10 suggestions to inspire customer reviews
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has more than 6,000 reviews on Amazon.com, and the movie Mean Girls has nearly 5,000. In addition to proving the popularity of J.K. Rowling or Lindsay Lohan, it just goes to show how much consumers like sharing their opinions on the things that they buy.
And thank goodness for consumer reviews because how could consumers possibly shop without them? These days, it seems almost impossible to purchase something without first consulting with the item’s online reviews.
In a recent article published by Practical E-Commerce, the editors highlighted a few statistics from a Nielsen’s report, titled "Global Trust in Advertising and Brand Messages." In it, Nielsen’s surveyed more than 28,000 Internet respondents from all over the globe, and when it came to recommendations, the report revealed that 92 percent of consumers said they trust “friends and family above all other forms of advertising.”
And actually, it seems as though consumers also trust virtual strangers more so than the ad agencies that are employed by big brands. If a product has a great commercial but a poor rating, there’s a pretty good chance it won’t be flying off the shelves any time soon.
The challenge for a small or medium-sized business therefore is to learn how to harness the power of the product review just like the large producers do. Reviews, both bad and good, foster trust and in turn, increased business.
To help inspire your customers to write reviews on your site, here is a list of 10 ideas offered by Practice E-Commerce:
- Mimic Amazon. Look into how Amazon integrates customer feedback into site copy and product pages, and then make a list of ways you could do likewise.
- Use Facebook. Incorporate Facebook's Open Graph to provide customers with the ability to share reviews on the social network after posting them on your ecommerce website.
- Use a credible platform. Make it easy to leave reviews on your website by employing the use of product review solutions such as those provided by Bazaarvoice, Reevoo,Turnto, Rating System or Review Script. Many ecommerce platforms also include rating and review features.
- Publish good and bad reviews. Don't filter or edit out negative reviews, as having both positive and negative reviews builds trust and credibility.
- Encourage customers to write reviews. But don't offer free merchandise or money to customers in exchange for reviews. You don’t want to compensate customers in exchange for a positive review. Instead, use contests such as the chance to enter a drawing.
- Ask. Personally ask loyal customers and Facebook fans to submit reviews. Include a link to the review form on your website.
- Use email. Send a follow-up email a few weeks after a purchase to request a review. A post-purchase remarketing email is the perfect opportunity to ask for a review.
- Consider video. Encourage customers to make videos of product reviews to post to YouTube.
- Share reviews on social media. Use links to individual reviews on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and other social networks where you maintain a presence.
- Share product information. Use Facebook Like, Tweet This, Pin It, and Google +1 buttons on product pages to facilitate social sharing. Very often, people will include a comment about the product when they share.
And as Practical E-Commerce mentioned, don’t fear the less-than-perfect review. If anything, it will give you a chance to reach out to the unhappy customer to try and make amends.
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