Online reviews and testimonials are a core part of building the social proof you need in order to convert online buyers and sellers. It’s the backbone of getting clients to trust you.
Without reviews, it’s hard to stand out from the competition, and even more difficult to build a sustainable real estate career.
In this post, we’re going to cover how to ask for real estate reviews and how to actually get them. We’ll also cover where to ask for reviews, when to ask, and why you need to be collecting reviews.
Let’s go.
Why Bother With Real Estate Reviews?
Real estate is a game of trust. In order to get clients, you need them to trust you and your services. Client reviews and testimonials play a key part in creating that trust.
Every single real estate agent needs to get reviews from their clients so that they can generate new leads and convert those leads into closed clients.
I read in a sales book a long time ago, something along the lines of, “When you say it, it’s bragging. When a customer says it, it’s sales.”
That saying has stayed with me.
When agents create marketing pieces that say, “They’re number one” or “They’re the greatest agent in town” it’s all bragging.
To effectively sell, you should rely on reviews from customers rather than bragging about yourself. Let your clients speak to how great of an agent you are.
Get New Leads
Online real estate reviews, on the right platforms, will help you bring in more organic, passive leads. These are leads that you don’t have to go out and chase.
From personal experience, these leads are almost always more likely to convert into clients and are predetermined to work with me by the time they reach out to me. That means I’m not competing with a ton of other agents for the lead.
How can you get more leads? Check out places where potential home buyers and sellers search for real estate agents — Zillow, Realtor.com, and Google, to name a few.
You will find that reviews play an important part in ranking real estate agents in search results.
Take Zillow as an example. Their Agent Finder function ranks real estate agents based on recent sales activity and reviews. The agents that get ranked — aside from those who are premier agents — have a high number of reviews compared to their competitors.
In today’s market, getting real estate reviews are absolutely critical to your long-term success as a real estate agent, but it doesn’t always seem easy to get reviews.
When you build a profile with a ton of reviews, it can become a powerful, scalable marketing channel. The return on investment is astronomical, too.
Think about it… there is pretty much no cost in getting reviews. At least not compared to other marketing options, like Zillow leads or direct mail.
You can start to build a predictable business that generates consistent leads.
We’ve used Google to generate leads into our business. For example, we rank for keyword terms like “realtor near me” and “realtor riverview”.
Convert More Leads
Your reviews act as social proof to build trust and convert more leads. Ideally, your reviews should be used in all areas of your business — from social media, to your website, to review platforms, to your listing presentations.
At every point in the process, your clients should see your reviews. One of my favorite things to do with my reviews is to take them and create Facebook and Instagram posts with the clients photo at closing.
Looking to do something similar? You can. We had our sign custom made at All Things Real Estate. Take a look at their options and build your own custom closing sign.
Our sign has something for buyers on one side and sellers on the other side.
Find ways to repurpose your leads and use them to convert more leads into customers.
Where To Get Reviews
There is no shortage of places to get reviews, but I would focus on the most important four: Google, Zillow, Facebook, and your brokerage’s website.
Google Reviews
The most obvious and impactful place to start is with Google. If I was a new real estate agent again, I would definitely start here. Even if I’m just starting to get more series about reviews, regardless of experience, I would start here, too.
First, Google is one of the largest search engines, which means more potential traffic to your website. Second, Google is often the starting point for many home buyers and sellers when they start their home buying journey.
Tons of buyers go to Google and type in queries like, “Homes for sale” or “Realtors in [city]”.
So, there is a lot of demand. Also, it’s relatively easy to rank your Google My Business page in the snack pack, then it is to rank your agent profile on other platforms.
For example, we rank for important keywords with only 13 reviews on Google. Yes, we rank because of more than just reviews, but to rank in Zillow for the same zip code, I would need 200+ reviews. That’s a tough hill to climb — even for me.
Start with Google because it’s a high impact, low barrier platform to collect reviews.
To succeed with getting Google reviews — any reviews for that matter — you need to make it as easy as possible for your client to write a review.
Often, real estate agents just ask their clients to write them a Google review without providing instructions or a link to do so.
That’s a shame. It hurts the number of reviews you can get.
You can provide your clients with a direct link to write reviews on Google. First, type in your business name into Google.
This should pull up your Google My Business listing in the search results.
Next, click on your “Reviews” right underneath all of the buttons. This will pull up reviews, and in the top right corner press the “Write Review” button.
Don’t actually write yourself a review. Once you have done that, copy and paste the URL that is in your web browser.
When you send this link to your clients, it will automatically pull up the box for them to write and leave you a review.
Don’t make your clients go searching for how to write you a review. The easier you make everything for your clients, the easier it will be for them to write you a review.
Zillow (And Others)
Zillow is the largest real estate website and also houses one of the largest agent directories. So, it makes sense to try to get reviews on a directory site like Zillow.
However, it’s your business and you can prioritize other directory websites, like Realtor.com, if you want.
There are pros and cons to each site. Realtor.com has less traffic, but it’s likely easier to rank in their directory than Zillow.
If you happen to have a niche, you might want to research niche-specific directories. For example, say you specialize in selling horse properties. You could try to rank your profile on a site like Horseproperties.net.
