Tammy Sons is the CEO of TN Nursery and an expert plant advisor who studied horticulture. She enjoys her family, the outdoors and nature.
Most consumers enjoy giving their 2 cents. However, as a business owner, I find that most customers prefer to put time and effort into writing a review versus providing any other form of feedback.
Customer reviews do more than rate your company’s products or services. They help consumers form opinions about your business. It’s for this reason you’ll want to encourage feedback. But how?
Keep the process simple.
Consumers are less likely to leave a review when the review page is difficult to find or involves a complicated process of clicking through multiple links. If they make it to the review page, their comments may even show their frustration with the process.
Guide consumers to the review page with a single link. An example of how our business keeps the process simple and easy: We send an email to our customers following a purchase, and we ask them to provide a review based on the packaging, the quality of their plants and the customer experience. We see an 82% response rate, especially because we ask while the memory is still fresh in their minds.
Know when to ask.
There is a right and wrong time to ask consumers to leave a review. You want the experience to remain fresh in their minds, but you also want to give your customers time to use the product. If your business is online, you also want to ensure they’re not asked to leave a review before the product is delivered.
Give your customers a few days after an in-store purchase or online delivery. A short text or email inquiring if they are satisfied will often elicit a response.
If you follow up with a reminder, keep the message’s tone polite and the content short. Even though you want them to leave a review, you don’t want your customers to feel pressured. Not everyone enjoys going to reviews, so respect for their preferences is essential.
Adding CTAs to various pages on your site can also be an effective way of politely prodding customers for feedback. Use phrases like “We’d love to hear about your recent experience” or “Kindly rate our performance.”
Respond to good and bad reviews.
It doesn’t matter if your product or service is exceptional and your company excels at providing a great customer experience; you will still get a few negative reviews. It’s a reminder as a business owner that you can’t make everybody happy.
Don’t ignore the negative reviews and focus only on the positive ones. Negative comments may give you insight into which business practices you need to work on. Respond to both negative and positive reviews so your customers know their voice is heard. Customers are also more likely to become loyal customers of businesses that listen and care about their feedback.
Then, use the negative reviews to learn from your mistakes. Be open to identifying your own shortcomings, and initiate a plan that will make a former bad review a positive one for a future customer.
Share your customers’ opinions.
Publicizing your customers reviews means you can not only use them as a testimonial but make them feel like they are an essential part of your business. Post snippets or the entire review on your website and social media pages. It’s an easy way to spotlight your customers while adding a new facet to your marketing strategy.
Combine reviews with rewards.
Don’t pay consumers for their reviews. Not only is it bad practice, but it makes the reviews appear less authentic. It may give your business five-star ratings, but shoppers can see right through these, and it will be difficult for them to take your reviews seriously.
Instead, consider offering your customers a small discount on their next purchase. If your business participates in a loyalty program, you can give customers points for their review. A small incentive to leave an honest review can encourage feedback from those reluctant to share their opinions.
Another benefit is the cost. Offering a small discount or loyalty point is better for your company’s bottom line than paying cash for a review.
Look out for fake reviews.
Along those same lines, you want to ensure each review is actually authentic. Fake reviews can severely damage your business’s reputation and credibility with the public. To ensure your reviews are authentic, verify that a purchase was made by looking at your transaction history. This should be easy, especially if your business stores its transaction records online. You can also use email verification to check a review’s authenticity.
Encouraging shoppers to leave a review takes a little work, but it’s worth the effort when your brand recognition increases.
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