How to Get BBB Reviews for Your Business

What is the BBB, and how does it work?

The BBB has long been a trusted, independent directory where consumers can look up a business to gauge its legitimacy, credibility, and performance. 

Based on factors such as the type of business, the number of unresolved complaints, and any government actions against the business, the bureau awards or deducts points out of a total of 100 and then converts the points into an A-F letter grade. Many consumers are familiar with and give weight to the letter grade when researching a business. Consumers can also read reviews about the business.

Businesses can pay to become accredited members of the BBB. To remain accredited, the business has to maintain a “B” grade or higher by meeting certain standards regarding handling customer complaints and truthful advertising. 

The BBB also provides information about non-accredited businesses. It’s important to note that the bureau’s ratings don’t guarantee the reliability or performance of any one business but should be used by consumers as a source of information. 

Setting the right expectations

When it comes to the BBB, there can be a lot of confusion about expected outcomes. Many businesses that list with the BBB start with the wrong expectations — which they likely developed from experience with other review sites.

For example, some review sites tell business owners that if they create a profile and pay for the site’s premium features, the business will receive an avalanche of traffic, leads, sales — you name it. The site may even sweeten the pitch with convincing but difficult-to-verify stats. Whether the review site can deliver on these claims is another story.

However, the effect is that when a local business signs up for a BBB profile and pays for accreditation, the business owner may have similar expectations in mind (instantly more traffic, leads, and sales). The owner waits for new customers to start flocking in and the profits to flow. But when nothing much happens, the owner feels let down. They expected more and were promptly disappointed. This has contributed to a view among some former members that the BBB isn’t worth it or a scam. 

However, from the consumer’s point of view, the BBB isn’t a scam and is very much a valid tool. Some of the latest data confirms that around 23% of consumers still rely on consumer agencies like the BBB for researching businesses and reading reviews. 

Long story short, your customers still use the BBB as a credible source for online reviews and information. So, as long as you come to it with the right expectations, there’s no reason to discount the BBB. And, in fact, there’s every reason to use it to your advantage.

The business goals you can achieve using the BBB

Let’s pause a moment and talk about the general goals of using review sites. Industry-specific review sites — such as TripAdvisor, Healthgrades, Avvo, and others — along with search engines like Google can give a boost (with varying degrees of success) to the following:

• Branding: Reviews help build up your brand and create an economic moat around your business. A strong brand (e.g., Coca-Cola, Google, Amazon, etc.) is perceived as more credible and authoritative by customers, earns more loyalty, and produces more revenue.
• Traffic: Some review sites can send a significant amount of traffic to your business if you understand SEO. For example, Google reviews are tied to keywords, so if customers use keywords in their reviews, you can see improvement in your search rankings. Local SEO coupled with smart review management tactics produce the greatest traffic gains.
• Conversions: Reviews give customers the confidence and trust they need to buy your product or service. In terms of hard numbers, if your product has five reviews, its purchase likelihood is 270% greater than if your product has no reviews. 
• Revenue: Whether unspoken or not, this is often the main expectation around review sites. If you spend $1 with a review site, you expect $5 in return.
• Lift: This is the goal you may be the least familiar with, but having a quality review portfolio improves performance — i.e., gives a “lift” — across the other four categories. The result is that your marketing campaigns are less expensive, more effective, and provide a greater return.

Each of these goals is achievable with the BBB as well — if you’re willing to put some work into it. In short, it requires creating and optimizing your BBB profile and then leveraging your profile along with customer reviews in your marketing strategy, which we’ll talk about next.

How to create and claim your BBB listing

Claiming and taking control of your BBB listing puts you in the driver’s seat. When you build and optimize your BBB profile, you can fill it with reviews and positive information about your business — information that can help counteract any negative reviews that may be posted there or elsewhere.

Use the following step-by-step guide to create and claim your accredited BBB listing (we’ll provide information below for creating a non-accredited profile, if you prefer that route): 

1. Go to BBB.org. In the topmost navigation, click on BBB Accreditation. If you don’t see it there, you may see “Get Accredited” or something similar in the main menu. (The navigation and format of the landing page you see may differ slightly, depending on your region.)
2. Fill out the form, which will help the BBB know if you qualify for accreditation and can continue with the process. 
3. Once you’ve submitted the form, you’ll see a thank you page confirming your submission. Your information will be sent to your local chapter. If you qualify, you’ll then be contacted within a few days and asked to continue with the accreditation process.
4. In the first step of the accreditation process, you’ll be taken to a form that’s populated with the data you entered in step 2. Here, you’ll also be able to ask questions and view pricing. Pricing is assessed on a per-month basis based on the number of employees in your business, with options to pay monthly or annually.
5. Next, you’ll be asked to provide payment information and choose whether you’d like your accreditation to be renewed automatically or not. You’ll also have the option to pay later if you prefer.
6. Review and submit your order, and look for an email confirmation stating that your application was received. 
7. Once the application process is complete, you’ll also receive an email with your UserID and password to login. Check your spam folder to make sure this email isn’t accidentally flagged or deleted.
8. With your credentials, simply login and complete your profile. 

