Are you collecting enough customer reviews? No one said it was easy asking customers to give you more after buying your product or service, but it is certainly not unreasonable. Many companies use these 6 strategies to get more reviews per request and we want you to know.
- Choose the Right Time to Send a Request
- Write Simple, Attention Grabbing Subject Lines
- Personalize Your Email Message to fit the Customer and Your Brand
- Utilize Incentives like Coupons and Sweepstakes for Rewards
- Use Your Personal Business Email
- FOLLOW UP
Collecting More Reviews can be Done!
Based on a Bright Local survey in 2021, an average of 76% of customers leave reviews when asked. That is a great conversion rate (# of reviews collected / # of review requests sent) and speaks to the fact that customers are willing to give feedback.
You know this, customers want to feel connected to your brand and they will give more as you give more of yourself/brand to them.
However, people are busy; they have jobs, families, grocery store runs, baseball games… you name it. They likely give you a review in a heartbeat, but sometimes it’s just not the right time.
Two words come to mind; attention and intention. Gaining customer attention and expressing your intention. When you mix the right timing, with good intentions and perfect timing it’s off to the races.
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Let’s dig in!
6 Strategies To Getting More Reviews per Request
Choose the Right Time to Send a Request
When you send a review is crucial to your overall strategy. We’d say it’s the difference between businesses with a small number of reviews and those with reviews, on reviews, on reviews… well, you get it.
Now, every business is different; some sell products/services that are seasonal or have longer adoption periods while others offer immediate value. If you’re an eCommerce store, we’d recommend following this schedule
- 7 days after product is fulfilled
- 10 days after product is fulfilled
- 14-21 days after product is fulfilled
You want to ensure, at the very least, the customer has your product in hand before giving you a review.
Now lets say you’re a service company (but really any company for that matter), sending a review request ought to happen quickly after the service is preformed. For instance:
- 1 days after service is complete
- 3 days after service is complete
- 7 days after service, if the effect of the service will take longer to be ‘felt’
Experiment with these delays, but not too often, let’s say a couple of times a month. Then measure what works best for you!
Write Simple, Attention Grabbing Subject Lines
The email subject line is the ultimate gate keeper to new reviews. After all, a bad email subject line is immediately archived and never opened. And if an email is never opened, you certainly are not going to capture a review.
You must continue to experiment and test email subject lines to keep improving your email open rate. Lucky for you we have a couple of guidelines to follow for success:
- Include company name. Wouldn’t you hesitate to open a door for someone you don’t know?
- Ask a question
- Do not use words in all uppercase. No one likes being YELLED AT! See?
- Highlight a special offer. Use coupons and other incentives. (We discuss more about this below).
Personalize Your Email Message to fit the Customer and Your Brand
The message needs to resonate with the customer and their most recent purchase. It helps to share why reviews are important. Remember customers are your lifeblood for a successful business. Let them know that their reviews help other customers make better purchasing decisions, and they also help you improve your product.
Similar to the subject line, we recommend keeping the email short and sweet by providing key information about what you’re wanting the customer to do.
- Follow the K.I.S.S. rule; Keep It Simple & Short
- Write it like you’re talking with a friend
- Clearly highlight what product the customer bought
- Customize the email with your branding
Utilize Incentives like Coupons and Sweepstakes for Rewards
We recommend using coupons, or running sweepstakes, for more than just 4 or 5 star reviews. The incentive is a small push for your customer to leave an honest review about your company and product.
Every customer is important and their feedback is vital to your business.
Here is an example review request email with a coupon incentive:
- “Please share your feedback with us to receive a 10% coupon off your next order. You can even upload a photo with your review to earn a 15% coupon instead.”
- “Tell us your thoughts about {Your Company} and receive 10% off your next order. Share a photo to earn a 15% coupon instead. We look forward to your amazing review!”
- “Thank you so much for your recent purchase at {Your Company}. We’re growing every day because of customers like you.We would greatly appreciate your feedback about your experience and purchase with us. As a token of our thanks, we will send you a coupon for 10% off your next order after the review is submitted—no matter if the review is positive or negative. You can even upload a photo to show off your purchase to other users.”
Use Your Personal Business Email
Send review requests from your own domain. This can help with open rates as customers will recognize the sender email as your company.
It’s simple to set up under TrustSpot’s Premium Plan.
FOLLOW UP!
Sorry for yelling. But, it’s just so important to follow up with your customers. As mentioned earlier, they are busy with all those grocery runs and baseball games.
With an intuitive software like TrustSpot, you’ll have 3 different follow up campaigns to use that are fully automated. Each campaign can have a unique email and call to action.
Two follow ups seem to be a winner for most businesses. And don’t worry about sending follow ups. If the customer values you, because you provided them with a great shopping experience, they’ll appreciate the persistance.
Just Start and Iterate
Reviews are the icing on the cake for your business and you can not deny what kind of impact they can have. So, just start and iterate on the strategy, but don’t over think it.
We hope these Six Strategies To Getting More Reviews per Request were helpful. So, are you ready to collect more reviews? Start a 14 day FREE trial with TrustSpot today.
