This is Part 1 of a 2-part series on the impact of customer reviews. In Part 2, we’ll walk you through how to leverage your good reviews and deal with the bad ones.

WHY ARE REVIEWS SO IMPORTANT?

Have you ever confidently bought something online without reading a review first?

We didn’t think so.

Most people share your experience. Your customers will always be looking for something to reinforce and validate their purchasing decisions. Before online reviews, people turned to their friends and family for product recommendations. Any item that didn’t come from a personal recommendation was uncertain. Nowadays, reviews give customers confidence in their purchase decisions. Without them, 72% of your customers won’t buy anything.

“Modern consumers are smart, and they know that reading experiences of other consumers is the most impartial way to ascertain the value of the product.

- Calloway Cook, President of Illuminate Labs

Reviews are key because they provide social proof. It’s easy to create scams online by promising a great product on paper, and never delivering on the promises.

Authentic reviews prevent this from happening, by turning the product from marketing and hype into something more concrete and certain. They show prospects that the business can and will deliver as promised.

“People crave validation that they are making the right purchase decision, and reviews from others is one of the best ways of giving them that confirmation.

- John Ross, CEO of Test Prep Insight

Massive companies like Google and Facebook understand the importance of positive feedback in a brand’s success. Their algorithms reward a business’ great reviews and positive ad engagement with higher SEO ranking and cheaper traffic. Rameez Usmani, marketing manager of GSD Lovers, claims that “a large [amount] of customer feedback suggests that the company is legitimate and trustworthy” to search algorithms.

In short: More reviews = better SEO.

Quick note: reviews aren’t limited to star ratings. Scott Jennings, CEO of Pantry Food Co, proposes that “any emotion a consumer shares attributed to your company is a review”. This means that social media posts, loyalty, word of mouth recommendations, or even the use of your products, are simply different forms of reviews.

Why? These actions all share the purpose of a review: using the words and actions of happy customers to convince prospects to buy.

GATHERING REVIEWS

The cornerstone of calling customers to action is making it easy for them. Reducing friction (making things easier) seems obvious, and can be used to improve turnover throughout a business, but it can easily be overlooked.

“To encourage customers to leave reviews, make it easy for them to do so. This is why our team provides our customers with several options on different platforms.

- Martin Seeley, CEO of Mattress Next Day

Great timing on your end helps make the review process easier. Kevin Miller, CEO of GR0, thinks that one or two days post-purchase is far too early for a company to send out review requests. He insists that you “give the customer enough time to actually use the product...then follow up” with your review request. Avinash Chandra of Brandloom agrees that you should wait. He recommends you send requests “after a week of delivery”. This ensures that when the requests come in, customers are fully satisfied with your solution and ready to give thoughtful feedback.

Stacy Caprio, CEO of AcneScar.org, is also patient with her review strategy. She talks with all her customers “prior to, during and after the purchase process starting conversations to make sure they are satisfied”, then waits for her customers to take initiative and write reviews. Great customer service alone made her customers 50% more likely to leave a review. She didn’t even have to ask!

Adding review links “at the bottom of email signatures” is a tactic used by Tandem Buzz, says Katelyn Perez, one of their SEO specialists. She says that it always helps to remind customers--and anyone the brand might interact with--to leave a review.

You could also offer customers a small incentive for their efforts.

“The most effective way to get reviews is to give the consumer something special in return for a review. It could be a discount, a free cookie, or anything that fits your brand.

- Ali Saeed, Business Professional at Poixel

However, avoid appearing shady with your incentives. Never try to sway ratings with benefits. Any customer who is offered something in exchange for a positive review will immediately question the motivations behind other reviews, and may lose trust in your brand.

Brian Robben, CEO of Robben Media, concludes that you must “make the ask for a review personal to drive more responses”. We couldn’t agree more.

Personalizing your review requests is one thing - personalizing the medium of your request is another. At IgnitePOST, we’ve found that the personalized nature of our handwritten notes make them extremely effective at gathering reviews.

Check out our Industries pages, and learn how a range of businesses and teams can get the most out of our services.

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