Search Engine Optimisation

Sky Rocket Your 5-star Google Reviews with This One Simple Trick

July 18, 2023

In today’s digital landscape, local businesses increasingly rely on website page rankings and Google Business Profile to enhance their online presence and boost their Local SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) efforts. Google Reviews hold tremendous value for businesses aiming to secure a spot in local search results in the top three listings, known as the Map Pack. These listings enjoy high visibility and receive a significant percentage of customer clicks. In this article we take a look at how to dramatically increase your 5 star reviews on Google Business Profile to increase your online visibility and web traffic.

Maximising Your Business Success with Filtered Google Reviews

Positive Google Reviews contribute to a business’s EAT (Expertise, Authority, Trustworthiness). Your credibility and reputation can influence potential customers’ decision-making process.

A great way to receive a high volume of Google Reviews is to ask for them. If you don’t ask, you don’t get! Sending customers a Google Review link invitation in a thank you email or invoice receipt is an excellent strategy for this.

However, as we all know, not everyone will be 100% happy with your service 100% of the time. Some may even leave 3 or 4 stars reviews without explaining why. For this reason, it is important to implement a screening process before directly linking customers in an email to your Google Reviews. By utilizing a conditional form, businesses can filter customer feedback, guaranteeing that only the customers willing to give you a five-star rating are directed to share their experiences publicly.

This approach helps protect businesses from potential negative reviews and allows them to optimize the impact of their positive Google Reviews, ultimately boosting their Local SEO performance.

In this guide, we will explore how to set up a conditional review form using the free version of JotForm, connect it with Google Reviews and insert links into your emails.

You can use any online form-creating software for this task such as Google Forms, as long as it has conditional notification settings with a choice of redirection to a link or email. We prefer to use JotForm specifically for its star rating box feature, which adds an extra level of professionalism and engagement to the feedback process.

With the free version of Jot Form a single user can create up to 5 forms with 100 submissions per month which is ample for collection Google Reviews.

Try our example customer review form below.

Step 1: Creating a Direct Google Review Link

To create a direct Google review request link, follow these steps:

- - Open a web browser and search for your business on Google
  - Click on the “Ask for Reviews” Icon.
  - Copy the Review Link and save it somewhere easily accessible for later.

Step 2: Create a Jot Form Account

If you haven’t already, go to the JotForm website (www.jotform.com) and sign up for a free account. Once you have created an account and logged in, you can begin creating your form.

Step 3: Create a New Form.

Click on the “Create Form” button to start building your form. Choose “Start from scratch” and select “Classic Form”.

Step 4: Add Form Fields

Drag and drop the necessary form fields to the form builder. In this case, you will need the following elements:

1. 1. Add a Star Rating Element: (Under Survey Elements) Adds the star rating field to collect your customer’s rating. This field will be required.
    Click on the element box and add wording like “How would you rate our service?”
  2. Add a Single Choice Element: Add a yes/no field to two of the choice options and remove the remaining fields(click on the cross on the right). Add the question “Would you use our services again?”
  3. Add another Single Choice Element: Add another yes/no field for the question “Would you recommend our services to a friend or relative?”
  4. Add a Paragraph Element: Add a paragraph element and text like “Thank you! After clicking or tapping “Submit Feedback”, you will be redirected to a direct link to leave us a review on Google. We appreciate your feedback!”
  5. Add a Long Text Box: Add a long text box element and change the heading to “Please let us know how we could improve our services/products”.

Step 5: Make all elements "Required"

Click on the settings cog to the right of each element and toggle the “Required” button to “On”

Step 6: Hide the Text Box and Paragraph Elements

Hide the text box and paragraph element by toggling the “Hide Field” button under the advanced properties tab.

Step 7: Set Up Element Conditions To hide or show the text box field

1. 1. Click on the settings tab on the menu bar
  2. Select “Conditions” from the left side panel.
  3. Add 2 new “Show/Hide Field condition
  4. Select the following conditions: If= Would You Use Our Services Again?, State= Is Equal To, Vaue=No If=Would You Recommend Us To A Friend or Relative?, State=Is Equal To, Value=No
  5. Set rule to “If ANY of the “If Rules are matched”
  6. In the DO field select “Show” and “Please Tell Us What We Can Do Better” field.
  7. Click Save.

Step 8: Set Up Conditional Notifications

1. 1. Add a new condition – “Change “Thank You” Page”
  2. Add 3 Condition Boxes with the following values:
    – How Would You Rate Our Service? / Is Equal To / 5
    – Would You Use Our Services Again? / Is Equal To / Yes
    – Would You Recommend To A Friend? / Is Equal To / Yes
  3. Set rule to “If ALL of the “If’ Rules are Matched.”
  4. In the DO field, select “Redirect to URL after Submission.”
  5. Paste your Google Review into the URL box
  6. Click Save.

Step 9: Customise Your Form Design

Customize the design of your form by selecting colours, fonts and adding your logo. JotForm provides a user-friendly interface to customize the form’s appearance easily.

Step 10: Set Up Email Form Notifications

Email notifications will determine what happens after the form is submitted. Select the email address you would like to use for notifications.

Step 11: Save and Publish the Form

Once you have completed the form setup, click the “Publish” tab on the menu bar. From here, you can copy the form link, embed it into a website, or share it via social media or QR Code.

Step 12: Test Your Google Reviews Form

Open the new link in a new browser to test your new form. Make sure you have tested the form thoroughly before sending it to your customers.

Step 13: Write a Google Reviews Request Email To Your Customers

Compose an email to the customer inviting them to leave a review. Here’s an example of how you can structure the email:

Subject: We value your feedback!

Dear [Customer’s Name],

Thank you for choosing our services! We hope you had a great experience. We would appreciate it if you could share your feedback with us.

Please click on the following link to leave a review: [Insert the Jot Form Link here or add the link to text]

Your input is invaluable to us as we strive to improve our services and provide the best experience to all our customers.

Thank you once again for choosing our services!
Best regards, [Your Name] [Your Company]

Your Google Reviews Conditional Form Is Complete

That’s it! You have now created a conditional review form using JotForm’s free version.

Customers will receive an email with a link to the form, and based on their responses, they will either be redirected to your Google review page to leave a 5 star review or receive a thank you message after submitting private feedback.

Remember to regularly check the form submissions and follow up on any feedback received.