105: How to Get More 5 Star Podcast Reviews

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This is Grow the Show, the podcast to help you grow your podcast. My name is Kevin Spidlin, and my mission is to help you the independent podcaster to grow your audience faster and make more money so that you can have a thriving podcast. And in this quick hit episode just you and me, I just wanted to share a strategy with you to get more five star reviews for your podcast. So this came up because I was listening to a client show the other day, and at the end, they had an outro that was pre-recorded, right? So at the end of every episode of their show, they had this pre-recorded outro that said something like, thank you for listening to this podcast. If you liked the show, please give us a five star rating and write a review. Or something like that, right? And it was the same outro every single episode. And so I make this because for a couple reasons. Number one, if you are somebody who has canned your outro, I just want to have you consider not canning your outro, because the outro, the end of the podcast episode, is the best place to make a really valuable call to action to your audience and to get them to join your community or join your email list, or maybe even buy a product or service, or join your Patreon, or something like that. The end of the episode right after the content ends is the best place to do that, because at that point you have so much good will with your listener, they're more likely to take you up on something like that. And so first of all, I don't recommend canning your podcast intro or outro, because in my opinion, those are the two most crucial moments in the episode when it comes to audience growth and retention. That said, even if you do decide to can your episode, to that said, regardless of whether or not your outro is canned, I don't recommend having rate and review be your main call to action at the end of a podcast episode. I am of the camp that believes that you should make one really specific call to action at the end of each episode. There are other guests of the show who say it'd be better to do between one and three. I don't necessarily disagree with that. However, what I will say is that I don't think that calling to action your listeners to rate and review at the end of every single episode of your podcast is the most effective way to get more five-star ratings and more reviews for your podcast. First of all, not all of your podcast listeners listen in an app that has ratings and has reviews. So for that 20, 30, maybe even 40% of your listenership, even if they did want to take you up at the call to action at the end of your episode, they're not going to be able to do it. Secondly, if you call to action the same thing in the same way at the end of every single podcast episode, people tune it out. The second, third time they hear it, they tune it out. They're not going to do it. And so instead of constantly saying please rate and review if you like the show at the end of all of your podcast episodes, it would be much more beneficial to take two alternative strategies that are way less work for you and way more effective. The first one is what Pat Flynn, who is a multi-multimillion download podcaster, does to get ratings and reviews for his show Smart Passive Income. He has an incredibly brilliant strategy where when he hears from people who have reached out to him to talk about how much they love his podcast, what he does instead of just saying thank you so much, which is what most of us do and there's nothing wrong with that. But he takes that opportunity when he hears from those strangers who reach out find his contact information and actually reach out to establish contact and tell him how much they love his show. He takes that moment to ask them to rate and review. And so what that looks like is this. You get a DM or you get an email or even just a comment saying oh my gosh, I love your show so much. What you do is first of all thank them for taking the time to give you that feedback and then ask what app do you listen? What app do you use to listen to the show? If they say Apple or Spotify say wonderful thank you so so much for this feedback and I'm wondering would you be willing to rate the show five stars and leave a review that shares what you just shared with me so that other people can understand what you've gotten out of the show. Almost every single time they'll be like yes of course I'll do it right now and they'll actually do it because again the reason they went out of their way to reach out to you and tell you how much they love the show is because they're just brimming with this good will that they have developed for you because of how valuable your show has been to them. And so that is the moment to ask them to rate and review if you do it this way and take advantage of when those people are reaching out to you with all this good will you will actually get more ratings and reviews for your show then if you simply say the same thing at the end of every episode leave a rating review if you like the show right but then there's one more strategy that can really take this to the next level which is of course I'm not saying you should never ask on your show for ratings and reviews right it does work to ask your audience for rating and reviews on the podcast feed but not if you do it every single time in the same way so instead once twice maybe three or four times a year make a really big ask to your audience to rate and review the show right just like how NPR only asks their audience for money once a year right in December they're like it's giving season donate now right they do that because if you do it all at once people have an entire year of goodwill built up with you and so they're more likely to you know cash in on that and donate to the show it's the same thing here with your audience so if you pick once or twice a year to say hey everybody we love you so much we love making the show for you we just have one favor to ask if you're listening on Apple podcasts or Spotify if you would please rate the show five stars and leave a review that shares the value that you've gotten out of the program or you know what you enjoy about the program and so if you wait make one big ask you're gonna get more people all at once then if you constantly ask over and over and over again and people kind of go deaf to it because you say it so much so those two strategies really really quick are ways for you to get more five star reviews for your podcasts and I would be remiss if I did not take my own advice and for the first time ever ask you to rate and review this podcast grow the show so if you listen on Apple podcasts or Spotify and you have not done it yet please do take a moment right here and now to leave us a five star review and leave sorry leave a five star rating and leave a review that shares any and all value and results that you've gotten from the strategies that we share here on the podcast so with that that is this week's quick tip let me know in the grow the show Facebook group what other quick tips or strategies you would like me to share here on the feed we're experimenting with this quick hit type of content so I look forward to hearing you there the link to join us in the Facebook group is in the show notes and that's it for today I will see you next week for our next episode of grow the show thanks so much