One of the challenges of online shopping is that customers can’t try before they buy. Without the advantage of holding or testing items before purchase, customer reviews provide unbiased, authentic opinions. Depending on what they say, they can either boost your sales or your bounce rate. They can also serve as useful marketing tools and influence the journeys of future buyers.
How influential are online reviews? Buyers look for transparency and seek as much information as they can find before making a sale, and the statistics reflect that. Over 99.9% of customers read reviews when they’re shopping online, and 96% look for bad reviews in particular. 60% place high importance on the number of reviews a business has when deciding to use its services, and almost 50% trust reviews as much as personal recommendations. At a time when 84% of millennials don’t trust traditional advertising, it makes even more sense to find genuine approaches to connecting with a sceptical audience. Google is the biggest review site in the world, hosting 73% of all online reviews. It’s followed by Yelp, TripAdvisor and Facebook.
As a business owner, you’re probably wondering how to ask a customer to leave a review without coming across too pushy or salesy.
The Influence of Customer Reviews on the Buyer’s Journey
It’s common to associate customer reviews with the early stages of the buying process, but they can influence customer decision-making at every stage of the funnel. The buyer’s journey is a commonly used term for the path to purchase, and it can be broken down into three main stages: discovery, evaluation and selection. Customer reviews play a part in a buyer’s choices no matter where they are in the funnel. Here’s a breakdown of the different stages:
Discovery Stage
During the discovery, or awareness, stage, buyers are starting to understand that they have a problem to fix or a desire to fulfil. They’re also trying to decide whether or not it should be a priority. The buyer may not necessarily be aware of their need when they come across your product. They may be scrolling the internet for other reasons and come across a product they never knew existed before. Suddenly, everything falls into place as they realise it can solve a problem in their life.
Online reviews can initiate the discovery stage. When a potential buyer comes across a certain product, along with testimonials from people it worked for, it can influence them to think a little further about it and head into the next stage of the process.
Evaluation Stage
During the evaluation or consideration stage, buyers are committed to addressing their need and are looking into their best options. They know there are different options out there and haven’t yet narrowed down which one to focus on. For example, they need to replace missing teeth: are dentures or dental implants a better option?
During this stage, customer reviews provide valuable real-world perspectives, helping to validate certain product types or services and prove they’re effective.
Selection Stage
The selection, or decision, stage of the process is when the buyer has chosen their solution but hasn’t yet picked a provider. At this stage, they’re likely looking into what different businesses are offering and deciding which deal sounds the best. This is one of the situations when a unique selling proposition (USP) helps you stand out in the crowd.
Almost 55% of online shoppers read at least four reviews before making their purchase. Needless to say, it’s the businesses with the highest numbers of positive user reviews that are likely to make it on their shortlist.
How to Obtain Positive Customer Reviews
Bad reviews aren’t the end of the world. Sometimes, they present an opportunity to turn a negative interaction around and show that you care. A few negative reviews can even help you appear more credible—it can look fake if people only ever say nice things about your business. That said, while you should respond to bad reviews, it’s important to do it the right way. Respond politely, thank the reviewer for their time, show empathy and make your response authentic.
However, it’s best to minimise negative reviews, as they can damage your reputation, your credibility and ultimately your profits. Luckily, there are several methods you can use to entice customers to share positive reviews and build your brand reputation. Among other techniques, here is how to ask a customer to leave a review:
Make it part of the sales process
When a customer makes a purchase online, a simple pop-up can encourage them to stick around a little longer and rate the sales process. You can also send an e-mail at a later date following the purchase asking the customer to leave a review or post surveys on social media for your customers.
Have a strong online presence
At the very least, it’s essential to be on the biggest review platform on the internet with a Google Business Profile, formerly known as Google My Business. With a Google Business Profile, you can boost your visibility, easily share your contact details online and let your reviews improve your credibility. The other big-name review sites (TripAdvisor, Yelp, Facebook) have their own perks, and Apple Maps is growing steadily.
Review your customers favourably
Obviously this won’t work for every business, but platforms like Uber and Airbnb have demonstrated the success of a reciprocal system that encourages customers and employees to favourably review each other.
Share reviews on your website and social media pages
Sharing positive customer reviews on your business website, Facebook page, etc., makes it easier for potential customers to find them and encourages them to leave more.
How to Utilise Positive Customer Reviews in Your Marketing Strategy
Customer reviews are useful for branding, SEO and other aspects of your marketing strategy. Here are some ways to make the most of them:
Include reviews on your landing pages
When you include reviews on your website landing pages, you show potential customers how happy others have been with your services.
Include reviews in your paid advertisements
Google Business Profile allows you to use information from your reviews in your pay-per-click (PPC) ads. Not only does this increase credibility and trust for your brand, but it also boosts click-through rates (CTR) and performance.
Add reviews to emails
Customer reviews are perfect for marketing emails and abandoned cart emails, where they can reach potential buyers who might be having second thoughts.
Add customer reviews to Shopify
Adding reviews to your Shopify e-commerce site is an easy way to improve your brand credibility, conversions and user experience (UX). Luckily, it’s not hard to figure out how to add customer reviews to Shopify. You just need to install the Shopify Product Reviews app. While the process is slightly different between your product and collection pages, it mostly involves copying and pasting the right code.
Understand Your Customer’s Journey with Anchor
Customer reviews help move potential leads through the buyer’s journey and increase your brand’s credibility and trustworthiness. With so many customers relying on reviews to make a final decision, it is crucial to incorporate them effectively into your marketing strategy.
Anchor can design a marketing strategy for you that maximises your reviews and highlights your other strengths. With services like website design and development, graphic design and deep-level branding and strategy work, Anchor helps purpose-driven businesses grow.
If you’re ready to talk strategy with Anchor, drop us a line.
