Mastering the art of permanent makeup and doing great work is the basis of any successful PMU career, but if you want to grow a business, there are many additional skills you need to learn. How to ensure reviews for your business is one of them.
Successful entrepreneurs have to be jacks of all trades, and client interaction is one of them. You have to learn how to communicate with your clients, and knowing how to ask for reviews is one of the tasks you should never overlook.
Let’s zoom in on the importance of business reviews, why they matter in the PMU world, and how to ask for them.
Why Is It Important to Ask for Reviews?
PMU treatments are something people don’t take lightly. After all, these are facial tattoos we’re talking about and even though they may fade after some time, the client lives with the results for at least a year and a half. So, naturally, they want to get the best possible work.
This means they’ll be doing the research before booking a treatment, and of course, a Google search will be the first thing they do. What you need to ensure is that, when they look up the name of your salon, they have enough material to decide that you’re the right person for the job.
So online presence in the form of a website and social media with as many examples of your work as possible is the crucial first step, but if they’re backed with reviews from actual clients, it’s a winning combination.
You have to be aware that it’s not easy for clients to trust them with their face, and you have to accept the fact that they all come in more or less skeptical. You have to win their trust, and while in-person interaction is what closes the deal, your online presence is there to convince them to consider you.
That’s where reviews on various online platforms come into play. Potential clients want to hear from people who’ve already had work done by you, and if they can’t get a recommendation from someone they know personally, they’ll turn to the internet.
But how do you get previous clients to leave a review? Well, you’ll have to ask!
Image source: Freepik
How to Ask for Reviews
Here’s the thing – satisfied clients are generally willing to leave reviews, but they need a little push. Start from yourself – how likely is it that you’ll leave a review on a product or a service unless someone asks you to, no matter how thrilled you are with it?
Not very likely, probably. But if you got, say, a great haircut and your hairdresser asks you to take 2 minutes from your day and write a quick review, explaining how much it would mean to them, you won’t refuse. It’s the same with your own clients.
If you give them the brows of their dreams or save them from having to do their eyeliner every morning, of course they’ll do you the tiny favor of leaving a review! But unless you ask them to, it probably won’t even cross their mind.
But not all of us are equally skilled at client interactions, so here’s a few notes on how to approach them and ask for reviews:
#1 Explain Why a Review Would Mean a Lot to You
Doing someone’s permanent makeup entails establishing a more personal relationship than some other services. You’ll be spending a significant amount of time with them, with consults and at least 2 sessions.
This means you will have several opportunities to bring up this topic casually, and explain to them why it would mean a lot if they took the time to leave a review. Explain that it’s something that helps your business, but also helps people who are thinking about getting the service make the right decision.
Your clients were in the position of researching your salon very recently, and they probably recognize the importance of reviews from the perspective of a client looking for an artist.
#2 But Not Apologetic
Let them know that you’d be grateful, but don’t go overboard. Keep it professional and underline that it’s up to them whether they do it or not. You should come off as confident in your skill and your business, and not dependent on their good will.
#3 Don’t Push Too Hard
With a single client, don’t ask for reviews more than once or twice. Clients don’t like feeling pressured. If you push too hard, they may get annoyed and frustrated, which will cause them to either say they’ll leave a review just to get you off their back and never actually do it, or they’ll leave something generic and not really valuable.
#4 Explain the Process and Emphasize How Fast and Easy It Is
Not all of us are equally technology-savvy and not all of us get around the internet equally well. Plus, some of your clients are probably busy people who may not have much free time. So, you need to assure them that leaving a review on a platform where your business is listed is fast and easy.
You should send them all the links, and if you feel like they need it, give them a step-by-step. It’s a bit more effort on your part, but it’s worth it.
Image source: Freepik
#5 Don’t Try to Influence Their Review
Client reviews should be open and honest, so don’t try to point your clients in the direction of what you want them to write. If you did everything in your power to give them a quality service, you have no reason to worry about what they’ll say. Plus, honest feedback is more valuable, because it allows you to further improve your business.
How NOT to Ask for Reviews
One practice that’s not so great is offering incentives in the form of gifts or discounts in return for reviews. For one, it’s against the rules of many review platforms, but the bigger issue is the fact that it will get you low-quality reviews most of the time.
If your clients are only leaving reviews to get something in return, they’ll put in minimal effort, or might go in the opposite direction and even lie and exaggerate, feeling pressured to justify the incentive.
An honest, non-pressured review written from the heart by a truly satisfied client will always resonate with potential clients more. You can’t force a high-quality review – the tone of genuine satisfaction can’t be faked.
What Platforms Are Good for Online Reviews?
If your business isn’t listed on Google, it’s like it doesn’t exist. Making a Google Business page should be one of the first things you do when you open your salon. It makes it easy for clients to find yours, plus it’s a great space for online reviews. For most clients, it will be the first place they look, and it’s great that these reviews show up on Google Maps, so they’ll see them even if reviews aren’t looking for some other information.
You should also take advantage of Facebook. Reviews on your Facebook business page are quite practical, since your clients probably already have a profile, so they don’t have to register.
Another great platform is Yelp. Most people have used it before to look up reviews of various businesses, it’s familiar and easy to use. However, it’s not a platform dedicated to any one industry, so you won’t get that much exposure to your target audience.
On the other hand, PMUHub is exactly where your target audience is. If you claim your free business page on PMUHub, you can get exposure to readers researching PMU treatments, all of whom are potential clients. Your clients can leave reviews which will be visible directly on your business page. It’s very easy.
If you haven’t already, you can claim your free salon listing page here. It will only take a few minutes.
Image source: PMUHub Salon Listings
How to Handle Bad Reviews?
We know you try your best to give every client the best possible results, but you may encounter clients who end up not 100% satisfied. Should you get a not totally positive review, it can be unpleasant and your first impulse might be to get defensive.
But don’t go full-on attack mode. Reach out to the client privately and see what the issue was. Chances are, it’s something you can work out and fix the situation so that they’re willing to take down the problematic review and leave a more positive one. Take this as a learning opportunity and see what you can improve to prevent such situations in the future.
If you get a negative review which is obviously not justified, fake, or written by some random person who was never even your client, you have the option of reporting it and getting it taken down.
Final Piece of Advice
Once you start to ask for reviews, you should showcase them on your social media. Make a post out of them. Fit the review into a simple yet attractive design and post them, ideally as a carousel post, with several slides (you don’t want to stuff your page with too many reviews, so fitting up to 10 of them into 1 post is ideal).
That way, all your followers will see them, plus any potential client who’s scrolling through your feed can find them right there.
Cover image source: Freepik