Are Zillow leads a part of your marketing plan or do you plan to make them part of your marketing plan? Then, you definitely want to focus on getting Zillow reviews.
Zillow has published their own content about the effect of reviews for agents who participate in their Zillow Premier Agent program.
An important note: a majority of the traffic will go to the first three real estate agents. That means to stand a chance at getting leads from ranking in the agent directory, you need to be in a top three spot.
On platforms like Zillow, that can be a HUGE barrier. In my market, that takes nearly 200+ reviews. If you live in a smaller market, you might have an easier time. I’m sure there are also markets that are much more competitive than mine where the requirement might be 400+.
If you’re just starting out as an agent or have a low number of reviews, I would look at building reviews on other platforms in addition to Zillow.
While these other sites get fewer traffic, you will be able to get some of that traffic by ranking.
Zero percent of a lot is still zero. It doesn’t matter how much traffic Zillow gets if you can’t rank in the top three.
Zillow and Google are both excellent platforms for generating and converting leads. Facebook, on the other hand, will play a larger role in lead conversion than lead generation.
That’s because of the fact that most people don’t go to Facebook looking for a real estate agent.
However, you should still get real estate reviews on your Facebook page. First, it can help your page rank in Google — among other factors.
Second, the reviews can be used as social proof and shared to your audience on your Facebook page.
Practically everyone is on Facebook, today. If you opt-out of Facebook, Instagram is a good alternative and works the same way.
In addition, your Facebook channel will be the place you’re sharing your social proof photos and testimonials. A review on Facebook can accompany a photo of a client at closing or in front of their home.
This is a powerful way to stand out and catch the attention of people in your network.
Your Broker Profile Website
Okay, this last one is relevant to only a select number of agents. When I was with Coldwell Banker, they featured a “Find An Agent” function.
I set out to rank my profile on Coldwellbanker.com. After four months in business, I managed to rank my agent profile in my area on Coldwell Banker’s main website.
Within two weeks of being ranked, I had a lead come in that was a buyer and seller. This made a big difference in my career at the time. I was new and to have a buyer and seller without having to pay Zillow leads or sit on floor time for hours was a big deal.
Not every brokerage will have an agent directory where they rank their agents by reviews. Mine did, so I took advantage of it. If yours does, I encourage you to take advantage of it, too.
How to Ask For Real Estate Reviews
Ask Early
Asking after a closing is a big mistake I see many agents make. I understand the reasoning behind waiting. The transaction is finally over and you finished delivering your services.
But, you’re making it harder for your clients to leave you a review. What are your clients doing after closing? Many of them are moving. They’re busy AF.
Your request for a review gets buried in their mountain of to-dos.
It’s better to ask before closing.
Think about this: a majority of our service is done after the appraisal. At this point, it’s usually the lender and title company that have work to do.
Also, think about when compensation is generally due as a list agent. Yes, it’s paid at closing, but many listing agreements outline a clause that states a client is required to pay if we bring an acceptable offer.
For that reason, I often ask as early in the process as possible. Often once we go through inspections and before closings.
Always before closing.
Another point where you can ask for a review is when you get the clear to close. At this point, you’re just waiting until the closing can be scheduled.
The clear-to-close is a happy point for clients, so it makes sense to ask for a review here.
Ask Often
In addition to asking early, you need to ask more often. Don’t just ask once after closing. Frequency is generally better. If you are asking multiple times, don’t let months go by.
You should ask once the closing is scheduled, the day of closing (ideally before closing), and a week after closing.
These points in time will give you the best outcome and dramatically increase the results of getting reviews.
Give Them A Reason
Now, I’m not a big fan of offering incentives, like prizes for reviews. In fact, on many platforms this actually violates their terms of service. Of course, it’s hard to track these practices so most people get away with doing things like offering a contest in exchange for reviews.
So, when I say give them a reason, I’m not talking about a contest. I’m talking about a reason they care about. My review requests always contain a strong reason why they should leave me a review.
Generally, I say something like this:
“Reviews are important so that I can make sure more buyers and services get the kind of service you did. I want to build the community and make sure everyone gets a good realtor. You can help me in my effort by leaving a review.”
I recruit my clients into my mission. I want them to help me become ranked so I can get clients and deliver a good service. I’m trying to save clients from the bad real estate agents and they can help me do this.
Leverage The Process
When it comes to making the process easier for your clients, you can leverage technology tools like RateMyAgent. For example, you can make a single request for a review that will send the reviews to Google and Facebook.
You don’t need your clients to fill out a review on both platforms. This will improve your odds of getting a review and getting them on multiple platforms.
This software also allows you to turn your reviews into ads on Google or Facebook — instantly boosting your social proof.
The ad feature is part of their paid plan, but you can create an account and request reviews on their free plan. It’s a great way to consolidate your reviews, too, and create marketing collateral to include in your presentations or as a flier at open houses.
Final Thoughts on How to Ask for Real Estate Reviews
Getting reviews is an ongoing process that every real estate agent needs to start today. Use these tips to get more reviews on various platforms. Remember to ask early and ask often. The easier you make it for clients, the more reviews you’re going to get.
Build up your reviews over time and watch your business change as a result. Make it your goal to get a review from every single client or at least shoot for about 80%.
