This is part 2 in a two-part series on eCommerce store reviews and ratings.
Check out 5 Ways To Get More Ratings and Reviews On Your eCommerce Store before continuing below.
In part 1, I cover:
- Why product reviews are essential for eCommerce businesses
- The importance of social proof for your store’s first-time visitors
- What a well-designed product review section looks like
- and much more
If you already read part 1, grab your notebook, get comfortable, and get ready to take some notes.
Let’s discuss 6 more incredible ways to get more reviews on your eCommerce store.
1. Ask For Reviews Over SMS
If SMS is part of your eCommerce marketing strategy, it’s the perfect channel to ask for customer feedback. You should create an automated text message that is sent out 2-3 days (depending on your product) after a customer receives their order.
SMS gives you another chance to reach your customers if your emails are missed. Such a personal and urgency-driven channel like SMS is the perfect choice to complement review request emails.
Ultimately, SMS requests can help seal the deal.
Here’s how you can structure your SMS requests:
- Keep the messages clear and concise
- Personalize the message (use the customers name, include the product(s))
- Link to the review product form
- Ask them for their genuine opinion on your brand and products
- Don’t be pushy
2. Ask For Reviews Via Social Media
Nowadays, online consumers live on social media platforms like Instagram and Tik Tok. This is why it’s crucial to implement social media in your eCommerce brand’s marketing strategy.
Building an active and engaged community on Instagram will skyrocket your brand equity and value.
Here’s an example of how you can integrate social media and incentives.
TITOV made a post that explains how they’ll send a gift to customers who write a review. This is an excellent strategy if you have an engaged following on social media.
Although post-delivery emails with incentives are great, not everybody checks their email. Furthermore, the email may get lost in a sea of different messages.
Here’s another example of asking for reviews on Twitter:
I looked further into this incentive and found that the first 50 approved reviews receive the $25 gift. This means that Kentico invested $1,250 into receiving more product reviews from their customers.
If brands are willing to invest cold hard cash into product reviews, it shows how important they are for online businesses.
3. Use the Best Review App for Your eCommerce Platform
It’s important to choose the correct application whether you use Shopify, Magento, WooCommerce, Squarespace, or any other eCommerce platform.
Each platform offers a variety of different product review apps to choose from.
For example, Shopify has:
Luckily, most review apps have similar functions and design features. However, it’s essential to choose a review application that includes images and automation.
Your review app should be able to automatically send post-delivery emails that ask for a product review. If you have to manually send request reviews, you should look for another application.
Also, make sure your review section looks beautiful on both mobile and desktop devices.
4. Explain Why Reviews Are Important For The Brand
Honesty is the best policy. I recommend taking time to explain to your customers why reviews are important for your brand. You can do this in your eCommerce store’s post-purchase email flow.
Explain how product reviews are the best way to support the business because of the potential to bring in more customers. This will make your customers feel like they’re part of your community. It will also inspire them to take action and do their part in helping you grow.
5. Make It Easy To Review Multiple Items at Once
If a customer orders multiple items, it can be challenging for them to write reviews for each product. For this reason, I recommend making it as easy as possible to write multiple reviews at once.
Here’s an example from Ulta.
Ulta’s post-delivery email includes review links to each product the customer orders. Furthermore, the email is well-designed and offers an excellent user experience.
Don’t send multiple emails that include a product review request in each one. The customer has a lower chance of completing any reviews at all if you do.
In order to get more customer reviews, it’s essential to lower the amount of time it takes to write a review.
6. Design & Share Reviews on Social Media
More than anything, customers want to know that their feedback and voices are heard. If you miss out on this inherent requirement customers need, you could miss out on valuable reviews.
One way of showing your customers that their voices are important is through sharing their reviews on your social platforms.
Here’s an example from Fantasea Cruising Magnetic:
As you can see, Fantasea included the entire review from the customer and their name. Customers will see this and become more motivated to leave an in-depth product review as well.
Who doesn’t want their honest thoughts and feelings about a product to get shared? Isn’t that the point of writing a product review in the first place?
So try to be more active on social media and reward your customers’ contributions when deserved. It takes genuine effort to put honest thought into a product review. Let their voices be heard.
Conclusion
This wraps up my two-part series on how to get more reviews and ratings on your eCommerce store.
Building social proof is a necessity for all modern eCommerce businesses. If you want your brand to win in the current environment, you need to optimize every aspect of your store.
You also need to take advantage of the tools we have in social media and automation.
I hope you’re now much closer to getting the product reviews your eCommerce store deserves.
Leave a comment below if you have any questions or thought on my eCommerce produce reviews.