Think about the typical customer for a second. Oh that’s you? Great!
Now think about the last time you purchased a product. Think about the things you did that brought you to a decision to buy that product from a particular vendor.
Personally I study customer reviews, ask friends for recommendations and then do a ton of online research.
A lot of businesses swell their advertising budget, train and re-train the marketing force, only to neglect one simple thing – the customer is always right.
In the eyes of shoppers, what you have to say about your product is less reliable than what other customers have to say about your product.
According to Brightlocal, ‘57% of consumers will only use a business if it has 4 or more stars.’ Again, ‘91% of 18-34 year old consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.’
Now you understand the strong correlation between positive reviews online and your business profitability. So what can you do to rake in those positive product reviews?
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Reply every review whether good or bad
89% of customers read your business’ reply to other consumers. How you respond to negative reviews will help your overall rating. This is because people may not be satisfied with your product but can be satisfied with how you respond to a negative review. A great response will generally make people more empathetic towards you and more disposed to positive reviews. I’m not just talking of an apologetic or meek response. I mean, check out this mother of all epic responses below!
This might be a tad extreme, but it contains some ingredients of a great response – fact, humour, openness to criticism but also a passion to protect the brand.
Study how successful brands with fantastic reviews craft responses to negative criticisms.
2. Showcase positive reviews from customers
When the positive customer reviews start rolling in, show them off as much as possible.
You can either share positive customer reviews on social media or ‘upvote’ positive reviews on independent review platforms like TripAdvisor, Google or Glassdoor. Create sliders or IG quote images of reviews for your website and social media.
Sharing positive customer reviews not only spreads awareness of how good your offering is but also how confident you are about your product.
3. Be first to leave a positive review your customers
Where possible, compliment your customers first through positive reviews. And this is likely to be reciprocated. Of course the exceptions are bad experiences with customers which may result in a bad review. Again it’s still important to have a great response as other customers will be reading.
4. Be where your customers are
Typically, asides fake reviews, about 0.5% – 2% of customers leave reviews. That means about 1 in 200 customers will leave a review. However, maximising the channels through which customers can leave reviews can help. Create and update your profiles on independent review platforms like Yelp, Google, TripAdvisor. Ensure your social media profiles are accessible from your website so customers can easily interact with you.
5. Be creative about how you ask your customers for reviews
70% of customers leave reviews – if asked. However you can be sure you may not be the only one asking. Also if you’re like me, time pressed or lazy at any given time, I need some kind of incentive to actually type up a review.
You can offer an incentive like a store discount, entry into a draw or a free product.
Here’s one below:
incentive-online-reviews
Got something to add or a question? Let’s hear it in the comments!
