💬 How to Get More Ratings Reviews (Plus: Does it Matter?) 🔟
🤸♀️Podcast marketing: let's have some fun.🌈
Bonjour!
I cringe every time I hear a podcaster urge listeners to rate and review their podcast “because it helps in the algorithm.” This isn’t true. Pulling from Apple’s site:
How ratings and reviews help your podcast
Ratings and reviews do not influence Charts or Search, but they can help listeners discover and engage with your show as they explore new podcasts. Many listeners look at ratings and reviews before choosing to listen to or follow a show, and quality reviews can also help convey that your show has a community of committed fans.
Ratings and reviews are important.
You get sometimes good, sometimes bad feedback
It’s a free way for your listeners to show their support.
You can incorporate reviews into your show, which makes it more interactive = probably better.
Lots of ratings and reviews are social proof that you’re a worthwhile show.
How to get more of them:
💬 Be aggressive. Be, be aggressive. I once heard a rumor that men are aggressive about asking for podcast ratings and reviews at the beginning (“Yo SMASH THE SUBSCRIBE BUTTON AND GIVE US FIVE STARS!!!!”) and women are more likely to wait until the end to say “I know you’re busy but we would really appreciate it, if you have time, if you could please leave us a rating and review.” Gender is a construct but I will just say, feel free to say it at the beginning, and say it like you mean it.
💬 In fact. If you don’t have something meaningful to say, don’t say it at all. Listeners hear “leave us a rating and review” over and over and over. How can you make that call-to-action a little different?
Tell listeners earnestly how much it means to you to see reviews.
Start reading some of your favorites on the show.
Set a goal: say, I really want to get to 100 ratings! Help me get there!
Tell people if they leave a review to take a screenshot of it and tag you on social. Promise to share.
Tell people what to say. Sometimes people love your show but get frozen when it comes time to writing something in the review field. Help listeners by prompting them. Tell them to ask you a question, share the make of their first car, name the last episode they listened to (it’s probably a good one…it drove them to write a review, didn’t it?…and might inspire people reading to check out something new.)
It always works on me when a podcaster says, ‘If you can’t support us financially, you can leave a review for free.’ It reminds me that the podcaster is adding value to my life, and the least I can do is leave a rating and review.
💬 Leverage your network. When I see a show that has few (less than 10) reviews, I think…did you even ask your mom or friend? Has everyone on this team or who has ever contributed to this show written a review? That’s a given. Send out an email right now (I’ll wait) asking a) your team…everyone who worked on the show…to write a review. And b) your friends and your mom’s hairdresser and your neighbor. Give them sample copy about what to say.
💬 Turn your reviews into content. I have been listening to The Dumbbells forever. It’s a comedy and fitness podcast, emphasis on comedy. The hosts used to ask people to leave a review and on each episode, they’d give a shout out to a few reviewers and offer them ridiculously funny/non-sensical fitness advice based on their user name. This made me want to leave a review because I wanted to be featured on the show. (And I was!) It kept me coming back, listening to the whole episode, and when I was featured I shared it with everyone I knew.
💬 Don’t obsess/lose sleep over the one bad review you got. But…
💬 If you notice certain criticism bumping up a lot, you might want to listen to it.
💬 If someone compliments your podcast on Twitter, on Instagram, in real life…ask them to share that same compliment on Apple Podcasts.
💬 It’s hard to get Apple Podcasts reviews deleted. If you see a review that contains legitimately offensive material, spam, or other content that violates Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions, contact them. Godspeed.
💬 Maybe I should have put this first: Leave ratings and reviews on other shows. I have been leaving one rating and review a day, every day this year.
💬 Consider using your show’s name as the user name when reviewing other shows.
The podcaster may reciprocate. (This could be good or bad.)
People reading the reviews might check you out.
🦄 52 Weeks of Podcast Growth
Send a pitch email to two podcasters. Also, follow-up on the pitch email for promo swaps you sent.
We’re still keeping the pitches to a minimum to help make it doable during your busy week, but it’s time to send a couple more! And never underestimate a polite follow-up if you haven’t heard back from your first pitch. It might be the reminder they need!
For reference, here are the most recent 5 tips:
Draft a pitch email for promo swaps.
Show your pitch to a friend or share it with your podcasting community.
Send your pitch for promo swaps to ONE podcaster.
Link to your podcast in your email signature.
Send a pitch to two podcasters.
New here? Start at the beginning.
📂From the desk of Tink
Where healthy habits, mindset adjustments, and busy schedules combine, there’s Baggage Drop. Hosted by experts from Wondermind’s Advisory Committee — Dr. Jessica Stern, Dr. Ryan Howes, Alo Johnston LMFT, and Dr. Nina Polyné — Baggage Drop delivers repeatable and powerful mental fitness tools to help rewire your mindset for personal impact. New episodes land every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during the month of May.
✨ More Magic
🪄 Check out these podcast newsletters written by women!
🪄 Sign up for Lauren’s June 5 Podcast Marketing Radio Bootcamp class.
🪄Read Every podcast needs a newsletter — here's how to make it a good one via Descript.
🪄 Tink was nominated for Quill’s Best Podcast PR Company of the year. Full list here.
Oh yes, Lauren and Devin. This so resonates! And, thanks for extra clarification on WHY ratings/reviews matter. Early in the first season of my climate leadership podcast (with Larj Media) - Living Change - I got started with suggesting rating/review with my networks. I have been *pretty aggressive* and it has very much helped. When my team and I look at the range of climate and leadership focused podcasts, mine is often one that has the most ratings/good reviews (even with some others having been around for several years.
One thing we've seen as so beneficial for promoting Living Change has been that I had a deep/strong social platform on both Twitter and LinkedIn long before I became a podcast host. It's a testament to something I have long coached my climate influence clients around - build that social capital LONG before you "need" it. There's nothing like having some sort of foundation before you want to activate it. In the climate and sustainability space, there are more and more moments (like ClimateWeek NYC and COP28 later in 2023) where those moments of activation really matter.
Thanks so much for sharing your insights and building community around podcast marketing, both.