With 96% of UK consumers using reviews in some way and 64% reading them before making a purchase, according to our Consumer Trends Report, collecting and showcasing your reviews has never been more important.
You can use your reviews to support your customers in their purchasing decisions, monitor the internal performance of particular brands or stores, for example, to better understand your customers' experiences and, finally, boost your conversion rates.
In fact, adding customer reviews to your website can massively increase conversions, especially when they are displayed on product pages. People are 270% more likely to buy a product with five reviews compared to one without any reviews. Our work with the hair and beauty company Salon Services also revealed that customer spending rose by 294% when reviews were showcased online.
This is all well and good, but how do you get customer reviews in the first place?
We’ll dig into how to get customers to leave reviews, progressing them to become brand ambassadors, and how Feefo can help you when it comes to displaying and promoting your best, most reliable reviews.
Encourage customers to leave reviews
As you may have seen from our Complete Guide to Customer Feedback, we have seven top tips to encourage customers to leave reviews. These are:
- Make sure your email asking for a review stands out in their inbox
- Thank people for their time before they go to leave a review
- Dare them to be honest, either in a cheeky or more formal way
- Draw attention to what you want them to talk about in your emails
- Tap into their sense of social responsibility
- Use humour and show off your personality whilst remaining professional
- Encourage sympathy by telling them how hard you worked
While not all of these will work for your brand, it is worth considering how you can utilise some of these tips to get customer reviews rolling in.
Outside of these points, it is also important to consider when to ask for a review. Make sure you are asking your customers for reviews at strategic moments throughout their journey because if you ask at the wrong time, it could result in some negative criticism.
Customer relationships naturally ebb and flow, so make sure you identify these “moments of happiness” when contacting them for a review. For example, this might be after they have re-purchased a product, tagged you in a post on social media or referred another customer to you.
Finally, it is always important to follow up on your request if you haven’t heard back straight away. You may have to request a review more than once, but this doesn’t mean it will result in negative feedback for chasing them, as long as you follow up politely and with the understanding that everyone leads busy lives.
Treefo can encourage customers to leave reviews
At Feefo, we work with trusted partners to fund tree-planting projects in response to the reviews that you, as a business, collect. You can showcase your sustainability efforts, encourage feedback and give the planet a helping hand.
Treefo is simple. Your customer leaves a review for your business, they feel good for contributing to the planet, and they trust your authenticity and want to continue supporting your business.
As we know from our Quest for Authenticity report, 81% of customers feel that companies should do more to improve the environment, and two in three consumers think brands that make a public promise to be sustainable are more trustworthy.
By adding Treefo to your Feefo subscription, you can incentivise your customers to leave a review and build the trust they have in your brand. Win-win!
How to get customer reviews noticed
There are a number of ways to get customer reviews get noticed by other customers, both onsite and offsite.
Displaying customer reviews across your website can help build trust in your brand and convince even the most stubborn visitors to click that ‘buy now’ button. So, with as many as 96% of shoppers seeking out reviews, the key is to make it as easy as possible for your customers to find them – from your homepage right through to the checkout.
Read our full guide on how website integrations can help your customer reviews get noticed, which breaks down where and how you can display reviews across your site.
In terms of how you can promote your reviews offsite, there are a number of ways to achieve this, but the most prominent options are your social channels and email marketing.
Social media can get customer reviews seen
With there being such a varied and captive audience across every social channel, there could be a completely untapped marketing strategy if you aren’t already sharing your positive online reviews across them.
While Facebook has its own rating and review system, they aren’t verified reviews, so creating your own content and assets that promote your verified reviews is going to be more beneficial in building trust with potential customers.
How should you promote your reviews across your social channels?
Once you have collected your strongest reviews and testimonials, the first stage will be to create the content and visuals that are going to go with your social media post.
Don’t fall into the trap of copying out the whole review - just pick the essential parts that are going to grab the audience's attention. Similarly, with your visual assets, you could include a video testimonial or a bright static image that highlights a key quote to make sure you draw them in to find out more.
It is important to also thank the customer for their review. As we know from our Navigating the Negative report, 69% of people are happy to continue their purchase with a brand if they can see that a company has acknowledged a poor review, apologised and offered a solution.
Another way that you can share your positive reviews across your own channels is by reposting customer reviews. With X (formerly Twitter), this is a lot simpler, as you can simply retweet any reviews you are tagged or mentioned in. With your Meta channels, such as Facebook and Instagram, more thought will need to be put into how you share this.
Finally, use a social media calendar to make sure you are striking the right balance between organic content and cross-promotion. Sharing too many reviews can make your brand look overindulgent, but not sharing enough could mean you aren’t making the most of the platforms.
Email marketing can encourage customers to leave reviews
Introducing reviews into your personalised emails is a great way to engage your subscribers and make them feel valued. You can prove other customers, like the ones you are emailing, have had positive experiences with your brand, especially when you are launching a new product or service.
Another way you can use reviews in your outgoing emails is by tailoring the content to specific customers based on their needs or interests. For example, you can use these reviews to directly address a concern by using social proof that puts their minds at ease.
Encourage customers to leave reviews with Feefo Feedback Request Manager
According to our Consumers Trends Report, shoppers don’t always trust what they see online – 72% of them worry about fake feedback. Invite-only reviews, which are guaranteed to come from your genuine customers, are a great way to support prospects as they decide whether to buy from you.
With our Feedback Request Manager, you can step into the shoes of your customers and schedule review requests that align with their convenience. The invite-only approach guarantees heightened engagement and will instil a stronger trust in your brand.
