Understanding the Importance of Customer Reviews
Customer reviews. The thing everyone either loves or hates - depending on which side of the counter you’re standing. But despite how businesses feel about them, they’re important for a variety of reasons.
It seems like most people either dismiss them completely or think they’re the only thing that matters. Sort of. This creates an interesting scenario where businesses either don’t care what their customers think or care too much.
I think it’s important to remember that customer reviews aren’t always an accurate representation of what your product is. In fact, there are enough cases of negative and positive review bombing for us to know that most of the time, it’s a very emotional thing to do - writing a review about a product. There is a way to make sure your business doesn’t get sucked into this cycle. You could start by encouraging your customers to write reviews about their experience with you.
A simple email or message can quite a bit go a long way. The main thing here is that there are more neutral reviews than extremely positive or negative ones because this helps potential customers understand the actual experience that your product offers. It’s tricky because some products receive more emotional reactions than others, but as long as you maintain that middle ground with neutral reviews, you should be fine.
Most people just want to know whether a product is worth their money so if you have customers talking about how good your service is and how well-made your products are, you’ll have enough new business to keep growing.
Strategy 1: Personalizing Your Follow-Up Requests
I think people have a sort of tunnel vision when it comes to asking customers for reviews. They’re so focused on the review bit that they forget who’s on the other end. At this stage in business, we all know that just typing ‘leave a review’ in an email simply doesn’t do the trick. There has to be some emotional connection - even if it’s fleeting.
The thing is, many people are not looking to leave a review unless something particularly bad happened or exceptionally good did. Most consumers these days - at least for home-grown brands and small businesses - expect that their experience will be pretty good. So what you want to do is stand out as a brand by adding personalisation wherever possible. Now I don’t mean going and sending handwritten notes (although I’m not saying you shouldn’t) - but little markers of truly having understood who the customer is, what your brand means to them, and how your relationship has developed since then.
I know it can allegedly get complicated with bigger companies where you don’t always know everyone’s name or their story or even what they bought from you last time. But there are ways to integrate personalisation that make a difference - without you having to literally remember every single person who’s ever shopped with you. For example, if it’s been a year since someone placed an order with your brand, send a personalised follow-up email asking about their last order (bonus points if you include the specific product too).
If the customer has been with you for over 6 months now or has given your service at least 2 repeat visits over that time period, request a review with a discount code for their next purchase. If they’ve submitted feedback through another channel before, reference those insights and ask about how things have improved since they last interacted with your business.
Strategy 2: Incentivizing Feedback with Rewards
This is the thing about rewards - people often think of it as a bribery tactic for reviews. But there are many different ways to incentivise feedback through rewards, and none of them require a cash transaction, unless that is your business model. Rewards can mean so many things in this context, from simply acknowledging the customer on the review platform or just sending them a DM to thank them for their efforts. This is the easiest way to ensure you get honest reviews and build relationships with customers that goes beyond the sale.
Customers today have a far more advanced palette for judging which reviews are genuine, and which ones have been “incentivised” with discounts, vouchers, free gifts etc. There is always some merit in running a review based rewards programme for every 10th or 20th reviewer who leaves a review. Not all reward based tactics involve money, products or services. Sometimes customers just want to be recognised and appreciated.
And they tend to leave the most honest reviews because they have nothing to gain from it except being heard. It would be easy to say that rewards don’t work anymore but I think there is some merit in using them as part of your marketing strategy when rolling out campaigns, like launching new products or rebranding or maybe going into new markets etc. There are relatively ways in which you can drive traffic to your review sites and get people to talk about your products and services for free without having to make it seem like a PR exercise.
This is where brands usually struggle - how do you keep it real, how do you get people talking about you without paying them. The answer may not always be clear but it does exist, we just need to figure out what makes sense for our brands and audiences. We know that incentivising reviews with cash rewards can come across as fake but done correctly by making it an occasional event or at launch or campaign times can be helpful too.
Strategy 3: Making the Review Process Easy
It seems like most business owners simply don’t get the timing right. They bombard customers with a review request immediately after purchase, when their service hasn’t been experienced yet, or months later when the moment is long past. The way I see it, the best time to ask for feedback is in the sweet spot between getting to know the product and before they’ve forgotten what they loved about it.
Asking for reviews in this period can create an easy experience that doesn’t involve them having to wrack their brains for a distant memory or not have anything to say at all. But even within this window, there’s no one right way to do it. Maybe you want to collect feedback once a customer has used your product a couple of times.
Maybe you want them to leave a review right when they receive it in the mail. It all depends on what suits your business and how you operate. What’s most important here is sort of convenience - letting people leave their comments on platforms that are intuitive to them and offer zero friction. This includes websites and apps that don’t require logins or accounts, such as TrustPilot, Google My Business or Yelp.
You can incentivise a customer by offering discount codes through these reviews (or just generally for completing surveys), but try not to make the discounts conditional upon positive feedback - although more stars always helps, it’s good to build some authenticity and transparency into your reviews as well. If you’re asking someone who shops with you often (maybe in-store or online), take some time out of your day (or week) to reach out personally through an email or call and ask how they’re finding things so far - this little personal touch can go a long way towards making it easier for someone who maybe doesn’t trust automated emails, messages or calls anymore.
Strategy 4: Engaging with Customers Post-Purchase
It seems like brands tend to forget about customers after a purchase has been made. And that’s something we need to rethink, because those customers become your biggest advocates. Reviews are a powerful thing and the post-purchase experience needs to be remarkable for you to get the best ones.
It starts with making them feel like their order is in safe hands. A transactional email or WhatsApp message on what stage their order is at, a quick update if there’s a delay in delivery, and an order update when it’s delivered, are all great ways to build trust. But not everyone is going to have the same experience with your brand. What do you do then.
You hear them out - that’s what you do. Have a good customer support team or just one person who can take in complaints about the brand, address issues and try to make their experience better by helping them with refunds and returns. Keeping an open line of communication is important when you’re building a relationship with your customer base. Because they need to know that you care about their business and want to serve them in the best way possible.
While this might seem like an extra effort, it’s worth it, because these are the things people remember about brands and then talk about. You don’t want your business reputation getting ruined by a bad review or word-of-mouth. So, make sure you’re always ready to give your customers the best post-purchase experience possible.
Strategy 5: Showcasing Positive Reviews Effectively
The moment most brands begin to get good reviews, they’ll want to use them in their marketing. It’s not uncommon to see positive reviews splashed across homepages or on the first page of a website. I suppose there is some sense in this - you’ll want new customers to see that you’re liked and trusted by others.
But, with the way the internet is now, people know that if a brand has done well, they have good reviews. With this knowledge comes some scepticism. Customers can sometimes view positive reviews on your website as “cherry-picked”. While this isn’t always true - and brands do sometimes opt for average ratings as well - it can affect how effective these reviews are.
Plus, it doesn’t help that there have been stories about brands with fake reviews being called out online. So, what should you do. The way I see it, well, i find being authentic and honest with your reviews is best. If you’ve got all great ones, put them up wherever you want and watch your conversions grow.
But if there are some less-than-stellar ones sprinkled in there, don’t shy away from sharing those too (especially if they were constructive and helpful). Customers like seeing a mix of positive and negative reviews as it helps build credibility for your brand. It also helps to show your audience how you use their feedback to improve your product or service. If someone left a review about a feature that didn’t work for them or an experience that could have been better, showing other customers what was changed can be great for business.
This openness can help establish loyalty amongst customers who appreciate honesty and transparency more than just five-star ratings.