You know how you are more compelled to buy a product if the recommendations come from a friend? Well, it’s the same premise with online reviews. Your customers look at and value online reviews. It is, after all, an opinion from their peers about a product that they are planning to buy. Once they see online customer reviews of your products, they immediately form an opinion about it. They can easily judge whether to buy your product or not based only on your online product reviews. In this article, let’s talk about online reviews, why they are essential, and how to handle not-so-good reviews.
Benefits of Online Reviews
Many business people make the mistake of believing that they do not need ecommerce reviews. They underestimate how much their online reviews can make an impact on their business. Don’t fall into the same mindset because you would be missing out on many benefits of online reviews. Here are five reasons why online customer reviews are vital for your business.
1. Motivates Customers
Online reviews serve as a motivational tool. It drives customers' desire to purchase or even take a look at your products. It is the most effective social proof that you can add to your website. Even one person’s online product reviews can make a massive difference for your business, let alone multiple ones that are praising your products. When other potential customers see and read these online reviews, they would immediately feel a sense of confidence towards your products. They value what your previous customers say as they can attest to the real quality of your products - of the products that they want to buy from you.
2. Establish Trust
Ecommerce reviews attached to your products also establish and increases your credibility in the marketplace. By displaying your online reviews, you build your online presence and your brand. If there are many online reviews of your products that your customers can read about, they can form an opinion about your business. It is a way for them to verify what they heard or read somewhere and allow them the opportunity to find data that backs it up. Since online reviews are online customer reviews, meaning they are from real customers, they are assured of their truthfulness and reliability.
3. Help With SEO
Search engine optimization of your business website is no easy job. But displaying your online product reviews can significantly help with the workload that comes with that without you not exerting much effort. See, SEO requires you to be original in producing your content continuously. You also have to consider how you incorporate specific keywords into the content you put out. This is where online customer reviews come in handy. Putting online reviews onto your website allows you to put out original and keyword-rich content because customers usually use your business name or your product name along with their authentic opinions. This makes it fresh and relevant content that SEO machines pick up.
4. Starts Conversations
Much like how friends gossip about something they heard, saw, or experience, online reviews can have the same benefit. Online customer reviews have a tendency to be a topic of conversation within and outside of your own website. Once a bunch of your customers sees each other’s reviews or reviews of others on your site or on other social media sites, it would open up conversations about the authenticity of it all. They would be inclined to share their own experiences with your business and relate to your other customers. This would promote your company to others and encourage others to leave reviews or speak about your products.
5. Helps in Decision-Making
The ultimate benefit of displaying your online product reviews is that it helps customers in their decision-making. The opinions of other previous customers speak a lot to other potential customers. It can influence them in also buying (or not) your products. If your online store is filled with many good reviews, you easily nudge your potential customers in the right direction. You speak to their minds and communicate that your products are proven and tested to be of high quality and authenticity. If your business is visible enough in the online world and has enough good online reviews to support your own claims, you have a better chance of increasing your profit margin and making more sales.
Image Taken From Strikingly
How To Handle Positive and Negative Online Customer Reviews?
It is a famous saying that “Nobody is perfect,” so it only goes to prove that you have to expect negative customer feedback as well. You cannot be assured that all the online reviews that would come are positive and in favor of you. You can only do so much to satisfy every customer that comes your way.
With that in mind, here are a few tips on how you can handle negative customer reviews.
・Answer Quickly
A negative online customer review ultimately translates into concern and a problem that was experienced by your customers. So make sure that you respond promptly but appropriately. Even if you did not satisfy them accordingly, you would help the disappointment by quickly apologizing to them and maybe asking what you could do to improve their experience.
・Be Honest and Real
There is power in humility. So if you receive online customer reviews claiming how bad their experience is, take a look and double-check your products. Be honest in your response. Admit it you’ve made a mistake and apologize. Take their comments into consideration for the next customer that comes. And remember that when you reply, you are a person, not a machine or corporation.
・Empathize and Relate
Your customers' negative online reviews are a reflection of their frustration and disappointment. Be careful not to attack your customers’ evaluation. Structure your response in a way that empathizes with them. You want them to know that you understand their sentiments. You want them to feel that you are genuinely guilty and apologetic. Make them feel that their opinion is valid and that you are doing your best to fix the problem and satisfy their needs according to the online reviews they left.
・Provide a Solution or Relief
If you can, you’d do well to respond to negative customer reviews with an objective and tangible solution or relief. Sometimes, it’s more worth it to send them a free product replacement than to leave them hanging. By offering up an answer or relief, you establish trust and make it known to them that you really value them and their concerns.
Conversely, we also have some tips for you about how to handle positive online reviews. Even if you have indeed gained their trust and confidence in this case, you still have to be careful in how you handle them because you wouldn’t want to sever a tie that you’ve worked hard to build.
・Thank Your Customers
Make it a habit to respond to negative customer reviews promptly and the good and great reviews. You have much to thank them for. Their kind words and appreciation help you and your business more than they can imagine. So make sure that you respond with gratitude and love always.
・Ensure Consistency
You can show your appreciation and gratitude to them even more by ensuring that you and your products stay true to what they have said about you. Don’t make them out to be liars. You would be doing a service to them and your business when you don’t become complacent and always ensure that you are consistent with what you put out in the world.
Strikingly Online Product Reviews Feature
Strikingly allows you to not only display your products and product description in a good and organized manner they also allow you to request customer reviews and display them with your products. Strikingly understands how important online reviews are. Their features allow you to quickly add online product reviews to your website.
All you have to do is to enable the “Product Reviews” feature of your website. You can find this option under the “Store” settings of your site editor. Doing so would allow you to turn on the automated email system of your site to send email requests for online customer reviews to completed orders. They will receive this email request after seven days of the completion of the transaction.
Image Taken From Strikingly Product
Once your customers send in their online reviews, you will receive notifications on your site editor. Therein you can manage your online reviews. Meaning, your customer reviews will be categorized into “Pending”, “Approved”, and “Rejected”. You have the power and authority to review your customer reviews and choose what will be displayed on your products. Take note of the tips we have given you in handling these reviews.
Image Taken From Strikingly Product
After seven days of the completion of the transaction, your customer will receive an email. This is what your customers will see in your email. When they click the “Write Review” button, they will be led back to your website, where they can write their name and their online reviews about your product/s.
Image Taken From Strikingly User’s Website
After you have approved the online reviews, this is what your potential customers see when they view your products.
Image Taken From Strikingly User’s Website
Now that you have learned all about online reviews and how to handle both the positive and negative online reviews don’t be afraid to shine a light on them and entice more customers. Don’t be scared of what your customers will say because ney can help you and your business no matter what. Take pride that your customers have been affected by your products enough to leave a comment. Let Strikingly allow you to display this pride loud and proud, so sign up now!
