Authentic Review Generator: Why You Need One

Erica YlimakiErica Ylimaki
Last edited: November 6th, 2024

Forget the fake reviews. Authentic reviews are the most effective way to build trust with potential customers.

Get reviews from real customers
review page design for adding all reviews

Hi there!

I guess you landed here in the hopes that you would find an AI review generator to create fake reviews?

Sorry to disappoint you, but that’s not what this blog is about.

Keep in mind that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ruled a ban against fake reviews of all sorts.

So forget that! Here’s how you can get real reviews.

Google Review Generator?

There are a few things to consider with Google reviews. Accessibility issues are the biggest hurdles.

Repeat after me: Not everyone has a Google account. If you send them a direct Google review link, their review experience looks like this:

Google reviews aren't accessible to everyone

OUCH.

I’d be pissed.

Second thing to note is that not everyone wants to leave a Google review. They’d rather stay anonymous – or at least not trackable on the internet.

There’s a better way to more customer reviews. (Yes, this applies to Google reviews)

Let’s set up a free review campaign together! After the campaign is up and getting you those positive reviews, we can help you create a review acquisition process.

Encourage Customers to Leave a Review

First of all, Google reviews are great, but they aren’t the only method to enhance your online reputation.

Ask yourself: When’s the last time you left a Google review?

Mine was in October 2023 for a restaurant in Prague. For context, it’s now the 30th of September in 2024.

The best way to get more reviews is to ask for them, and to offer multiple ways to leave a review. I mean, Google reviews for restaurants matter in terms of visibility and getting people to visit, but so few still ask for reviews. This is one huge pain point in business that gets overlooked.

Typical Struggles in Getting Reviews

  1. Juggling between review platforms
  2. No one’s solely responsible for asking for reviews
  3. Don’t want to sound spammy to customers
  4. Not wanting to bother new customers
  5. Review requests seem too transactional
  6. Timing of review requests is hard

Do these sound familiar? Well, you’re not alone.

I’ve written more on the topic of pain points in getting reviews, but let’s focus on solving those now.

Results with Trustmary Method: Case Jeda Logistics

Before Trustmary, Jega Logistics had only 7 Google reviews.

Problem: Not Enough Reviews

The company wanted to get more to boost credibility and to show up on Google Maps and Google search.

It had automated sending the Google review link to customers after package delivery.

The results were slim.

Solution: Trustmary Method

The company decided to try if the problem was with trying to get more Google reviews.

It changed the feedback flow to Trustmary Method.

  1. First ask for customer feedback with star rating
  2. Asking open feedback
  3. “Would you like to leave this feedback as a review” & fill in contact info –> 40% said yes!
  4. An additional step was to ask for Google reviews after already getting a Trustmary review –> 19 people left a Google review
Trustmary method in action

In 3 Months:

  • 171 customer feedback
  • 69 online reviews
  • 19 Google reviews
  • Review page that features all reviews

Setting Up Customer Review Generator

Try Trustmary to generate real high-quality reviews that matter!

Authentic reviews bring your brand to life.

Benefits of Real Customer Reviews

  • Build trust and credibility
  • Impact Google search ranking (when you add review schema!)
  • Establish realistic expectations 
  • Offer more information about your products and services
  • Build relationships with customers
  • Provide honest feedback and a possibility to improve
  • Help you improve customer satisfaction
  • Cheer you up on a bad day (I mean… Who wouldn’t love reading nice things about themselves, company or product or service?)

Get Customers to Leave Reviews

When you get customers to share their positive experiences with your brand, you can have this type of user-generated content on your website:

Process for Getting New Reviews:

  1. Create a Trustmary account
  2. Create a survey: We’ve created the best survey flow to get a 40% review rate from respondents
  3. Want more Google reviews? Add your Google review link to the end of the survey.
  4. Share survey: Use email send, QR code, and share the short survey URL on social media,…

Pssst. If you have an existing Google Business location, you can start generating Google reviews with Trustmary’s review campaigns immediately.

Just type your Google business location or the address added to Google Maps below ⬇️ 

No need to look for that Place ID!

Build Trust: Add All Reviews to Website

If you have, for example, Google reviews already, you can import them to Trustmary immediately.

They can be added to review widgets and added to your website.

These can then be used to get even more candid testimonials from other customers.

