How & Why to get good customer reviews?

In 2020, 90% of shoppers read at least one online review before deciding to visit a business. More importantly, 94% of online shoppers said a negative review convinced them to avoid visiting a business. This means that no matter what industry you are in, a positive online presence gives you several key benefits, which is why it becomes an essential part of branding. Understanding why you need online reviews will help you optimize your customer experience to create a positive online footprint. Secondly, we will give you some keys to promote obtaining customer feedback!

Customer reviews, what are the issues?

“Social proof” drives purchases

We are more inclined to make a purchase if other people around us, even complete strangers, agree that it is a good decision. Today, online reviews are the main source of social proof, and they have a clear impact on your e-reputation. and therefore on sales. For example, Seriously Silly Socks (an online original sock store) managed to increase the average order value on their website by 60% compared to their other sales channels, and it is likely that the 3,000 Five-star reviews that populate the various product pages of the e-commerce site have helped a lot. “We encourage reviews by emailing customers after purchase and offering them a discount coupon in return for a full review,” Andrew Gill, the owner of the company, recently said in an interview. for a BigCommerce case study.

They make you more visible

Being a successful brand also means being visible. Most shoppers look to search engines like Google and Bing, or even Facebook, when deciding what to buy. These websites all have their own way of indexing and bringing up content, but they all value original and fresh content, and customer reviews help fuel the content machine, maintaining your brand. favored by algorithms. Customer reviews online give you a steady pipeline of (hopefully) positive content that search engines really appreciate when choosing which results to deliver. When you are better referenced,algorithms and search engine users consider you to have authority in your field, resulting in better exposure.

They are sources of trust

Your brand can gain confidence and credibility through a constant flow of positive reviews. The graph below shows the power of reviews to build your business’ online identity: “How many stars does a business have to minimum for you to use them?”

Below three stars, buyers find it difficult to trust a company. Companies with a higher average rating are much more likely to see reviews converted into traffic and sales. Having a very positive footprint will ultimately help you increase your sales.

6 ways to get more customer reviews

# 1 make it doable

It might sound obvious, but it’s important: in order for customers to leave reviews, you need to allow them to write them! This means highlighting calls to action (CTAs) to get customers to leave a comment on your site.

# 2 Just ask!

Asking your customers for feedback is not difficult, but too many stores forget to do so. Then again, customers are much more likely to leave reviews when you invite them to do so. Remind your customers to leave reviews as much as possible. While they can write a review on your site, the data shows that the best way to get responses is to request it via email after customers have received their order. If you want to get testimonials about your service or experience on the site, ask customers to provide feedback after they’ve interacted with your store in some way.

# 3 Make your customers’ lives easier

Many store owners wonder how to encourage customers to write reviews in the most effective way possible. The trick is to make it super easy for customers to write and submit reviews wherever they are and whatever they are doing. People are happy to contribute when you pre-release their work – don’t make them click multiple pages and ask them to log in. This is by far the most important step in getting more feedback. Make sure your review process doesn’t get bogged down in details and multiple steps. If so, you risk losing customers whose inspiration vanishes in front of a complicated review platform.Any additional advice? Make sure it is personalized and not marketed. Keep your tone warm and light, and be sure to take the opportunity to build a stronger relationship with your client. Let them know how much you appreciate them taking the time to give you their opinion.

# 4 ask at the right time, in the right way

When you ask your customers to give you their feedback by email, the responses you get are very dependent on the subject of the email and the time of day. For example, the response rate to requests for advice increases by almost 20% between 1 and 3 p.m., probably because people return to their desks and emails after lunch and are not yet ready to go. job. Then follow the results of your campaigns (click-through and open rate) to optimize the performance of your CRM Marketing system and collect more opinions.

# 5 reward your customers for their feedback

If you have a smart strategy for generating reviews and want to get more, nothing is more impactful than offering a reward. Customers are more likely to donate when they have an incentive. So give your customers the final push by offering them a reward for writing a review. Some companies like to offer points or sweepstakes. We have found that the coupons are really effective: one for writing a review and another for sharing it on social media. It accomplishes several things:

• 1. Customers are more likely to write a review
• 2. You get explosive advertising by sharing it with their friends and family (who are probably also in your target market and happy to hear a recommendation from a friend)

Plus, they become repeat customers when they return to your store to use the coupon (and write another review). Encourage participation by creating contests and personalized campaigns and make sure to follow the evolution of these prospects within your sales funnel with CRM software.

Also read: How to optimize and boost your sales on Amazon?