Customer reviews aren't only great for building brand credibility but also help you recognize your users' needs.
Online product reviews come with numerous benefits for a company, such as increasing sales and assisting your business to grow as a firm. But how do you gain these benefits when most consumers don't leave a review? Well, that's what we will discuss in this article, along with how to handle negative reviews and the benefits of online reviews.
There are numerous platforms on which customers can review your products. They can post their feedback on your website or social media pages, their social media feed or groups, and third-party review websites that people trust the most. Some people might also give you feedback in direct messages that you can post on your social media pages.
Let's see how you can encourage your users to give feedback and get the most out of it.
Benefits of Customer Feedback
Online reviews benefit a company in numerous ways. We've listed some of them below.
1. Helps You Improve Your Products or Services
One of the reasons why brands conduct surveys and research is to know what their customers like and dislike about them. Through online reviews, you get that information without conducting research which can be exhausting.
When you improve your product or services according to your users' feedback, it tells them that your brand cares about them, building a positive brand image and credibility. Moreover, online reviews can also tell you about your customers' problems, for which you can introduce a new product and gain a loyal customer base.
2. Drive Traffic to Your Website
Most people read online reviews before making a purchase. Moreover, 10% of the ranking of Google and other search engines is based on online reviews. The better a website is reviewed, the higher it's ranked by search engines.
Ecommerce reviews more than often contain keywords related to your products or services. When a user's search query includes a keyword in one of the reviews on your product pages, your website will likely show up in the search results getting the user's attention.
Furthermore, online reviews about your brand on third-party websites also help drive traffic to your site. If your target audience comes across positive online customer reviews about your business and likes the product, they will visit your website to check what other things you offer.
3. Gains Your Prospects' Trust
Image taken from Strikingly
Let's say your target audience likes your products and is convinced to buy them. But before spending their hard-earned money, they will check your online reviews to see whether you deliver what you promise. Positive customer reviews clear that speck of doubt in their minds speeding up their decision-making process about buying from your business.
When customers trust you, they are more likely to recommend your products or services to those they know.
4. Gives You a Chance to Win Your Customers Back
Do you know you're more likely to win back a customer who has posted a negative review about your product or service than the one who didn't post anything?
The customer who didn't notify you about the blunder won't get a response because you would only know what happened if they tell you. And as a result, they will have a negative impression of your brand and never return. But a buyer that posted the negative review wanted to engage with your company and ask for compensation for the mishap. If your staff handles this situation correctly, you can win that unsatisfied customer back and convince them to convert their negative online reviews into positive ones.
5. Tells You Where Your Customers Are Present Frequently
People mostly write reviews on the platform they use the most. This tells you which platforms your target audience is on, and then you can run promotional ads on that platform to get your buyers' attention more often.
6. Free Advertisement
Online reviews on third-party websites act as advertisements because they lead many people to your website. They also count as the content about your brand on other websites. This means the more traffic that website has, the more chance your brand has of getting exposure in front of a new audience.
How to Get More Reviews?
Image taken from Facebook
To experience the benefits of online reviews, you need to have many. Four to five reviews don't do enough to influence a customer's purchase. If your brand has an excellent sales flow but isn't getting enough customer reviews, you can implement the following strategies to encourage your buyers to give feedback.
1. Send a Follow-up Email After Order Delivery
The best time to ask for a review is right after the order has been delivered. You can send them an email, and if they had a good experience, they would most likely leave feedback. Sending a follow-up email for online reviews to each buyer won't be efficient and will keep your staff busy.
A solution to this problem can be an email bot. You can automate the bot to send an email requesting a review when the product has been delivered.
One thing to ensure for a follow-up email is that it's suitable to view across all devices. Most people use their mobile phones to carry out activities on the internet. If your email isn't mobile responsive, the buyer might not even read it.
2. Offer a Reward
Offering a reward in exchange for an honest review will motivate your users to give feedback for their purchase. You can provide discount coupons, gift cards, or free products/services as a gift.
It's essential to be transparent in your feedback collection process to display your credibility. A great way is to badge the reviews of the people who purchased a product from you and received their reward.
3. Show Recognition to People Who Write Reviews
You need to keep your current customers who give feedback encouraged to review the products/services they receive in the future. You can appreciate them by responding nicely or posting their reviews on your social media pages.
4. Allow Sharing Photos and Videos on Your Product Pages
Sharing a picture or video of the product is easier than writing a full review. The more convenient it is to give feedback, the more people will do it.
Additionally, images or videos attract more attention than text. This means that a review containing media will have a more substantial impact than written feedback and create higher chances of conversion.
5. Make It Easy
Most customers won't dig deep into your website to find a review section about their experience. Therefore, you need to make your review page easy to find. You can create a review section at the bottom of every product page or create a separate web page for reviews and provide its link in the navigation bar.
6. Add a Call to Action on Receipts
A great way to encourage your users to leave a review is by adding a QR code on the physical receipt that takes the user to your review page. This will make the process convenient for your buyers.
How to Handle Negative Reviews?
We understand negative reviews may offend you because some people get harsh when talking about a bad experience. But it's wiser to put your anger aside and reply to that feedback calmly. Understand that your response to negative reviews determines your brand's opinion.
Know how to handle negative feedback correctly. If the buyer is complaining about the late delivery, tell them why their order was late. Or if they're complaining about a defect in the product, compensate them by exchanging, refunding, or sending them a new product as a gift. You can also include free samples or coupons to pay for their lost time.
Strikingly Product Review Feature
Image taken from Strikingly’s user’s website
Strikingly is a website builder that lets you create beautiful websites without writing a single line of code. One of its significant features is the Simple Store. And product reviews are one of the most valuable features of the Strikingly online store.
Strikingly knows how critical optimized reviews are, and that's why they allow their users to display optimized reviews on their websites.
To enable product reviews on your site, you must tap the "Enable product reviews" button that you can find in the store settings.
Image taken from Strikingly
When you enable product reviews, your customer will receive an email requesting an online review seven days after the transaction for their order. When the customer submits their review, it will either have the status of pending, approved, or rejected. You have the authority to approve or reject the review.
That was all about the Strikingly product review feature. To access it, sign up today and build your site for free or low cost.
Lastly, remember that only authentic product reviews matter. You can't purchase a product review because it doesn't bring the benefits an organic review will bring. Moreover, if people find out you're posting paid reviews, your brand's image will be damaged heavily.
