Product reviews can make or break your business. Gone are the days when customers made their decision to buy a product based on its advertisement. Today, people read reviews – multiple reviews – before they fork over their hard-earned cash.
It’s impossible to please every single customer, but every business should strive to obtain as many positive reviews as possible.
Here are five ways to get more reviews.
1. Make it Easy as Pie to Leave Feedback
If customers have to jump through hoops to leave a review, they’re not going to take time out of their day to leave you feedback – unless they have something to complain about.
The goal is to make it as easy as possible to leave a review.
One simple way to do that is to send an email to customers with a link to a review form.
If you sell your products through your own online store, you can place a review section on each page. Customers can rate the product and leave a comment in seconds.
Let’s say you sold inflatable paddle boards. Each product page could have a tab listing the product’s details and another tab where people could leave their personal inflatable SUP reviews. Don’t force anyone to sign up for an account to leave a review. Allow the form to be filled out and submitted without adding extra steps.
If you have pages on Yelp, Google, Facebook or other online platforms that allow reviews, link to them so that customers can easily leave a review on their preferred platform.
2. Ask Customers Directly
One of the simplest ways to get reviews is to ask customers directly. Don’t beat around the bush.
Customers often forget to leave reviews, especially if they’re satisfied with the product.
Ask customers to leave a review of the product about a week after their order has arrived. You want wait a little longer to send the request if your customers aren’t likely to use the products right away.
The easiest way to ask for reviews is through a follow-up email or an on-site request.
Don’t forget to keep the previous tip in mind when asking for reviews – make it as easy as possible.
3. Ask for Photos
People love to take pictures of everything. Reviews with photos are more enticing and attractive than reviews that are text-only.
If you have a review section on your website, allow users to upload pictures to accompany their posts.
Customers may be more inclined to leave a review if they can also post a photo with their comments.
4. Give Incentive to Review
Give people a reason to review your products. Most people don’t bother leaving reviews when they’re happy with a product, but those positive reviews are so important.
Rewards programs are a great way to give customers incentive to review your products. Members of the program can receive a certain number of points for leaving reviews and taking other actions, like sharing your products on social media or buying products. Points can be turned in for special products, promotions (e.g. 10% off), cash, or whatever you please.
If you’re not interested in offering a rewards program, there are other ways to entice customers to leave reviews, such as offering a coupon for a percentage off their next order.
5. Respond to Reviews – Negative and Positive
Good reviews are great for your business, but it’s important to remember that you can’t please everyone. Customers are also suspicious of businesses that only have positive reviews. You should have a mixture of good and bad reviews if you’re doing things right.
Instead of trying to fight negative reviews, going on the defensive or ignoring these customers, give a response. Apologize. Ask if you can contact them to make things right or discuss their problem.
Just as you shouldn’t ignore negative reviews, you shouldn’t ignore positive ones either. When someone leaves a glowing review of your products or business, thank them for taking their time to leave feedback.
Customer reviews are essential in the world of ecommerce. Even if you don’t sell your products online, customers should have a way to review your business. You can bet that your potential customers will be searching for reviews before they even think about giving you their business.
