Why Online Reviews Are Crucial For Your Language School Now More Than Ever

Have you ever wondered why students choose one language school over another?

In the past, pre-Covid, the deciding factors for choosing a language school were a combination of the price of the course and the school’s location. 

In the last 12 months, with schools moving online, the main deciding factor for choosing a language school now is online reviews. If you don’t have that many reviews, then you need to start collecting them now. 

Let’s go over why online reviews are crucial for your school now more than ever.

The Facts

Did you know that up to 90% of your students will check your reviews before they ever interact with your school? The latest studies have shown that people value reviews so much that they account for 67% of their buying decision!! So you see, getting reviews for your school is extremely important and will only increase in the future.

So here are the main benefits of having great reviews:

• They improve your SEO (search engine optimisation). This means the more good reviews you have, the easier it will be to be found online. Google wants to connect customers with businesses that have great reviews. 
• They establish trust. This is the point of reviews. 84% of people trust online reviews as much as they do a personal friend. The higher your review score, the more trust you will generate. 
• They generate more business: Great reviews = more stars = more clicks to your website = more business.
• Reviews are a great source of feedback, good and bad. Use the positive feedback as inspiration for describing your business. Student feedback can be used in your promotions very effectively. These opinions can help you to describe your courses better, etc. The bad feedback is valid and needs to be addressed. We live in an online world where we need to be completely transparent.

I know when I want to go to a new restaurant or stay at a hotel, join a new gym or go to a new hairdresser, I always read the reviews. They are usually what tips me over to actually choosing any particular one.

How do I get them?

It's simple! Just ask your customers to write a short online review about your school and let them know how important it is to your business.

What to keep in mind:

• Have believable customer testimonials. They have to be believable, sound authentic and be from real customers. 
• Ask often, don't just ask once and leave it at that! This needs to become a common practice, every couple of weeks. Motivate your teachers to help.
• Give your students at least 2 different platforms to leave reviews. Google and Facebook are enough.
• Respond to your reviews, good and bad. Google want to see that you react to your feedback. Never ignore any review. If they are positive then say 'thank you' and tell them you appreciate the feedback. The same goes for negative reviews: respond, be courteous and polite, acknowledge the complaint and respond in a mature manner. Never get into an argument, however tempting or provoking it may be.
• Timing is crucial! Let your customer get value from your school first before you ask; this will increase your reviews dramatically. Likewise, don't wait too long either! If they forget the value they received, then they most likely won't leave a review.
• If, by any chance, you have had a local celebrity coming to your school, be sure to use their photo and review as an endorsement. Put it up on your website.

Try to put yourself in your students' shoes. Reviews from your present and past students provide proof for them to see. One particular review might be all it takes to push someone from just thinking about using your school to actually becoming a paying student.

What to do next

Send an email to your students asking them to leave an online review on your Facebook page or on Google. It takes them just a few minutes and, if they really do like your company, they'll have no problem sharing their experience with others. 

You could do this in the following way:

Send out a survey to your customers, asking them to rate different aspects of your service. You can use this information to improve or tweak things to make your students happier. 

At the end of the survey, you could say, "If you are happy with our service, leave us a review on Facebook!", with a link for them to click. It's easy for them to do, and because they've just been thinking about your business while answering those questions, they're more likely to leave a review right there and then.

The purpose of these quotes is to drive people to your business. Pick and choose the best ones you get and put them on your website as promotion material for everyone to see.

If you need help with your school's marketing, check out our Digital Marketing course for Schools and Educational Organisations here