Controlling the reputation of your establishment on the web is absolutely essential when you own an ecommerce business. In fact, according to Trustpilot, approximately 89% of shoppers look at reviews before making a purchasing decision.
As you can see, word-of-mouth also works very well on the web, and it’s therefore very important that you can collect as many positive reviews as possible, in order to increase your sales.
How can you optimize your brand image and your customer experience thanks to the reviews left by online users? We tell you everything!
Why encourage customers to leave a review on the internet?
Before the internet, consumers had far fewer opportunities to find out about the quality of a product or service. They could possibly resort to consumer associations or connect to a forum page to learn about a user's experience.
However, today, they have the right to speak, and more and more of them are giving their opinion independently on the web, in their own name. Moreover, the comments that your
customers write can be very favorable to your company and improve your e-reputation.
Brand image
To create a good image of your business online, there’s nothing like the reviews of your customers satisfied with their experience and the satisfaction of a well-done transaction. These are visible to the general public through dedicated platforms and are absolutely perfect for boosting your image. They reassure consumers about your products and services and give an image of reliability and legitimacy of the company. They basically create free publicity around your business!
On the other hand, customers aren’t fooled, and they know today that many false customer reviews are circulating on the internet. To reassure them, don't hesitate to use a trusted third party like Trustpilot. They certify to other internet users that the reviews collected are real and authentic.
SEO
In addition to promoting the image of your online business, you should know that customer reviews are also very beneficial for SEO. Google is very attentive to customer reviews and takes them very seriously in its search results, especially when it comes to your Google My Business page. Customer reviews should therefore be an essential lever of your SEO strategy in addition to consolidating your e-reputation.
Furthermore, with customer reviews on your product pages, this content will help you boost your SEO: the keywords used by the customer will be added to your own content to make your page rise in the search results.
More concretely, the more positive reviews a brand collects online on Google My Business, the higher it will go in the search results. Moreover, it’s also a great way to improve your positioning on Google Maps. If you're banking on location-based SEO, consider making customer reviews your workhorse!
Reassurance
When customers visit a physical store, they can see the products that they’re considering buying. They can touch them and possibly ask a salesperson for help and advice. The role of the latter is to encourage them to buy and to make them feel confident about their future purchase. On the internet, however, all these elements are absent, or at least replaced by digital tools and services. We must therefore find another vector to reassure potential buyers and encourage them to finalize their orders. And customer reviews suit this role perfectly by providing valuable social proof!
What's more, today's consumers are faced with an increasingly vast offer. On the internet, there are many competitors and similar products! However, some items are reliable, while others are of poor quality. Internet users are therefore constantly faced with uncertainties. Reviews provide them with some answers: they’re a reliable solution in their purchasing process and to increase online sales.
Loyalty
When a customer leaves you a review, don't hesitate to reward them and thank them for their feedback by offering them a gift or a promotional code on their next purchase. Not only does this tend to flatter internet users, but it also encourages them to return to your company. From then on, the customer review becomes a new loyalty lever.
How do you ask people to leave a review?
Although customer reviews are particularly important for companies, it’s not always easy to get them from your customers. So, let me share with you my best expert tips to get as much positive feedback from your users as possible...
Request a review by email
The most common way to request a review from a customer is to send an email. The sole purpose of this email should be to get the recipient to leave you a review. However, like any other marketing approach, it has to be prepared beforehand. Your email request for feedback shouldn’t be improvised, at the risk of falling through.
First of all, you need to get a short link name on Google (a kind of shortened URL), allowing your customers to leave a review for your establishment very easily. They only need to click on a link to write their review. If the process is more complicated, you risk losing them along the way!
Furthermore, your email should be accompanied by a well-structured speech, in order to encourage people to leave you a review. In this case, it’s better to have a catchy and predefined template. Having a preconceived tool will make it easier for you to do so. In addition, don't hesitate to share a few examples of reviews, which can serve as a source of inspiration for your customers. Again, the idea is to make it as easy as possible for them to provide feedback!
Your email should also be sent shortly after your service. Don’t hesitate to use specific tools to automate this process. This tool will take care of scheduling the sending of an email as soon as a customer enters your database. With WiziShop, customer review requests can be directly created thanks to the Auto-Mail Booster tool.
Then, to be efficient, note that your email must respect the following elements:
- It must always be personalized, that is to say, it must bear your customer's first and last name, so that they feel unique and valued.
- It must mention the element to which it follows, for example the product or service purchased on such and such a date.
- It must have an eye-catching subject line, encouraging the customer to open the email.
- It must include a call to action (CTA) leading directly to the review page, which is essential in ecommerce.
Finally, note that it’s also possible to send review requests directly by SMS. For this, various tools exist that allow you to solicit your customers' reviews by text in a few clicks.
Invite people to leave a review on Google or TripAdvisor
While it's always best to set up a direct link for your customers to leave a review of your business after a purchase, note that there's nothing stopping you from simply suggesting they do so on Google or other platforms like TripAdvisor. This is a less direct way to ask for a review. However, be aware that it’ll probably have less impact and that there will be fewer reviews.
Also note that it’s prohibited to offer a reward to a customer for leaving a review on Google. The reward can be given after the review has been submitted, which can be a nice surprise for the consumer. It cannot be a bait to get a positive review...
Google is very clear about its policy on this subject: “Business owners shouldn't offer incentives to customers to leave reviews.”
This rule is primarily put in place for the customers so that the ecommerce reviews obtained are authentic and reflect reality.
Leave a dedicated space on your website for people to give their opinion
In addition, don't be satisfied with simple Google reviews. Also plan to leave a space on your website to allow your customers to leave their comments directly, whether positive or negative, in order to see their level of satisfaction and help your business evolve. With WiziShop, you’ll be able to share and make the comments and the overall rating of your business visible on your pages.
Furthermore, keep in mind that some of your customers may find it difficult to find inspiration to leave you comments. The best thing to do is to choose a simple solution, allowing users to give an opinion without having to think too much. For example, use a rating system from 1 to 5 or 1 to 10, like the one set up with Google's stars. Then, leave it up to users to add additional comments if they’d like, and use the customer reviews to your advantage.
Use your social media networks for your customer evaluation
If your company is present on social media networks, use them as a lever to get new online reviews. If your customers follow you on social media, it’s probably because they’re satisfied and loyal consumers. Take advantage of this!
For example, consider creating a Facebook or Instagram post from time to time to directly ask your followers to share their feedback and write you a review after a purchase. In this case, don't forget to include your short URL.
While it's very important to get Google reviews to rank well and increase consumer trust in you, it's also crucial to respond to reviews on Google and thank people who took the time to leave you a review. This shows that you’re listening to your audience. This is an indirect way to further contribute to your brand image.
