I have been on Fiverr for 3 years now and have made a decent income from it. However, I still recall how difficult it was to get my first order and review. I struggled with an “empty” account for a while before I finally cracked the code.
Now, the short answer on how to get reviews for your Fiverr Gigs is that you need to share your gig with either your friends (including your followers on social media, and other networks) or get your current clients to order services via Fiverr. However, there is more to this answer.
I have a different article on Earning via Fiverr in Kenya if that is what you are looking for.
Let us dive in!
Key Takeaways
- Positive Gig Reviews increase Buyers’ trust in you.
- You can get the first reviews by sharing the Gig link with friends and other networks.
- Routing your current clients via Fiverr is also a quick way to get reviews.
- Avoid buying fake reviews because your account will get banned.
- You can get reviews from specific locations (like the US) by sharing your Gig link with people in that location.
What is a Fiverr Gig Review?
Assuming that you are new to Fiverr, you may not understand what Gig reviews are or how important they might be for Sellers.
Gig Reviews are the ratings and comments that are left by Buyers on your Gig. Remember, a Gig is a specific service that you offer to Fiverr buyers. For example, you may have a Gig titled, ‘I will write an SEO-optimized Blog Article’. This means the gig will only be for SEO articles.
In the above example, once you write an article for someone and deliver it, Fiverr asks them to rate your service on a scale of 1 to 5 and leave a comment. This then counts as one Review.
Why are Gig Reviews Important?
Although Fiverr may not directly say it, Reviews are the only way they can tell how satisfied a Buyer has been with your service.
A positive review often means that you interacted well with the Buyer including responding to their messages on time, delivering the order on time, and delivering a high-quality service (to the level promised in your Gig Description).
Also, these Reviews are complemented by Buyer Reviews; where the Seller leaves a review of the Buyer. This is helpful because if a Buyer has made the interaction difficult, rating them accordingly will warn other Sellers on the platform. Equally, a positively rated Buyer can quickly find Sellers to work with because they have a higher level of trust.
How Many Gig Reviews Are Enough for Ranking High?
The goal of most Fiverr Sellers is to get ranked on the first page of their niche. And, it is obvious that Fiverr pays attention to how well-rated a Seller is before pushing them out to many Buyers.
It thus goes without saying that the more positive Gig Reviews a Seller gets, the better the chances they will ranker higher among their competition. In fact, on the first page, you will see Fiverr placing banners such as “Top Rated” to encourage Buyers to work with the best Sellers in that niche.
Unfortunately, there is no definitive number of Reviews that will get your Gig on the first page. I believe this is by design because Fiverr uses other metrics as well when deciding who to place on the first page.
Based on my experience where I grew my account from zero reviews to over 150 completed orders, I think once you are at about 5 positive Reviews then the ball starts rolling. Remember, Fiverr keeps adjusting its algorithm and so the number might shift up or down.
Let’s now move on to getting reviews on your Fiverr Gigs as a beginner.
Getting Reviews for Your Fiverr Gigs and Making More!
If you recall, we have already mentioned that there are two ways, sharing the Gig with friends and networks on social media or working with your current clients via Fiverr.
Let me explain more about each.
Just so you know, you can also get Direct Clients for Freelance Writing on Fiverr. But let’s stick to getting Fiverr reviews in this article.
Sharing Your Gig with Friends and Social Media Networks
Assuming that you have optimized your new Fiverr account, the next step is supposed to be ‘sit and wait’.
Fiverr sometimes throws ‘order match’ notifications to new accounts as a way of encouraging new Sellers. So, I think if you open a new account and sit online for long enough, you might see some results. However, this is a tedious thing to do.
Instead, once you have set up your account properly, share the Gig with people close to you and encourage them to purchase the service if they need it.
For example, if you have started selling Graphic Design services on Fiverr, you can compile a list of friends that might need graphic design and send them the link.
Also, do not just stop at sending the link, send some samples of the kind of work you can do and offer them a discount for a start.
Basically, you are enticing these potential clients via the usual marketing tactics. The goal is to get them to order via Fiverr, give them a good job, and then get a positive review.
Having worked with Fiverr for a long, one great thing I have learned is that if your clients keep coming back and issuing a good review each time, you end up making a lot of money in the long run as Fiverr feeds you more clients.
Routing your Current Clients via Fiverr
This strategy works great if you already have a set of clients that you serve.
Using the example of Blog Writing, say you have 10 clients that you write articles for every week.
A simple thing that you can do to kickstart your Fiverr is to get two or three of the clients to make their usual orders via the platform. Remember, you have to directly share your Blog Writing Gig link with them because they cannot find you on Fiverr by searching your name.
Also, you will take a bit of a hit in terms of income from those clients. This is because Fiverr takes 20% off each order placed via the platform. So, if your clients (outside Fiverr) were paying you $10 per 500 words article, then if they order via Fiverr, you will get $8 for the same 500 words.
When you are paid via Fiverr, you can Withdraw your Cash via Mpesa Directly from PayPal.
Regardless, the commission can be a small price to pay for getting your services market to a way bigger audience.
In my case for example, after struggling to get any orders on Fiverr, I told three of my regular clients to place their order via the platform. They did so for about a month and with 9 reviews on my account, I finally started getting new clients.
Is this legal? Yes! I think Fiverr loves it because, in my example, they got three new clients and I eventually got more clients to serve.
Should you Buy Fake Reviews?
Absolutely not.
There was a time when there were sellers on platforms like Reddit selling Fiverr Gig Reviews. They can promise good outcomes but it is a sure way to get banned.
Fiverr’s algorithm is good enough to figure out when an account is getting fake reviews. Also, it is sort of common sense! Why? Well, because the seller of the reviews is probably using a few Buyer accounts to fake-review multiple Seller accounts.
Also, while I cannot say for sure, I believe Fiverr checks randomly on these “ghost orders” and they can easily tell if you never delivered any actual service to the seller.
If your account is flagged for buying fake reviews, you will get banned and may not be allowed to re-open the account or register again on the platform.
How do you Get Gig Reviews from the US, UK, and similar Locations?
There is a speculation that has been around for a while that getting reviews from specific locations, like the US and UK, increases your desirability as a Seller.
I do not know if this is true and Fiverr has definitely not said anything about this rumour.
However, just as I have explained above, the process of getting reviews remains the same. The only difference here is that you will share your Gig with friends or clients in those locations.
So, for instance, if you want Reviews from a US Buyer account, simply share the Gig link with your friends or current clients who live in the US.
I have to say also that I think the logic of getting US or UK clients is that they may pay better since those economies are good for online work including having things like TikTok Creator Funds Paying Well and high CPMs favoring YouTube Vlogging As a Career.
Conclusion
I can confidently say that Fiverr works great if you market yourself well. Such good marketing for sure starts with getting your first few reviews and then growing steadily on the platform.
The reason most beginners fail is that they are not willing to share Gigs with people close to them or their other clients as a way to get started with positive reviews.
In addition, even with good reviews, optimizing your Gigs still comes first. A badly set up account cannot do well.
If you liked this article, I have written more on making a living online in Kenya as below.
- Skills that can use to work remotely for US firms
- Quick and Unique Ways to Generate Income Online.
- Learning skills to get you top tech jobs while in Kenya
- A list of small businesses that are highly profitable in Kenya.
