Years before the Internet was born, marketing centered around a product or service. When the Internet made its debut, everything changed. With a click of a button, people could rate and write about their experience with a business. Reviews demanded companies to take customers seriously and improve customer service.
The Importance of Testimonies & Reviews
Beyond the demand to improve customer service, companies had to take their customer’s reviews seriously. A recent study showed that 94% of people read what others write about a product or service before deciding whether to make a purchase. Additionally, 73% of people care more about what is written than the star rating. With great reviews, your company can enjoy benefits such as:
- Stronger brand
- Improved reputation
- Increased credibility
- Better customer/company relationships
How to Encourage Your Customers to Leave Reviews
Testimonies can encourage buyers to make a purchase or they can make them run for the hills. Of course, every company wants to have a five-star rating with thousands of reviews boasting about their product or service. Here’s a few ways you can encourage your customers to leave accurate reviews:
Ask specific questions. Broad questions will garner broad answers. Your reviews should be specific and detail oriented. People are more likely to trust a review if the review speaks specifically about the product and the consumer’s experience with it.
Email the survey to your customer. If the survey link is sent directly to their inbox, people will be more inclined to take the survey. If it’s printed on the receipt, it may go unnoticed or be thrown away.
Offer an incentive. Competition is part of human nature; people love winning things! Create a social media post or send an email asking your customers for a review. Offer an incentive, such as a $50 shopping spree to your shop, and announce the winner a few days later.
Use your social media presence to your benefit. If you want to receive more reviews, request reviews via social media! On Facebook, your customers can easily rate your service and leave a review directly on your Facebook page. On other platforms, you can make a post requesting reviews and insert a link for them to click.
Requesting reviews is only half the process. Actively monitoring and responding to all reviews is the next step. If you don’t have time to do this, we’d be happy to help.
M&R’s Review Management Service
Consider these statistics: “44% of people pay attention to the quantity of reviews” and “69% are looking for reviews no more than 3 months old.”
How many reviews do you have? If your company doesn’t have many, your first step is to request reviews. Second, you need to continue requesting reviews to win over the 69% of people who look at when reviews were written. With M&R’s review management service, we can request reviews on your behalf and respond to all reviews that are given. Do you have questions? Contact an M&R account manager today.