Import reviews (for free!) by typing your Google My Business location below or search with the address you have on Google Maps ⬇️

I’ll briefly cover the simple steps of creating a process for collecting and using reviews with Trustmary.

In case you want to know more about each step, check out the more in-depth articles.

Import

This is for you if you already have Google reviews, Facebook reviews, or reviews on any of these sites:

By importing the existing reviews to Trustmary, you can easily use them on your own website!

If you regularly get reviews on these platforms, you don’t necessarily have to establish your own collection process.

Just import fresh reviews to your site regularly with a few clicks!

how to add any reviews to website use this video tutorial

Here’s a more detailed guide on adding Google reviews to your website. It can be used on any other type of reviews as well.

Collect More Reviews

You can collect an unlimited amount of reviews and video reviews.

And even ask for people to leave you a Google review.

Create a review form and distribute it with a URL link, QR code, or website embed.

In case you want to create automations and send the survey directly to a contact list, upgrade to a more advanced plan.

easiest, fastest and most beneficial way to collect more reviews is to use Trustmary's review campaign that can be setup and sent in minutes

When you ask for reviews via Trustmary, you can always be sure that you have permission to use them online.

Read more about how to gather reviews and video reviews.

Share Your Google Reviews

Once you have your reviews (imported, collected, or both), you need to put them live on your website.

Choose the right widget from Trustmary’s extensive widget library. Just copy and paste the widget to where you want it.

I recommend a testimonial carousel on your front page or landing pages. It features many testimonials in a compact space and adds a dash of interactivity to your website.

reviews you can get with an authentic review generator

All widgets are fully customizable, and you can make them match your brand.

If you want, you can choose to automatically add every new review to your widget. Trustmary uses automatic order that prioritizes: 

  • Video reviews over text reviews
  • Good reviews over bad reviews
  • Longer reviews over shorter reviews

You can also hand-pick the reviews that you want to showcase on your website.

Take a look at all of our widgets and choose your favorite!

Manage Multiple Review Sources

All reviews are stored in Trustmary where you can manage them easily.

You can publish or unpublish reviews, tag them for easier categorization, share them on social media, or refresh your memory about past feedback.

No more messy spreadsheets: all feedback and social proof in one place!

Need help setting this up?

Book your free meeting with Trustmary to learn how Trustmary Method works.

3 Main Reasons to Ditch AI Reviews Generator

Forget those AI review generators. Artificial intelligence can easily generate a bunch of fake stuff.

Reason 1: Google Penalizes You

Once Google gets up to speed on what you’re doing, your rankings will drop.

Big time.

Reason 2: Lose Credibility in the Eyes of Potential Customers

Even when using an AI reviews generator, people are quick to notice patterns in your product reviews.

Once they lose trust in you, it’s game over. There’s no way you can win them back.

How about you get some product reviews from customers that have bought from you?

Reason 3: You Lose Valuable Feedback

When you don’t ask your customers what they think, you’re missing out on an opportunity to improve your product or service.

Reasons to Focus on Getting Positive Reviews

On top of fake reviews being bad, there is the other side of things.

There are so many good reasons why you should get authentic reviews from customers and display them online.

1. Getting More Reviews is a Must

Future customers want to read reviews before making a purchase decision. That’s just how things are.

Statistics about reviews show that 93% of consumers read reviews.

This fact does not only go for consumer marketing or e-commerce stores. It’s the same in B2B marketing, or in any industry.

If a potential client has to choose between a business that has no reviews and a business that has reviews, which one do you think they would pick?

When you do business online, you must have reviews.

2. Social Proof

Reviews are a great way to leverage social proof.

It’s a psychological phenomenon that makes people follow each other’s lead in new situations.

When your potential customers see that you have positive reviews from other real people, they are more likely to trust your business as well.

The more reviews you have, the better. Wisdom of the crowds is effective.

Considering this fact, I get it why you would feel inclined to buy fake reviews. It must be a big task to collect enough reviews…

Well, not if you have the right tools! With Trustmary, you could collect as much as over 300 reviews in just a few months.

social proof explained

3. Higher Conversion Rate

Our clients have achieved incredible success with reviews on their website.

Through our customer cases we have learned that when you use reviews in marketing:

  • Conversion rates in e-commerce can grow by 37%
  • You can get 62% more contact request
  • It’s possible to lower the marketing costs while doubling the sales

This goes to further prove that people view reviews from happy customers as a sign of a trustworthy business.

