Before you pay for something you've never tried, do you look at reviews? If so, you're far from alone. In fact, the average person reads at least 10 reviews of a new product before they commit to a purchase.
It doesn't matter if we are talking about restaurants, movies, or online stores; reviews are essential. People want to see what kind of experiences others are having, and this has a direct impact on what they choose to do next.
This concept, called social proof, has been around for a long time. It essentially states that people are more likely to take a specific action if they see others doing the same thing. In marketing, it's a powerful tool that you can use to turn skeptical visitors into new customers and build brand loyalty.
Customer reviews are the ultimate form of social proof because they signal to others the quality of your product and overall brand. If you build up plenty of feedback from happy customers, you can expect to see a surge in conversions, engagement, and sales.
But getting more reviews is often easier said than done. Today, I'm going to share 7 actionable tips you can use to convince customers to tell others about their experience with your business.
Optimize Your Public Profiles
The first thing you should do is claim and optimize profiles on sites like Yelp, Google My Business, Facebook, TrustPilot, and anywhere else customers may search for or discover your business. These are all places people will look for reviews before committing to a purchase.
If someone is thinking about buying from your site but can't find a public profile on any of these sites, there's a good chance they'll keep their debit card in their wallet. At the same time, you want existing customers to find your profiles easily so they can share their experiences with others.
It's also worth mentioning that Google uses reviews when deciding how to rank sites. A business with 500+ reviews is far more likely to get the top spot over a company with a half-complete profile and less than 10 reviews.
You should also add widgets from reputable places like TrustPilot so new visitors can see how you rank without leaving your website.
Send Post-Purchase Emails
One of the best ways to get more customer reviews is to send post-purchase emails. The mistake many marketers make is they send this email too soon after the purchase. If the person doesn't have enough experience with your product, they probably won't leave a review and will forget about your email.
The length of time you wait to send a post-purchase email will vary slightly based on what you're selling. A coffee company might wait a week after delivery since that's enough time for the customer to try their new drink.
Meanwhile, a software company may wait two weeks or more since it takes time for customers to get familiar with their tool and make it a part of their routine.
Regardless of your industry, make sure to send a follow-up email where you ask new customers to tell others what they think of your product or service. This seemingly simple request can lead to a ton of new reviews.
Use In-App Push Alerts
If you have an application, in-app push alerts are a great way to nudge customers and ask them to leave a review. On average, push notifications have an open rate of 20%, which is a very good engagement rate when compared to other marketing strategies.
The key is to time these alerts strategically after they've used your app for the first time or completed an important action. Here are some times you should consider asking:
- After a customer makes a purchase
- After they install your app
- After releasing a new update
If the user doesn't respond to your first request, consider sending a follow-up a week or so later. This will ensure they see your message and can act as a friendly reminder if they meant to leave a review but forgot.
Ask After a Support Call
When you provide great customer service, your clients will likely be in a good mood and more open to helping you out with a review. You could say something like:
"I'm glad I could provide helpful service today. Reviews from customers like you help us grow and improve. Would you mind taking a few moments to leave a review today?"
Most people will be happy to oblige, especially if you deliver top-notch support. You can even send a follow-up email with links to make the process super easy.
Spend More Time on Social Media
Believe it or not, the people spend around 2 hours and 29 minutes on social media sites every day. When you also consider that there are 4.95 billion social media users, it shouldn't come as a surprise that social media is a goldmine for collecting customer reviews.
There are plenty of great ways to use social sites to get feedback from your audience. You could start by simply using a social listening tool to see if anyone is talking about your business. If you find a glowing review, don't hesitate to thank and share the review on your page.
Then, you can ask the user if you can share their review on your site. Over time, you can use this strategy to find reviews on specific products and your brand as a whole.
You can also get user-generated content by hosting video or photo contests. Ask customers to share themselves using your product or share something they created with your help. This strategy will help build social proof and score you some visual reviews.
Offer an Incentive
You can improve your response rate across all of these different strategies by offering your customer an incentive to share their thoughts. For example, you could give them 25% off their next order, a free gift, or an exclusive lead magnet that they can't get anywhere else.
People are more likely to take action if they are rewarded for leaving reviews. It's worth mentioning that only people who were happy with their order will generally leave reviews for an incentive. It wouldn't make sense for someone who didn't like your product to share their thoughts for a discount on their next purchase.
Respond to Reviews
Responding to reviews, whether positive or negative, shows your customers you care about their feedback. We found that over 55% of people expect businesses to respond to their reviews in 1 business day or less. To our surprise, a vast majority of brands don't respond to reviews at all.
This means people feel like no one is listening to them, which means they're less likely to become repeat customers. On the other hand, simply saying thank you on a positive review shows that you're listening and want to create the best experience possible.
Responding to negative reviews publicly is even more important because everyone can see that you go out of your way to help resolve your customers' issues. People will feel more confident shopping on your site – and thus, are more likely to leave reviews – if you proactively respond to people who go out of their way to review your business.
Final Thoughts
There you have it! The 7 strategies outlined today have helped us get more reviews over the last several years. I'm confident that you can do the same, regardless of whether you're a startup or an established business.
The key to making this all work is to keep things as simple as possible for your customers. Do everything you can to streamline the review process on your website, through email, and social media. People are far more likely to tell you what they think if there's little to no friction.
My last piece of advice is to stay patient. If you don't see reviews flowing in overnight, don't get discouraged. It takes time, energy, and effort to build a loyal audience that's more than happy to share their thoughts, but the payoff is worth it.