Blog post courtesy of our sponsors Digital Marketer Bee
For companies with websites and online presence, showcasing genuine positive reviews from customers plays an important role in ensuring their success. These testimonials can influence the purchasing behaviour of potential customers by gaining their trust.
The positive effects that reviews have on businesses are based on the concept of social proof. This is a psychological and social phenomenon wherein individuals seek reinforcement of product or service quality from prior customers that are independent to the company and, in some cases imitate the actions of other people in certain situations.
According to a report by Trust Pilot, nine out of ten or about 89% of consumers surveyed across the globe noted that they read reviews first before finalising a purchase. This figure clearly shows the direct effect of positive reviews on the sales and eventual success of a business.
Unfortunately, not all customers leave reviews. In fact, according to a study by Global Web Index, only half or around 47% of Internet users post reviews about a product, service, or company. In order to take advantage of the benefits of testimonials, there are various methods that you can use to increase the number of customers leaving reviews on your website or social media platforms.
Email campaign
One method commonly used by businesses is requesting reviews via email. According to Review Trackers, up to 70% of testimonials can be acquired by companies through an email campaign.
This type of campaign is carried out using an email list, which contains the contact information of all the individuals that previously transacted with the company. The message then usually contains a short survey that’s focused on acquiring feedback from the customer.
However, to ensure the effectiveness of your campaign, the message should be personalised and should reflect your gratitude for the customer’s purchase. It’s also ideal to keep the message and survey short and straight to the point.
When asking for the customer’s feedback, you can use questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no. For questions that are more complex, provide multiple choice answers to make it easier for the customers to respond to your request.
In case you receive negative feedback from customers, make sure to respond to their message immediately and inform them that you’re working on resolving the issue that they raised.
SMS messages
Another effective way to ask for reviews is through SMS. This technique can sometimes be more effective than emails because the messages are sent directly to a mobile phone, a gadget that people tend to use more compared to other handheld or desktop devices. Also, a report by Mobile Squared revealed that about 90% of SMS messages are opened and read within three minutes.
Similar to email campaigns, you can also benefit more from SMS by keeping your messages short, straight to the point, and personalised. In addition, due to the technological limitations of SMS, you might have to provide a link to a website or social media platform where customers can leave their reviews about your products or services.
Aside from your own site, you can also direct customers to a certain review website. Doing so can still significantly help your business since many consumers tend to search for online reviews through Google. They usually come across testimonials posted on major review sites during their search.
Landing pages
Building a dedicated landing page specifically for requesting reviews is also a great way to collect customer testimonials. Basically, a landing page is a standalone web page. Most companies commonly use it to collect emails from subscribers or promote a certain product.
Due to the various functions of a landing page, more and more businesses are starting to use it to collect feedback from consumers. The link to this type of web page can then be shared via email, SMS, or social media.
Point Of Sale request
Some companies are also known to request reviews from customers right after they’ve completed their purchase. In e-commerce, this is usually done through a pop-up message or widget that asks customers if they would like to complete a short survey or provide their feedback after going through the checkout process.
Of course, in this technique, you won’t be able to ask what customers think about a certain product since they have just purchased it. Instead, this method focuses on asking customers to review their entire checkout experience. This includes their interaction with your website and their other experiences as they finalised their purchase. Knowing if a site’s checkout process is smooth and efficient can also influence the buying behaviour of other consumers.