8 Strategies to promote positive customer reviews for your brand or business
By Sophia Bernazzani | Source HubSpot
There are a lot of factors that go into a customer’s decision to make a purchase from your company.
And nowadays, when it’s fast and easy to make purchases online without ever connecting with a sales rep, the internet does the selling for you — and that can have a huge impact on if a customer purchases from you or not.
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The fact of the matter is, your company’s best marketers and sales reps aren’t your employees — they’re your customers.
According to BrightLocal, 85% of consumers trust online reviews are much as personal recommendations — the single most trustworthy and credible source of “advertising” out there. And HubSpot Research found that 60% of consumers believed customer reviews were either trustworthy or very trustworthy — meaning that businesses that can accumulate positive reviews had a good chance of them helping a customer make a purchase decision.
The same BrightLocal survey found that positive customer reviews make 73% of customers trust a business more, and 57% of customers visit a company’s website after reading positive reviews. That also means that, in order for businesses to grow in today’s competitive, online-first marketplace, they need happy customers sharing positive reviews of their experiences in order to even get visitors coming to their site for the first time.
The good news is, your customers are usually more than happy to help you out with this: The same survey found that, of the 74% of customers who were asked to provide feedback, 68% were willing to do it. So don’t be intimidated by the prospect of asking your customers for a favor — because all you have to do is ask, and they’ll likely be happy to help you out.
So, how do you get your customers to write the glowing reviews that help close deals? How do you ensure a customer is satisfied and happy enough to ask for the kind of positive reviews you need? Read on to adapt strategies that will make generating positive customer reviews a cinch.
8 Strategies to Get Customer Reviews of Your Business
1. Create different spaces to leave reviews.
Before potential customers even make it to your website to learn about your business, make sure they can learn about you no matter where they’re conducting online research about making a purchase.
There are a few typical third-party sites people consult to learn more about a business or a product:
Yelp
BrightLocal found that Yelp and Facebook were consumers’ most trusted source of customer reviews in the U.S., so make sure your business is registered and up-to-date. You can learn how to claim your business (or add it, if your business is brand-new) using Yelp for Business Owners.
Make sure you’re regularly monitoring communications coming from this profile — responsive business owners are highlighted with an average response time and response rate that could encourage readers to move forward in the process towards becoming a new customer.
You should also claim your business’ Facebook Page so potential customers can find you to learn more about you without having to leave their social network. This is another site that rewards high levels of responsiveness, so make sure you assign someone to monitor incoming messages across the channels you’re trying to optimize for new customer acquisition.
Next, use Google My Business to claim your business on the world’s biggest search engine, where potential customers might find you if they’re searching for information on Google, or searching for directions in Google Maps. (This is of particular importance to brick-and-mortar businesses trying to attract foot traffic — learn more about local SEO in this blog post.) People also leave reviews using Google, which appear in the search results for your business, as shown below if you Google “HubSpot.”
Amazon
If you’re an Amazon seller, make sure to claim and customize your Amazon page.
Amazon serves up a lot of different results for different searches, so make sure your Amazon page tells your business’ story the same way your website does. If a shopper finds your brand over the course of an Amazon search, make sure your Page highlights product details, testimonials, and reviews.
For businesses in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada, you can register with the Better Business Bureau — another highly trusted source of customer reviews. By claiming your business on the BBB, you can access more candid customer reviews and become accredited on the site — which lends greater credibility and trustworthiness to you if customers are deciding between options using these reviews and ratings.
2. Optimize your content.
Your customer reviews might be coming in unsolicited from happy — or unhappy — customers on third-party sites.
But once people are already on your site, make sure it’s easy for them to leave reviews there, too.
Optimize your website, blog posts, social profiles, and emails to provide quick and easy avenues through which to write reviews by:
- Setting up website badges to quickly and easily direct visitors to your Yelp, Facebook, and Amazon pages to read and leave reviews
- Optimize your website for mobile devices for people who come to your website when they’re browsing social or conducting searches on their phone
- If you’re asking for customer reviews via email, keep the asks short and sweet.
3. Create incentives.
Your time is valuable, and so is your customers’, so make sure you’re giving customers a reason to leave a review.
Offer incentives to make your customers want to write a review — such as discount or coupon codes, entrance into a contest for an even bigger prize, or gift cards for coffee, online shopping, or cold hard cash.
4. Ask at the right moments.
Make sure you’re soliciting customer reviews at the right moment in their journey with your business to get optimal results.
Think about it: If you ask for a review at the wrong moment, it could result in a customer leaving a negative review that hundreds more people read when considering whether or not they want to buy from your business.
Ask for customer reviews after positive moments along the customer journey, like:
- After they experience or demonstrate success with your product or service
- When they re-purchase or re-order
- After they tag your brand in a post on social media
- If they are spending time on your website browsing other products or services
- If they refer another customer to you
These are just a few examples of signs that your customer is satisfied enough that they would leave a positive review of your business.
For example, Etsy asked me to review a recent purchase approximately one month after I received it. I ordered a party favor for a friend’s bridal shower, so one month later was the right timeframe to make sure I had time to enjoy and use my product.