By John Turner, founder of SeedProd, a popular coming-soon page solution used by over 800,000 websites.
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Do you check for reviews first when you buy a product or service online? If so, you’re far from alone. Nearly 70% of online shoppers say they read between one and six reviews before engaging with a new company.
It’s easy to see why people are so interested in user reviews. You can take a gamble and spend your money or read a few reviews to make sure the product or service is worth your time.
Consumers turn to reviews when they want a best-case and worst-case scenario. If the pros outweigh the cons, most people will take action.
The point here is simple: E-commerce websites need reviews to impress and educate their audience while turning casual visitors into paying customers.
Today, we will look at a few simple ways you can get more reviews on your site, regardless of your industry, budget and audience size.
Let’s get started!
1. Send a post-purchase email.
You can easily get more reviews from paying customers by sending a post-purchase email to people after they’ve had your product for a specific amount of time. The time you wait will vary significantly based on what you sell.
For example, a company that sells chocolate would want to send users a review email within a week of receiving their order. Waiting too long could result in customers forgetting what they liked about their product.
On the other hand, an email marketing SaaS is more likely to send a review email after the user has had their product for about a month. One month is long enough for shoppers to give their honest feedback.
Experiment with your timing so you can find the sweet spot for soliciting reviews. Once you figure out the best time to reach out to your customers, you’ll have no problem getting more product and brand feedback.
2. Encourage reviews on product landing pages.
You can also get more product reviews by encouraging visitors to share their experiences on your product landing page. You’re likely familiar with this concept if you’ve ever used Amazon. When you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you can see a long list of reviews with pros, cons and star ratings.
These reviews impact the decisions of new shoppers. If you can help it, you want to do everything you can to keep people on your site during this pivotal moment. On-site feedback acts as social proof and a way to show users why they should try your product or service.
I recommend keeping your review form as simple as possible. We typically ask users to leave their names, give us a rating and write a few sentences so others can see what kind of experience they had. This should be enough to get plenty of compelling, value-packed reviews directly on your website.
3. Ask for feedback on social media.
Did you know that over 4.26 billion people use social media? This startling statistic is one concrete reason you should consider encouraging customers to leave their reviews on social media.
Many people turn to sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube when they want to buy something online. If shoppers organically discover your business and see tons of glowing praise from other customers, they are more likely to visit your website and take action.
There are a few ways you can ask users to share their opinions. One way that works well for us is simply creating a post where we ask users what they like about our product. We receive valuable feedback on these posts and often use some of them in other places, like on our website and in emails.
You can also use a social listening tool to discover when people are talking about your brand. If you see someone speak highly of your brand, make sure you reshare their post so others can see the impact you’ve had on their lives. These small gestures can go a long way toward encouraging new reviews and keeping visitors engaged with your business.
4. Show other forms of social proof.
Finally, users are more likely to share their feedback if they see social proof on your website. Social proof is evidence that your brand is trusted and respected by consumers and other businesses.
Reviews are one form of social proof. So, by including reviews on your site, you make it more likely that future customers will leave reviews. However, this isn’t the only type of social proof.
Live sales notifications are another powerful type of social proof you can use to win over customers and convince them to write a review. Sales notifications are small pop-ups that appear when a visitor takes action on your site. The activity can be minor, like joining your email list, or something bigger, like purchasing a product.
Trust seals can also help you win over visitors and get more reviews. As the name implies, trust seals are seals of approval from big-name businesses and creators. You’ve likely seen seals for Norton, PayPal and McAfee, just to name a few. When users see that your brand is trusted by some of the biggest names in cybersecurity and finance, they are more likely to chime in with their opinion.
User reviews will continue to drive e-commerce traffic and engagement in the years ahead. Expect to see more businesses focus on building social proof, like user reviews, in 2023. The best part about these strategies is you don’t have to spend hours on them every day. You can automate emails and social media messages while letting users organically leave reviews on your website.