Here are 10 simple ways to encourage your customers to write product reviews:

1)    Do your homework. 

Make sure your retail store has a presence on all of the major social sites that shoppers look at to read reviews – or create reviews – of your business. Beyond Google, consider obvious sites like Facebook, Yelp, and also Bing and Yahoo.

2)    Make it easy for them. 

As I left Heathrow airport customs, they had this simple machine which sought to easily let them know customers’ experience. In an email to your customer, you can do the same.

3)    Reward them.

Zappos hands out 100 points or about $10 credit to those who write a review. Offer incentives to gather reviews - especially at the start. Consider offering points in your customer loyalty program or entries in a quarterly drawing.

4)    Send a follow-up email. 

Etsy sends a text message or email asking buyers to write a review. They reported to the WSJ that 25% of purchases result in a review as a result.

5)    Ask quickly …but not too quickly…after purchase.

Those online, post-checkout popups are annoying. Imagine leaving the counter of a store with your purchase and someone jumps in front of you to ask you for a review.

6)    Ask for help. 

In your email newsletters, you can add a Help with a Question section to get purchasers to respond to your most popular shopper questions. Highlight these answers on your store’s homepage next to the product.

7)    Survey them. 
Three to five simple questions is easy. Stars as answers are also easy. A blank text box will seem like work, and you won’t get any responses.

8)    Tell reviewers exactly what you want.

If you want longer answers rather than stars, give a 2-point review worded exactly like this, “Please review your purchase and:

1.      Tell shoppers why you bought the product

2.      Did it do what you wanted and would you shop with us again?”