The key to successfully generating reviews is making it quick and easy for your customers. If a review request survey is shorter or more convenient, it will likely be abandoned before completion. Business text messaging is an excellent tool for proactively reaching out to customers at opportune moments to encourage review submissions.
Increased Visibility
Whether your business is an e-commerce store or a local restaurant, reviews can boost your visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). Studies show that review signals help with your local SEO ranking, essential for B2C and B2B businesses. Reviews also make your product more visible to potential customers who have yet to stumble upon your website or social media page. In addition to this, a well-crafted review request campaign increases the likelihood of a positive review by encouraging past buyers to share their experience with your product. Knowing your goals for sending review requests is essential before deciding how you’ll approach them. The plan can be anything from getting feedback on customer service to building a reputation or increasing your SEO rank. Knowing this will help you decide who to ask for a review and how and when to ask them. Personal review requests work best, targeting specific customers and creating a direct connection with your brand. However, these types of proposals can be time-consuming and require the support of your staff. Alternatively, you can use reputation management software to send review requests automatically after a customer’s experience with your company. These are more efficient and don’t have the same impersonal feel as a personal request. You can even incorporate review requests on your thank you pages or send them to customers who refer friends to your business.
Increased Customer Loyalty
Proactively asking customers for reviews helps build loyalty, especially if you make it an integrated part of customer communication. Customers who take the time to write a review are 79% more likely to remain loyal to the brand. Getting more reviews is easy, but your approach requires consistency and creativity. For example, you can use email, SMS, and digital signage at your hybrid events and kiosks or even at the point of sale to request a review from your satisfied customers. Experiment with several methods and platforms to find what works best for your customers. It also helps to have a clear call-to-action in your emails and makes it easy for customers to provide feedback. For instance, using the customer’s name in the subject line and removing all other links and distractions can increase response rates. You can also add a simple incentive, such as a discount code, to encourage more reviews. The timing of your review requests will also affect the number of positive reviews you receive. In general, e-commerce brands should send review requests within 21 days of delivery to maximize the chances of a purchase-related review. However, some products require more “trying” time than others, so testing different timeframes is essential to see what performs best for your business.
Increased Conversion Rates
A review request strategy allows businesses to proactively engage with customers and activate their most satisfied, vocal promoters. It also strengthens customer relationships and creates opportunities to improve customer experience. Plus, up-to-date reviews have a positive impact on online search rankings. However, being mindful of how you approach your review generation efforts is essential. Some review sites frown upon businesses contacting their customers to ask for a review, so it’s critical to understand and respect each site’s guidelines before you reach out. One of the most effective ways to generate more reviews is to include a review request form during the checkout or at the end of the sales or care process. Providing a review form at this time ensures that your customer has the opportunity to provide feedback immediately following their experience with your business, and you can then set up these reviews to be published on the most major review sites. Another way to increase the number of reviews you receive is by including a link to your preferred review site in your email or SMS message. Text marketing software can help you make this process easier by allowing your customers to select how they want to connect with you—and they’ll be more likely to open and read personalized messages.
Increased Sales
Adding customer reviews to your website effectively boost your online visibility, drive more traffic, and ultimately increase sales. But before you can generate more reviews, it’s essential to understand how your customers want to connect with your brand — knowing what type of review request strategy will work best for you. Using email for review requests is a popular choice, offering unique advantages. For example, it allows you to tie your reviews back to actual transactions, which can help establish authenticity and credibility. It also allows you to create a survey to measure metrics like loyalty and service quality. In addition to email, SMS marketing is growing in popularity among eCommerce brands because it enables you to directly ask for customer reviews in real time, creating a more personal connection. It’s also an easy way to reach mobile devices, which are increasingly becoming the preferred communication channel for many consumers. When implementing an email or SMS review request campaign, testing and measuring your results to optimize your campaigns for the highest response rates is important—request reviews at critical touchpoints in your customers’ journey for the best results. For example, it’s best to ask for a review shortly after a purchase or service visit, as this is when they are most invested in your business.