Categories: Podcast Growth & MarketingPodcast Resources

A Step by Step Guide to Asking Your Podcast Audience for Ratings and Reviews

Do you want to increase the number of ratings and reviews on your podcast? Then this article can help you. It takes a step-by-step approach to get more feedback from your audience, with many different strategies used by any podcaster.

We will go over how to ask for ratings and reviews in an email, on social media, or in person, how to respond when someone gives you a rating; how to thank them for their time and input, and other tips for increasing the number of ratings/reviews on your show. Take a look at the steps below!

What is a Review?

A review is a piece of feedback, usually from an audience member/listener. It gives the podcaster information on what they are doing well and how to improve their show.

Why Do Podcast Listeners Leave Reviews?

Audience members/listeners leave reviews because they want to help the podcaster. The more ratings and reviews a podcast has, the better it looks on Apple Podcasts or other platforms hosting podcasts.

Why do Podcasters Need Ratings and Reviews?

Listener feedback is essential for determining how many listeners are tuning in and whether your show needs improvement.

The benefits of getting an upvote from someone who listens to your show can be immeasurable when it comes to building community support around what you're doing – so don't hesitate to ask!

Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Requesting Feedback

It would help if you considered a few things before reaching out to friends, family, and others in your network to ask for help with your podcast. It's always a good idea to be considerate of the people you will ask for a favor.

Can you be creative and offer them an incentive that will increase their motivation to help you?

-What do you want them to say? Keep in mind that not everyone enjoys being asked for feedback and will only give it if they feel like they are appreciated and their time is respected.

Here are a few ideas on how to incentivize your listeners to help you.

-Give them a bonus episode if they leave you more reviews than your next goal.

-Offer to read their review on an upcoming podcast episode in exchange for leaving feedback.

-Create some badge or sticker with your podcast's logo on it and offer listeners who give ratings/reviews something special like additional behind-the-scenes content, insider tips about what inspired this episode, etc. Make sure you create enough giveaways, so all those looking at your site can get one!

If someone is reluctant to help out with ratings and reviews but still wants to be involved in other ways, feel free to send links from previous interviews where you have discussed how important ratings are for shows.

How Can I Get My Audience to Leave Ratings and Reviews?

Ask in Emails: There are many places where you can ask your listeners or viewers for ratings and reviews, including email messages, social media posts, with stickers at live events – but remember to personalize them so it reflects who you are as a person and not just a generic message copied-and-pasted into emails or tweets. You might say something like, “Give me some love by taking two minutes out of your day to write up a review!” or “Please take a minute to review and ratings on Apple Podcasts.”

Ask on Social Media: You can also ask for ratings and reviews on social media. It's a good idea to periodically remind your audience that you need their help in getting the word out about your podcast by posting messages like “Can I, please have some love from my listeners? Please take two minutes to write up a review !”

Ask in Person: You can also ask for ratings and reviews in person! There's no need to be embarrassed about asking friends, family members, or colleagues if they would like to do this. Asking for reviews is an excellent way to get feedback on what you're doing well. It helps you to know where you might want to improve your podcast content. Not only will your audience know the show better than anyone else, but they'll also be able to give you their honest opinion.

Ask on the Podcast: You may want to ask for ratings and reviews in your podcast episodes themselves – this will allow listeners who like what you're doing but didn't have any thoughts on how it could improve a chance to contribute! Ask about people's favorite moments or what they think you should do more frequently.

Ask on Your Website: If you have a website or blog, giving people the opportunity to rate and review your podcast in your show notes or blog post will also help improve your ratings.

Ways to Improve Your Podcast so that Your Audience Leaves Positive Feedback

Send Out Surveys: Once you have finished recording an episode, send out a survey with six questions about your show. What is one thing that will make this podcast better for you? Was there anything we didn't talk about that you want us to discuss more? How many stars would give this podcast on Apple Podcasts if they could rate it now? Google forms are easy to use for collecting surveys, and they are free.

If people are rating at least four of five stars overall, thank them and ask them if they'd be willing to write up their thoughts in a short paragraph.

If people rate at least four stars overall, then thank them and ask them if they'd be willing to write up their thoughts in a short paragraph.

You can also offer some gifts as incentives like stickers or pins or something creative that you can make or afford to purchase and give away. Be creative.

For every review, you collect, send out an email thanking your reviewer and asking what else would make this podcast better. Every five reviewers get another “freebie” (obviously the “freebie” should be something that will excite your listeners)! Do not promote your podcast or mention the show in these emails – it's just to help people think of feedback they might have for you to improve the show.

You can also consider mentioning that ratings help the podcast to be more visible in podcast directories. I don't pretend to know and understand the algorithms configured for the directories. Still, Apple Podcasts appear to reward shows that get new subscribers, ratings, and reviews by giving them greater visibility in iTunes and the Apple Podcasts app (example: New & Noteworthy and other prominent featured sections).

Finally, we hope this is helpful and that you will apply these suggestions to your podcast. If you have any questions about ratings or reviews on Apple Podcasts, please ask the Podcast Movement Facebook community! Overall, the community is full of great ideas and answers most of the questions that podcasters face regarding this situation.