory, booking, monetization, and more!