So you want to know how to get more customer reviews for your e-commerce brand, and why wouldn’t you! Product reviews are a critical element of your marketing mix because they provide social proof, build trust, and increase conversions. On landing pages, product pages, and social media, descriptive and energetic endorsements are persuasive.
Whether your business is looking for more overall reviews, more descriptive reviews, or more social media reviews, we have four review acquisition strategies you can start implementing immediately for your e-commerce business.
Determine Your Goals
All good strategies start with a goal. Determine your company’s definition of a successful review acquisition strategy. Consider what platforms you want to collect these reviews on and prioritize a strategy that drives traffic there. Below are the different platforms you can get reviews on, and why you might want to prioritize each.
On A 3rd Party Site – Amazon, Google, and Facebook are trusted sources that customers look to for product reviews. Pick which specific sites are relevant to your business based on your distribution channels. Having lots of good reviews on these platforms is essential for search engine optimization, and can lend credibility to customers who like to Google you before making a purchase.
On Your Website – Your website is the perfect place to showcase glowing customer endorsements. High-quality reviews are harder to obtain because they require more effort. You want these reviews to put on landing pages, feature on product pages, and you can even put them on product packaging! Reviews on your website help boost your conversion rate.
On Social Media – When people love a product, they tell their friends on social media! This can be the most challenging type of review because it requires the most effort on the customer’s part. This is an extremely valuable source of social proof and content for your social media pages.
With a clear sense of your brand’s goals, you can move forward, knowing your strategy will yield the results that suit your business best. Now let’s dive into 4 ways to get more reviews for your e-commerce brand.
1. Remind them to review!
Sometimes a simple reminder is all it takes. By the time your customer has decided that they love your product, leaving a review is probably the furthest thing from their mind. Jog their memory by reaching out!
Email – A post-purchase drip campaign is easy to implement, inexpensive, and does not take any ongoing time! A few days after purchase, ask your happy customers to leave a review or respond directly about any concerns. This will proactively weed out people who are upset and fast-track the process of solving their issues.
This strategy is excellent for increasing the number of reviews on Amazon or improving Google shopping SEO. If the review quality matters more than quantity, tailor your email targeting. Repeat customers are an excellent group to target because their behavior proves they love your product!
Customer Service – A great time to politely request a customer review is after a positive customer service interaction. These customers are grateful, and sharing their stories can demonstrate to potential shoppers that your business cares about customer satisfaction!
Frequent Reminders – Leaving a review costs time and energy and often offers no reward, so the process needs to be easy and accessible. Provide more opportunities to leave reviews by placing calls to action on your product pages, in promotional emails, and on social media that link to the review form.
2. Provide Incentives
Leaving a review doesn’t need to be a thankless affair. The time people take to review your product is valuable, so offer an incentive!
Discounts – Generate excitement by offering a discount code for leaving a product review. People love being rewarded, and their reviews will give them a discount on their next purchase, thus promoting loyalty!
This strategy is excellent for increasing reviews on your website or social media but beware that some websites like Google Shopping and Amazon don’t allow incentivized reviews.
Enlist Influencers – If your goal is increasing brand awareness and obtaining a social proof source, consider identifying some micro-influencers (1,000-100,000) and asking if they would like to give your product a try. Offer it for free, but ask that they leave a review if they love it. Aside from being a trusted individual, influencers often produce attractive visuals and compelling copy for product reviews. Try to pick influencers your brand trusts; some individuals may not deliver on their promise to review for freebies.
3. Celebrate Your Customers
People love to be recognized and appreciated, so provide them with a social reward. Customers don’t always need monetary incentives to post reviews. Create a brand culture that makes customers feel like their individual review truly matters to promote more engagement.
Interacting with reviewers on social media, thanking them for their comments, featuring their images on your page, and addressing their concerns contribute to a brand that makes customers feel appreciated. It takes a lot of hard work and time to build a brand identity that promotes engagement, but the result has benefits that extend beyond simply increasing customer reviews.
4. DIY Your Website Reviews
To obtain reviews, you need to make sales. Making sales is a lot easier when your product has positive reviews to showcase! If your business needs a few great reviews quickly, then consider reaching out to friends, family, and employees to give your product a try and write a detailed, honest review.
Most third-party sites don’t allow reviews from your personal connections, so be careful not to violate the policies of platforms like Yelp and Google. However, these reviews are perfect for your website or social media.
While this strategy isn’t scalable, it is a great way to get the ball rolling. If you are looking to create some social media momentum and build social proof, you can also ask them to post to Instagram and tag your brand.
Transparency and trust are essential to building a brand online, so always request honest reviews when reaching out to people you know personally. Considering reaching out to personal connections for reviews is against company policy on many platforms, these reviews should really only be used for your website.
What about negative reviews?
Your brand wants more good reviews, but negative reviews are inevitable. Google and Amazon do not allow sellers to edit reviews, but your brand has complete control over what reviews show up on the e-commerce site and specific social media platforms.
So should your brand remove negative reviews/social media comments wherever possible? No.
Negative reviews can be good for business! People look at reviews for answers about a brand, so when you show negative reviews, your brand is :
- Providing authenticity to positive the product reviews
- Letting cautious customers weigh the risks of purchase
- Demonstrating to customers how your brand addresses customer criticism
Our expertise comes from experience.
At Right Left Agency understand that positive product reviews are essential to a successful marketing strategy. If you’re interested in executing any of the ideas we highlighted above, let us know and we would be happy to talk about your digital marketing strategy.