If you’re not interested in accreditation, but you still want to add your business listing to the BBB:

1. Click on BBB Directory in the main menu.
2. Click on your state or province (if you’re in Canada). 
3. You should see contact information for each of the BBB chapters that serve your state. Contact your local chapter by phone or email (most local representatives are responsive). You can use a template like this one:

Dear BBB:

I’m trying to find a way to add my business to your directory. I’m willing to consider accreditation down the line, but I’m not ready to do that just yet. For now, I’d like to start by adding my business first. 

Can you help me get this done?

Thanks for your help. 

[Your name]

BBB rules and regulations for accreditation

When your business is accredited, you want to make sure to follow the BBB’s accreditation standards, which dictate what’s expected and how you should behave on (and off) their platform. Following these standards not only keeps you in good standing with the BBB, it also helps you build positive relationships with your customers, who will then be more apt to give you positive reviews. 

Here’s a brief overview of the bureau’s standards:

• Build trust: Establish and maintain trustworthy business practices in the marketplace.
• Advertise honestly: Adhere to standards of ethical advertising and selling.
• Tell the truth: Represent products and services honestly, and clearly disclose all material terms.
• Be transparent: Openly identify who owns the business, where it’s located, and the nature of the business, and clearly disclose all policies, guarantees, and procedures that impact the customer’s decision to buy.
• Honor promises: Fulfill all contracts and commitments.
• Be responsive: Address customer complaints and disputes quickly, professionally, and in good faith.
• Safeguard privacy: Protect any data collected from mishandling and fraud, collect personal information only as needed, and respect customer preferences regarding the use of their information.
• Embody integrity: Approach all business dealings, marketplace transactions, and commitments with integrity.

There’s a sub-list of requirements for many of these items, so it’s a good idea to read through the full scope of the accreditation standards yourself so you understand exactly what’s expected.

How to get BBB reviews

Once you have your BBB profile set up, you should start asking your customers to leave reviews on your profile. 

There are multiple ways to ask customers for reviews, including: 

• During face-to-face interactions
• At the end of a purchase or after a service
• On in-store signage or brochures
• Sending an email or SMS (text)
• Within a customer portal
• Providing a QR code

However you choose to request reviews, it’s important to make the process as easy as possible for the customer by providing the exact BBB link where they can leave the review. Note that customers can also search on the BBB on their own for your business — by name and location — and then leave a review that way. Reviews can include both a star rating and written content.

When your customer leaves a review, you and the customer will be taken through a verification process by the BBB to ensure validity and confirm a real transaction took place, as well as to give your business an opportunity to respond. The BBB’s customer review process includes:

• Validation of the email or phone number of the reviewer
• Confirmation by your business that you interacted with the particular customer
• The ability for your business to respond to the reviewer
• The ability of the reviewer to submit additional comments on the review
• Removal of inappropriate language or personal information before the review is published
• Disallowal of anonymous reviews or reviews for which the reviewer was compensated
• Publishing of the review to your business’s BBB profile

The BBB is careful to point out, though, that even with all these steps, it cannot guarantee the accuracy or truthfulness of a review. As with other review sites where you may have a profile, it’s a good idea to monitor your BBB reviews to give you extra assurance that they’re coming from verified customers. 

How to use your BBB reviews for marketing and advertising

Here’s where the rubber meets the road. You can further boost the value and performance of your business listing and reach more of your potential audience by leveraging your BBB reviews in your marketing strategy. For example, you can use BBB reviews to enhance:

• Marketing campaigns: Add excerpts from your best BBB reviews to your social media, email, or display campaigns. 
• Your website: Use review widgets to display and promote your BBB reviews on your home page and product or service pages.
• Proposals or quotes: If you run a service-based business, add BBB reviews to your proposals or customer quotes.
• Your upsell process: Combine 5-star BBB reviews directly related to your products or services with upsell or cross-sell opportunities.
• Other customer touchpoints: Include content from your BBB reviews to key decision points along the buying journey, such as contact forms, booking or appointment pages, opt-in forms, free consultation forms, and newsletter sign-ups to motivate potential customers and boost conversion rates.
• Guest posts and podcasts: As a business owner, if you’re a prolific writer, thought leader, or a regular guest on shows and podcasts, weave BBB review content into your bio.
• Email signatures: Include short, high-impact excerpts from BBB reviews in your email signature.
• Urgency triggers: Combine BBB reviews with “only 5 products left,” “I only take on 10 clients at a time,” or something as simple as “supplies are limited” to boost the effectiveness of urgency triggers (as long as your triggers are real, genuine, and fair).
• Direct mail pieces: Give your prospects an irresistible mail offer that includes critical social proof in the form of BBB reviews.
• Special offers: Pair stellar BBB reviews with discounts, coupons, incentives, bonuses, or invite-only sales to attract your target customers and earn their loyalty.

With these tactics and strategies, you can get far more mileage out of the reviews your customers leave on your BBB profile and achieve more of your desired results. 

The BBB is worth it — if you know what to do

Your BBB profile is valuable, but it takes effort and know-how to unlock that value. Once you do, you’ll see that it’s (still) a powerful tool consumers can use to research your business and gain confidence in deciding to purchase from you. 

With the right understanding of how the BBB works and the tactics you can use to get the most out of your profile and reviews, you can increase traffic, leads, and sales and drive business growth.

To learn how GatherUp’s reputation management platform can support your insurance business, request a consultation with one of our reputation experts today.