A customer visits an eCommerce store site to find a bag pack. From the featured products on the homepage, he picks a bag pack that looks great and meets his requirements but there are no reviews from other customers for this product. He goes on a different eCommerce site and finds a similar but different brand’s bag pack. This product page has 10 customer reviews posted on it and the majority of the customers are talking about the great quality and how spacious it is. What store site do you think this customer is going to buy the product?
You probably know this already that you need product reviews on your eCommerce store site and how important these reviews are for the sales.
- According to marketingland, 90% Of Customers Say Buying Decisions Are Influenced By Online Reviews
- According to Inc, 84 Percent of People Trust Online Reviews As Much As Friends
If you think online reviews get lost in all the Internet noise, think again. Research shows that 91 percent of people regularly or occasionally read online reviews, and 84 percent trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. And they make that decision quickly: 68 percent form an opinion after reading between one and six online reviews.
Ask your customers to review your product
Remember – If you don’t ask anything, you won’t get it!
As a business owner, it is important to learn what your customers think about your products / services. Listening to your customers is the best way to succeed in any business. Right after a customer places an order on your store site, reach out to them with a follow-up email and ask them to review your product.
Looks at how Home Depot is asking customers to review their installation service:
A few things to keep in mind while sending the follow-up email / asking to review your product:
- Give your customers enough time before reaching out to them so they get the opportunity to receive your product and use it. If you are working with physical products that need to be shipped, please take shipping time frame into the consideration.
- Be polite while asking for reviews / feedback - Not everyone is going to reply back and that is totally fine.
- Keep your email short and to the point – Customers do not like reading long emails.
Offer incentive
It is human nature that more people will tend to post reviews on your store site who are not happy with your product. In order for you to motivate satisfied customers to post reviews / feedback on your site, you should consider offering some kind of incentive such as:
- Discount coupon
- Gift card
- Free products
- Free shipping in future orders
- Free samples etc.
Even a small incentive can easily inspire your customers to post a review. Not just reviews, incentives can also bring repeated customers and increase the customer lifetime value. How you offer these incentives to your customers depends on your business type. If you sell $10 socks, giving a free pair of socks to your customers is not a profitable idea. But, if you sell $300 custom skateboard then offering a free t-shirt or a hat with your branding information on it is not going to impact your business but it will certainly motivate customers to post reviews on your store site.
Start looking at negative reviews as an opportunity to improve
For any business, customer feedback is paramount for knowing your customer’s needs and expectations. In order to be successful in your business, you must listen to your customers. The feedback from your customer is very valuable information that can help you improve your product and services.
When you receive a positive review or feedback from your customer on the product page, you are always happy to reply back and say thank you. It is quite important to treat negative reviews in a similar manner to make your customers understand that you will take care of their complaints. Always respond back with a solution to negative reviews. This technique will help you in gaining customer’s trust and your product pages will show that customer satisfaction is your top priority.
Takeaways from this post
Reach out to your existing customers and ask for reviews/feedback
Make sure you have a working “Contact Us” form that is easily accessible (or visible) on your website so customers can contact you easily
Be creative and explore different areas to get reviews / feedback from your customer such as a poll, surveys etc.
Come up with an effective incentive plan that works for your business
Be prepared to offer an incentive to customers who are not happy with your product or service
Respond back to your customers on product review section so they are aware that you are listing
Author: Lavish Kumar
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