Tips for Getting Good Reviews Without Irritating Your Customers

Positive customer feedback can help you build your customer base and attract more traffic to your website. According to research, 91% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Yes, their power is that strong. The common issue many businesses face is getting good reviews. You might be aware of the importance of reviews, but if you can’t get your customers to submit positive feedback, what’s the point?

To overcome this challenge, you have to realize it is all about the approach. How you approach the customers will reflect on your feedback. In order to get good reviews without annoying your customers, give the following tips a try.

Observe Customer Behavior

Getting good reviews doesn’t need to be a guessing game. You can request reviews depending on how your customers behave. There is a lot you can find out just by looking for patterns in customer behavior. When you read their behavior correctly, you may get reviews more quickly, and potentially even higher ratings.

Pay attention to metrics such as:

• the time when your sale is at the highest level
• the average amount customers spend on your products
• the number of returning customers
• the products that encourage repetitive purchases
• content that leads your customer to make a purchase

The best part about collecting information from customer behavior and website analysis is that you won’t have to bother the consumers. You probably already have some analysis tool that keeps track of these metrics. Simply reuse that information to get a better understanding of your consumers. And of course, if you speak with the customer regularly, you can likely tell whether or not they would be interested in leaving a review, based on your conversations with them.

When you know what they like, dislike, and how they act, it will be easier for you to strategically place a form in front of them, to collect good feedback. You can also use their behavior metrics to know when to send your request for a review. If you send your request when you know they’re online, you’re much more likely to get a review from them.

Send Follow-Ups Promptly

You should approach your customers while your product is still new and exciting for them. Ask for feedback shortly after they made a purchase or a few days after you get a notice that they have received the product.

Give them a few days to test out the product before you send a follow-up. How much you’ll wait also depends on the type of product or service you are selling. If you are selling earphones you bet that they’ll form an opinion in a day or two. However, if you are selling face cream that shows results after 30 days, that’s how long you should wait. Timing is everything when hoping to get good reviews.

This tactic is effective for getting good reviews because it uses the customers’ excitement about your products to get them to share their thoughts. If you wait too long, your product will be old news to them and the interest in leaving feedback will drop.

 

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Be Subtle

If you plan to ask for reviews on your website, you have to be very careful about the placement of forms and pop-ups. Using those invasive pop-ups that cover the whole screen is just not the way to get customers to like you.

Joan Abbott, a digital marketer and contributor writer at BestWritingAdvisor shared why you should never use overwhelming forms to collect feedback. “No one likes when you invade their personal space, even if it’s online. That’s exactly what those dramatic pop-ups will do. Instead, use simple forms that will be a subtle but noticeable invite to leave feedback,” advises Joan.

The best way to achieve this combination of “subtle but noticeable” is to use a small pop-up in the corner and choose an attractive color scheme that will make people notice it. In this way, the customer won’t be interrupted, but they won’t help but notice the survey request.

Give Customers a Reason to Leave Reviews

You have to give something to get something. That’s just the way the world works. In this case, you can give a tempting incentive to get good reviews. The incentive can come in the form of a discount, free trial, exclusive content, etc. Pitch the proposition and you’ll see how quickly customers will find the time to leave feedback.

The incentives don’t have to be major to yield results. According to one study, adding just a $5 prepaid discount brought in a 50% increase in the survey responses. Another study found that offering a $2 movie coupon increased the response rates by 300%. If you have a lot of content, you can use it as an incentive and offer them a free download.

See, it’s not just about what you offer, but rather, it’s in the gesture. There is something about discounts and free items that make people act, no matter how small the gain is. Use that to your advantage. The best part is that customers will have a more positive opinion about your company if you provide them with a “gift” for sharing their opinion. Consequently, their feedback will likely be more favorable.

Collect Feedback on Social Media

Who says that leaving feedback has to be boring? Social media can make leaving feedback an enjoyable experience for customers. Social media platforms are very interactive. The nature of social media is more friendly and you should use that to your advantage. For example, Instagram allows you to create fun and attractive polls and surveys you can post on your Stories. All the users have to do is make a few clicks and you’ll get yourself some feedback without much trouble. The polls can also be sent via direct messages if you want to target specific customers.

While polls and feedback are helpful to you, potential customers won’t be able to see them. It’s reviews that matter to potential customers. However, you can still get reviews on the social media platform, Facebook. The review feature on Facebook is a great way for customers to share their feedback publicly. It’s also very easy to drive these reviews. Users can see your request from a Facebook post, click on your username, and then click to leave a review. It’s a very easy process for your customers, which is another incentive for them.

You can also ask open questions on social media where customers can share their experience with your products in the comments. Since social media has a more informal setting, customers will be more open to writing a sentence or two about their impressions.

Final Thoughts

There you go! A few simple tips and tricks that will help you collect good reviews for your business. Now, all that’s left for you to do is to use them wisely.

Remember, you should adapt your approach to customers depending on their likes and preferences. The first tip will help you do that. Once you know how your customers think, you can transform your request to suit them. Of course, some tips such as offering incentives work for everyone. We are all as different as we are the same. Just be strategic about how you ask for feedback and you’ll compile great reviews in no time.

Using those invasive pop-ups that cover the whole screen is just not the way to get customers to like you. ~ Helene Cue #PopUps #MarketingTips Click To Tweet

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Author Bio

Helene Cue is a writer, editor, and experienced content marketing specialist. She has an MBA in marketing and she expands her knowledge by attending conferences and taking courses. Aside from running her blog and freelance writing, Helene also works as a contributor writer for a term paper service. Her passion is helping businesses create great content and establish an effective strategy to achieve success.