4. Search Engines Loves Reviews

Did you know that reviews account for as much as 15% of the local search engine rankings?

If you are a local business, don’t forget to ask your customers to leave a Google review, and afterwards import the reviews to your own website.

There are other ways in which authentic reviews can aid your SEO efforts.

  1. They include keywords that help Google index your page and rank with those keywords.
  1. Reviews on third-party review sites generate backlinks for your site.
  1. Reviews are fresh content produced by your audience.
google loves reviews that are on your website

5. Reviews Offer Honest Feedback

Customer feedback is the driving force of business growth. It offers you a chance to improve and become the best and most popular solution in your industry.

The positive reviews tell you what you are doing well, while negative reviews help you see what you are lacking.

6. They Teach Your Customers

Many consumers read reviews to find out more about the product or service they are about to purchase.

The potential customers might have questions like:

  • “Is this clothing label true to size?”
  • “Can this software be used for my purposes?”
  • “Does this service include this detail?”

Oftentimes, customer reviews can answer those questions.

You can affect the way people write reviews and what they write about, when you take the review process into your own hands.

7. Build Relationships

How would you feel if one of your favorite brands featured your comment on their website?

I can say for myself that I would feel pretty damn appreciated.

My comments is so valuable that the brand decides to showcase it to all visitors!

Asking for reviews and using them publicly signals that you care about your customers and their opinions.

It’s a great tactic for building relationships and brand loyalty.

Never Fake Reviews!!!

Is that enough exclamation points?

No. Here are some more:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Faking reviews or buying fake reviews can be very harmful for your business.

Additionally, it’s harmful for the general idea and image of reviews.

Reviews are supposed to be something that we can trust more than the company’s own claims.

Who can we trust if not reviews from our peers?

Let’s take a closer look at how fake reviews can harm your business.

1. Ruin Your Reputation

If your customers notice your bluff (and they will), you have lost respect.

Fake reviews are actually quite easy to recognize from generic or SEO optimized language, anonymous comments, and made-up names.

Companies that sell fake reviews will use the same profiles to review various businesses around the world or leave the exact same reviews with different names. Easy to spot.

There are even tools out there that can identify fake reviews.

Any serious business would not want to risk their reputation this way.

2. Set Unrealistic Expectations

Let’s say your business has lots of positive reviews that are not based on reality. 

Someone will notice that they are not true after having a bad experience with your brand.

How do you think this would make them feel?

Be prepared for a counter-reaction and a flood of negative reviews.

3. Can Lead to Penalty

Don’t forget that faking reviews also has more tangible consequences.

For example, the U.K. government is preparing a law reform that would make faking reviews illegal.

There have also been cases where brands are challenged for censoring negative reviews, and Google has taken down reviews that were suspected as fake.

If nothing else, cases like this can at least cost you money. You might even get negative attention from the media…

As it turns out, a doctor in the US was caught buying fake Google reviews and was issued a 100.000 dollar fine for his actions.

4. Lose Valuable Feedback

A genuine business that is there to offer something for its customers would not voluntarily miss out on customer feedback.

Feedback is what makes your business improve and grow.

If you are worried about negative reviews and how they can affect your business, don’t be too worried.

When you respond to negative reviews, you have a chance to fix things and turn the unhappy customer into a happy one. 

And if not, at least you can show all others who might be reading the reviews that you were willing to help and listen to the customers.

Blueprint of a Great Review

Let’s discuss what makes a great review, and what you can do to get such reviews.

Length Matters

Reviews are often short and concise. However, you should try and aim to get a bit longer reviews.

There is evidence that longer reviews generate better results on your website

You can help your customers to write longer reviews by offering questions and prompts that you wish them to answer.

However, there is a danger that customers won’t leave reviews at all if they think it requires too much effort.

Be thankful for any reviews you get, despite the length. 

Luckily, Trustmary automatically prioritizes longer reviews in the widgets, which means you can showcase your best assets first.

Keep Reviews as Fresh as Possible

73% of consumers don’t trust reviews if they were written more than a month ago.

Reflecting on this fact, make sure that you ask for reviews consistently and regularly.

This is where your review collection process is most important. When it’s continuous, smooth, and as automated as possible, you don’t have to worry about getting fresh reviews.

It’s a good idea to go through your widgets from time to time and unpublish or delete old reviews to make space for new ones.

