We know reviews are important, so how can you encourage your alumni to leave reviews on Go Overseas? And what's the value in putting in this effort? Read on for our insider tips and insights.
Why Reviews Matter
Before you invest all this time and effort into getting reviews, let's get the "why" out of the way first. In a nutshell, program listings with reviews perform better and get more engagement than those without. At Go Overseas at least, we've seen that having reviews has the power to increase the click through rate of a program listing by over 700%. The folks at Moz have also seen similar results with the impact of online reviews for local businesses. Additionally, program listings with reviews have:
- Higher average time on page (this means more time spent reading about your program and familiarizing themselves with it)
- A higher click off rate to your website from your Go Overseas listing
- Higher page views and average time on your website once they click off
- Higher conversion rates (visits to leads, leads to booking, etc)
For example, imagine we have two listings by the same provider. Both of them are teaching courses in Asia, and both of them had all the same elements (photos, descriptions, optimized titles, etc.) but one of them had 37 reviews and the other only had one.
Over the course of three months, the program with 37 reviews saw about 802 unique page views and average time on page of 3:35 minutes. In contrast, the one with only a single review saw about 80 unique page views and average time on page of two minutes. The takeaway is pretty clear: reviews are an incredibly impactful component of successfully marketing your programs.
At the end of the day, it’s all about community -- and reviews are what they want (even if they don't always want to leave them!)
Sold on reviews? Not sure how to get them? Then let's move forward to the good stuff:
1. Tap into Your Alumni Ambassador Pool
If you have alumni ambassadors for your program, this is a perfect group to tap into. They’re typically people who have had a positive experience and are enthusiastic about sharing their stories with peers who are interested in the program.
In other words, they'd be more than happy to be featured in a review -- especially if you present it as an opportunity to share their stories and encourage others to go on this program.
No matter what size your organization is, this is a great pool to ask since they’re already excited and engaged.
2. Reach Out to Past & New Alumni
Another tactic to try is reaching out to alumni from well before your most recent batch. Reach back into your database and ping participants who have done the program even as long as five years ago.
Doing so expands the number of people you're reaching out to and increases your chances of getting more reviews. Not to mention, it's especially helpful if you're a smaller provider and/or have smaller trip groups.
As a bonus, you might even be able to get their feedback on how the program has affected their life since, which is an interesting perspective to have on your profile and program listings! This is also really powerful insight because often these international experiences have a large impact on having shaped the participant's lives or decisions they made as a result of the program (personally or professionally).
3. Timing Matters: Catch them Before they Go Home
One of the best times to reach alumni and get them to leave a review is right before they go home. To do this, you could make a review part of the exit documents, turn it into a required assignment, or talk about it in any post departure or culture shock workshops you hold.
Of course, these tactics work best for structured programs, but if yours is less structured, the main point here is still key: timing is important. So make sure to send your alumni a follow-up email at minimum (personalized is even better!).
Post-program/re-entry life gets busy very quickly so catching them before they board the plane will likely result in a higher review completion rate.
4. Messaging: Acknowledge their Expertise and Make it Personal
How you ask your alumni to leave a review is also important. There are key three ways to successfully adjust your language:
Acknowledge their expertise: Rather than simply asking "hey, do you think you could leave a review?" adjust your language a bit. Acknowledge the fact that they’re an expert on your program and that they’re the best person to give future participants an idea of what they need to know before departing. For example, say "given your familiarity with our program, we'd love to feature your stories and in turn, encourage others to participate?"
Reiterate that it’s a small ask, and shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes of their time.
Make it personal: Perhaps a bit more time consuming up front, the personal ask has a much better ROI. For example, you could cast a wide net and get a few people to respond, or you could spend time making it a personal and caring ask and likely receive an even higher response rate. In my personal experience, personalization is very successful. Not to mention, it's a great way to keep tabs on your awesome participants!
If possible, have it come from someone the alumni have had contact with in the past. It’ll make them more likely to respond and feel like they’re helping.
5. Own the Fact that There’s Review Fatigue
There are several sites out there, and we don’t want your alumni to feel fatigued or overwhelmed by being asked to leave reviews on all of them. To prevent what we like to call "review fatigue," parse out your pool.
For example, if you have 10 alumni, ask 3 to leave a review on Go Overseas, 3 to leave reviews on another site you're listed on, and 3 to another.
6. If It’s Still Not Working, Try a Different Angle
There are multiple different wants to ask for reviews: emails, social media, asking in person, making it a part of your departure checklist. Don’t just reach out over email.
Think of creative ways to incentivize your alumni. What’s in it for them? We don’t mean to imply that you should pay for reviews (this is a no-no for a lot of reasons), but you should try and highlight the fact that they’re benefiting from this action, rather than helping you. For example, one provider threw out a Facebook post offering the first 30 people who left a review a branded t-shirt, and it resulted in almost 100 new, unique reviews on their program listings.
We're always happy to brainstorm alternative outreach methods with you. We've advised hundreds of accounts through this process and each and everyone is a bit different.
7. Take Advantage of the Go Overseas Again Contest
Every year, Go Overseas holds a contest, the Go Overseas Again Contest (GOAC) to encourage alumni to leave reviews and help answer questions about your programs.
We give away weekly prizes from sponsors like Mountain Hardware, Timbuk2, Camelbak, and Clif Bar. The grand prize is a trip overseas (again) on a language, gap, or volunteer program with roundtrip flights.
Take advantage of this contest and tell your alumni about it. It's the best opportunity all year to incentivize your current and recent participants to review their experience on Go Overseas -- we always see 3x as many reviews come through during this time!