According to a study conducted by Munich University, Germany, 74% of your customers between 19-37 years of age read the online reviews. Needless to say, these reviews make a significant influence on their purchase decision. Would you like to lose a potential customer in this volatile market environment just because you had some negative reviews or no reviews on your business website. Here are some more interesting statistics,
“72% of customers trust online reviews as same as personal recommendation from real people”
“68% of consumers visit social networking sites to read reviews”
“90% of customers say that positive online reviews influence their buying decisions”
Read on to adopt simple strategies that will be generating positive customer reviews a cinch and boost your business.
Building trust among your customers and potential customers about your brand and the products and services you offer is not an easy task. But positive reviews can be a handy first step. There are few simple strategies you can follow to get positive online reviews and boost your business.
1. Ask customers for Reviews about customer experience.
This sounds like no brainer. True. But one of the main reasons that you don’t have enough reviews on your business might be because you did not ask customers for reviews.
According to Search Engine Land, 68% of customers will leave a product, service or business review when they are asked for it. This is the most efficient and the basic way to get your reviews. Go ahead, be honest, let them know their reviews are of a great significance and if they are satisfied, they will probably assist.
The customer feedback helps to understand how customer feels about your prodct or services.
Sometimes asking for a review might not be as simplistic as it sounds. It is an art that varies from business to business. The tactics you use to request a review from a young crowd are not going to work with a very formal, professional crowd.
Also review request on products like dresses, shoes or bags is not going to work for very high involvement products like jewellery or vehicles.Businesses should come up with strategies to request reviews from customers by considering several factors such as the type of the business, the involvement of the customers on the purchase, behavioral aspect of the target audience segment etc.
Timing is also an important factor to consider when you are requesting a review. Businesses have to decide on when they are going to ask for a review. Is it just after the product is delivered, after two or three days etc.
For most businesses, the ideal time to ask for a review would be just after the consumer has experienced the product or service. But there can be exceptions based on the type of the product and the nature of the consumption.
However, one thing which has been proven is that consumers are more likely to leave good reviews when they are delighted and happy.
Some of the main ways to identify that the customers are happy are when they reach out to you to talk about a positive experience, when they reach out to you via social platforms etc.
2. Offer Extraordinary
Ever wondered why the promotions section of your email is always flooding? Marketing and online reviewing goes hand in hand. A communication firm for example can send promotion emails with new plans and also ask customers for their views on current plan, customised deals.
There are applications which will do everything for you.
Appreciate that your customers chose you over thousands of others in the market. Realise that retaining a customer is seven times cheaper than getting a new one. Unless you offer them something spectacular, it’s a little difficult to get them talking good about your business.
It’s similar to orthodox barter system, where you give something and receive something in return. Offer your customers exceptional services, discounts, customise sales, wish them on birthdays, additional perks for reviewing your services online. These small incentives can get you online reviews and boost up sales.
3. Simple is Smart
Do you know “how would you rate us out of 10” is seven times more likely to be answered as compared to “tell us about your experience”. Remember, customers are assisting you by reviewing your services. If you are expecting them to write paragraphs for you, better have a second thought. Keep your follow-up questions effortless.
Some examples,
- Open-ended questions / yes or no
- How many stars would you give us?
- Rate us out of 10
- Which products you enjoyed the most. Option A, Option B, Option C, Option D
- Based on your experience, how likely are you to refer us to a friend?
- How can we improve our services?
Online platforms like Amazon and AliExpress are very good examples for businesses that use simple ways to ask for reviews. Just after a product is delivered to the customers, they are asked a set of very simple questions about delivery, packaging, and the product and the customers just have to select among the given optional answers unless they like to share their experience in detail. Since the process is very simple and takes only a few minutes, sometimes customers won’t even feel like they are leaving a review, but just as a part of their buying process.
Multiple choice or rate questions are best suited at the beginning. Avoid questions where responses are expected to be in text and if it is necessary keep them towards the end.
5.Respond to negative reviews properly.
Let’s be honest, you cannot expect only positive online reviews from your customers. There are many platforms for a customer to leaver a review like Google Reviews platform.
When you are encouraging customers to review your business with honest feedback, be open to negative reviews as well.
But these negative reviews can really harm your reputation if you do not handle them well. A single negaive review can dissapoint your potential customers.
In fact, an unsatisfied customer is four times more likely to review than happy customers. Managing an unhappy customer is a process that can impact your business significantly. Your approach will determine whether the impact is positive or negative.
There are no businesses with 100% happy customers. Unhappy customers need to be dealt with patience. Apologise for the problem they had experienced and acknowledge their complaints. Be quick to revert and fix up the issues. Provide a good customer service.
Take serious interest in resolving the issue because this will build a relationship with customers. Once all issues are fixed you can request for their feedback. Story by a customer of how you handled their issues will reflect your business ethics to the people who read the review.
To learn how to manage negative reviews in detail please visit https://digifix.com.au/how-to-manage-bad-reviews-online/
Read more:
Digital word of mouth is more trusted than word of mouth itself in today’s market. In order to keep your business running, generating new ideas and keeping up with latest digital trends is essential. Employ simple market tempting techniques to drive your customers to review you. Present your amazing services and products to your potential customers via online reviews by your current customers.
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Do you want more traffic?
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Hi, we are an Australian digital agency doing groundbreaking work to help a business like yours reach its full potential. My only question is will you qualify for our services?
4. Social Media
Social media is a place where people share most of their experiences. And today identifying what people have posted that are relevant for your business has become very easy with hashtags and location tagging.
Once you identify positive content that customers have shared on their personal social media accounts such as great vacations at your hotel, delighted family meal at a restaurant, a face product that has given good results, you can initiate a conversation with the customer by saying things like “we are so glad that you had a good time”, “it’s our happiness to serve you good food” etc. And as the next step you can ask them whether they would like to share their experience on our platforms.