Add Details

Generic reviews are not necessarily the most persuasive ones.

However, most people don’t spend too much time thinking about what to write in their reviews. As a result, many reviews are quite generic content-wise.

It would be much convincing if the review included some details that only an actual customer would know.

That would be things like:

  • People’s names (“Mary was such a professional in our meeting!”)
  • How the customer found this business (“After my friend recommended the service…”)
  • Details about the experience (“At first I was lost with the new phone, but in the end I learned to use it and now I wouldn’t change it for anything!”)
  • Details about the product or service (“I especially enjoyed the steam treatment at the spa.”)

Here, too, questions and prompts can help you get those statements from clients.

Identification Makes Impactful Reviews

Anonymous reviews are not as convincing as reviews with someone’s name and face on it.

Perhaps this is part of the reason for why video reviews are so effective!

Example of Details to Ask from Reviewers

  • Name
  • Profession
  • Location
  • Company name
  • Profile picture

When reviews include personal details like this, they are far more credible, and help new potential customers relate to the previous customers. 

When that happens, social proof effects are amplified!

Authenticity

Even when there are “hacks” to get better reviews, authenticity is the most important aspect.

Let your customers say what they want and be how they are.

If the reviews include typos and grammatical errors, that’s alright. In video reviews, small gaps and stutters are alright.

They actually make the reviews appear more genuine and human!

Another thing to note it that the reviews should feature natural word choices. If the language is too branded, like including slogans or specific terminology, it might look seem like copy made by the company itself.

How you can achieve this?

Encourage your customers to be themselves. Make clear they don’t have to stress about perfect grammar, smooth sentences, or right word choices.

In other words, you need to add all product reviews directly to those pages. An AI tool can help with adding fake reviews quickly and easily, but Google might punish you when you get caught for using AI technology for content creation.

Conclusion: Get More Reviews

The benefits of authentic reviews outweigh the benefits you could get by faking reviews.

Getting customers to leave reviews or Google reviews isn’t hard, when you use Trustmary.

You can set up a process for it in just a few minutes!

You get to not only an automatic process for collecting reviews, but also an easy way to place reviews on your website.

How easy can it be?

Other than that, you need to provide excellent customer experiences and make sure your customer satisfaction is at a nice level. That’s the starting point for getting reviews and growing your business in the first place.

Start gathering authentic reviews from your real customers today.

Why wait any longer if you can tap into the benefits right now?

Further Reading

FAQ

What is a review generator?

A review generator often refers to AI-based tools that generate reviews. You should never try to fool your customers by using such tools. Instead, try Trustmary’s authentic review generator that helps you import third-party reviews, collect reviews, and showcase real customer reviews. You can even get more Google reviews with Trustmary.

All you need is Trustmary and your Google review link!

Why do you need a review generator tool?

To automate the process of getting more reviews and more Google reviews.

  • Streamline review process
  • Saves time by cutting manual work
  • Better results in Google search (yes, the algorithm emphasizes the number and recency of at least Google reviews)
  • Get valuable customer insights
  • Boost your marketing materials with fresh reviews

What is the best online review generator tool?

Trustmary is the best online review generator tool as it helps you generate impactful reviews.

You can:

The best part is that you get them natively on the review site of your choosing, be it a Shopify store, WordPress, Squarespace,… . If Google reviews matter the most to you, you can focus on them. But if your industry focuses more on other online review sources, you can collect them instead.

No manual copy-pasting is needed.

Additionally, Trustmary automatically showcases your best reviews in places where they matter the most.

Can I generate reviews quickly with a review generator tool?

100%. Getting one product review (or a 1.000) has never been faster than with an AI review generator tool.

However, it’s strongly advised not to use review generator tools for anything else than creating placeholder reviews when designing a website.

Creating a ton of product reviews with an AI review generator or buying fake reviews can lead to being fined.

What are the benefits of using a review generator tool?

The benefits of gathering persuasive reviews with a review generator include:

  • Get positive feedback for a product or service
  • Build trust
  • High-quality reviews can be used to drive up conversions
  • Increase sales by adding social proof
  • Quickly and easily build trust when you add reviews to your website

About the author
Erica Ylimaki
Erica Ylimaki

Erica Ylimäki is a Growth Marketer at Trustmary. She is an expert in how to grow the organic traffic of a business with effective SEO strategies, and how to utilize reviews on different CMS and platforms.



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