No matter how good your product or service, your website or your email marketing campaign is, there’s still one thing that can make or break your business: customer reviews. According to Econsultancy, 61% of customers read online reviews before they make a purchase, and 63% are more likely to shop from a site that features customer reviews. Clearly, reviews can be a very powerful conversion tool.
However, getting reviews on your website in the first place can be a challenge. It’s much easier to encourage customers to read reviews than it is to encourage them to write them. Multiple requests to leave feedback can be a big turn off for customers. So, how can you ask customers for feedback without annoying them and damaging your brand? Here are some tips:
Send a Follow Up Email
It’s always a good idea to send a follow up email after a customer has made a purchase with you. It lets the customer know that you care about them, and gives you a chance to put your company back at the forefront of their minds. You can use your follow up emails to suggest other products that your customer may like, but it’s also a great opportunity to ask them to leave a review.
Argos do this after a purchase is made:
This email is simple but effective. It doesn’t overload the customer with information, and tells them clearly how they can go about leaving a review for the product they purchased. It also informs them of the benefits of leaving product reviews:
Follow up emails can be sent immediately after the customer has made their purchase (as an order confirmation) but, if you want to ask for a review, it’s best to wait a few days. Then, it is more likely that the customer will have received their product and had a chance to use it.
Offer An Incentive
It’s all very well asking your customers nicely to leave a review on your website, but many will not have the time nor inclination to write a product review, even if they are very happy with their purchase. Some customers will need more of an incentive to encourage them to take the time out of their day to leave a review. However, there are some that say incentivising reviews corrupts the process; it may give them a biased opinion of your company. If you choose to offer an incentive, make sure that it’s big enough to to be worth your customers’ time, but not so big that it will cloud their opinion of you.
Homebase enter their customers into a competition if they leave a review on their site:
This is an example of a good incentive because there’s no guarantee that the customer will win the prize, but the possibility of it could be enough to push them in the right direction. You could also surprise your customer with a reward (such as a percentage discount) after they have left a review. This will let them know that you appreciate their time and effort, but won’t influence their opinion of your company.
Online customer reviews are a great way to build trust in your company and boost your business. With the help of a few carefully-worded emails, you should start to build a library of reviews on your site, and build your company’s reputation with it.
