Customer Reviews

Make the customer review process incredibly easy.

Note the modifier of “incredibly” here because I can’t place too much emphasis on how easy the review process needs to be. Consider the proven potency of the HappyOrNot review model, which invites each brick-and-mortar store visitor to press one button as they leave to express their satisfaction with their visit. The less effort it takes to offer feedback, the more likely customers will do it.

Everything should autofill based on the logged-in account — and if you prompt a review through an email, it should have all the details ready to go. In particular, this means keeping data entry to a minimum. If you ask each reviewer to fill in several fields before writing their review, they’ll quite reasonably wonder why they should bother.

Focus on solid customer service.

This is the most critical step because the post-purchase experience is vital to shaping a customer’s overall experience. Even if you invite someone to review a specific product, that isn’t exactly what they’ll do: instead, they’ll check the buying process from start to finish. Read through Amazon reviews, and you’ll see this time and time again. “Did everything I expected, but customer service wasn’t helpful. Three stars.”

Positive customer reviews will matter, whether it’s about the product or the service. So make a concerted commitment to keeping your customers happy. Offer a clear return policy, provide multiple means of communication (email, phone, live chat, etc.), give as much relevant information as you can, and take action to resolve any issues that arise (the online world is full of negativity, but you can deal with it). Imagine that customers will keep buying from you for years, and treat them accordingly.

Excellent customer reviews encourage the inclusion of media

Note that the top customer reviews for products generally have multiple images or videos of the reviewers (or their friends or family members) unboxing and using those products. The impact of this type of media review can be very significant indeed.

This is because there’s a trust gap innate to online product listings: because the shopper can’t physically inspect anything, they must take it on faith that a product is what it’s said to be. When they can look at a video of a product in use (particularly one taken by an unbiased customer), it can sway their opinion.

Suppose (as is very common) you’re using WordPress extended through WooCommerce. You can pick up the Product Reviews Pro plugin for $79 — it offers plentiful configuration options and allows photos and videos. As such, allow reviewers to upload media (you’ll need to curate it, of course) and encourage it — this will significantly boost the quality of your reviews.

If you’re running a hosted solution instead (i.e., you used a website builder), your system might have native functionality. If not, you can undoubtedly find a viable plugin (for instance, Loox comes highly rated for the Shopify ecomm CMS). However, you do it. Just ensure that your customers know the options available to them.

Get Customer Testimonials Through Simple Post-Purchase Incentives

As lovely as it would be for customers to feel like providing reviews is a matter of courtesy, the reality is entirely different. People don’t typically like leaving reviews because it’s a hassle, even if it’s mild, so giving them something in return always works well — and you don’t even need to offer much. For instance, you can provide a slight discount to anyone who leaves a review or even enters a prize draw.

As a web design agency, we’ve done this by offering a one-time discount on some of our services! For example, we’ve provided free content writing for a website page.

Be careful with this, though. You’ll need to restrict the reward system to confirmed customers because the alternative would likely lead to many false reviews left purely to take advantage of the incentives. And let people know that you want honest reviews because a believable review that’s narrowly positive is far better than a suspicious review that’s a glowing endorsement.

You can also provide a much more abstract incentive through social media. Engage with your customers positively and ask them politely to leave reviews to help you out. This will make the reviewing process feel like a favor for a friend — and don’t we all enjoy helping out our friends from time to time?

Whether your business is a start-up or one with a long history behind it, excellent customer reviews are honest, believable, and laden with rich media, and you need as many as you can get. Start by making your brand as impressive as possible, then offer a simple and incentivized review process. It’s a long process but relatively simple.

What are you waiting for? Get some GREAT Customer reviews today…