How to Get Customers to Leave Reviews: 5 Simple Tactics

Table of Contents:

Why Customer Reviews Matter

Ask Customers for Reviews Directly

Automate Emailed Review Requests

Make It Easy for Customers to Leave Reviews

Incentivize Customers to Leave Reviews

Thank Customers for Their Review

Why Customer Reviews Matter

It’s no secret that today customer reviews can greatly impact your business and shape the way potential customers perceive your brand. However, reviews can bring a lot more value to your business than just social proof as they are an excellent tool for gathering first-hand customer feedback to learn more on how you can improve your product offering from a user perspective. According to Spiegel, when a product receives five stars, it raises its chances of being bought by 270%.

And while reviews undeniably play a vital role for every business and customers rely heavily on them to make their purchase decisions, gathering customer reviews might not be as easy as it seems. So, if you’re wondering how to get customers to leave reviews, this article will give you 5 effective tactics.

Ask Customers for Reviews Directly

The first and important step is to be direct and ask your customers for their feedback. According to  BrightLocal, customers are much more likely to leave a review if you reach out to them directly. The key is to offer a personalized experience to your shoppers and show that you value their opinion. Your customers will feel slightly more special if they feel you genuinely want to learn more about their experience. The added benefit of customer reviews is more information to work with and understand your customers better, resulting in stronger relationships with your loyal shoppers. You can also reach out to your frequent buyers to leave their feedback and give them an incentive in return.

Automate Emailed Review Requests

Sending review request emails is quite time-consuming, especially if you have a larger online store with a high daily volume. To automate this process, you can set up a reviews app that can send review request emails and ask customers to leave reviews on your behalf. Review apps can successfully gather hundreds of positive reviews for your store while running other important tasks. It is a common practice among online businesses to use plugins or apps that can collect and display reviews on your online store. In fact, up to 80% of reviews come from automated review request emails.

Setting up a review request email template is relatively easy if you have a dedicated app or manually through email marketing platforms such as Klaviyo, Omnisend, or MailChimp. 

Make It Easy for Customers to Leave a Review

If a consumer is pleased with the product or service, they will likely leave a positive review. Furthermore, shoppers who have had a poor experience are more likely to tell others about it. Make the process of leaving a review seamless and easy. Don’t make your customers look around for a place to leave their feedback on your website. Add widgets with reviews feed where your shoppers can read other reviews and share their experience. You can set-up a reviews section on your website through third-party apps or Shopify Reviews. Also, you can embed a text box in your review request email so customers can leave a review without having to log-in or be redirected to another page. 

Incentivize Customers to Leave Reviews

There is no better way to ask customers for reviews than to offer something in return first. Statistically, customers are more likely to leave a review if they know that they will receive an incentive for their time and effort. However, it is important to ask your customers to provide their honest feedback by giving them the incentive only as an appreciation, no matter what star-rating they give. 

While the type of incentive will depend on your business and what you are willing to provide in exchange, this is definitely the easiest and fastest way of getting more customer reviews. A great way to get more reviews is to offer a coupon code for free shipping or a discount on the next purchase.

Thank Customers for Their Reviews

Always thank your customers for sharing their experience, whether it was good or bad. Send a follow-up email with an appreciation to customers that left insightful feedback to show them their opinions are valued. 

Reply to negative reviews and resolve issues as quickly as possible because. According to Bazaarvoice, when brands respond to customer reviews, 41% of shoppers believe it shows that the business cares for them. Customers that received a follow-up or resolution after leaving a negative review are more likely to remove or update their feedback. By thanking your customers, they will have more trust in your brand and more likely to purchase from you again.

With the growing number of online stores in the post-COVID era, reviews will create the necessary social proof and help your brand stand out from the crowd in today’s highly competitive market. Applying these tips will help optimize your review collection process and result in more customer reviews to build your brand equity and drive more revenue. 

Author’s Bio

Polina Kulikova is a digital marketer at Growave, and she is passionate about creating content for e-commerce businesses to help them succeed. Growave is the all-in-one marketing platform for small and medium-sized Shopify stores. Growave helps to drive conversions, boost sales, and build brand loyalty. Some of Growave’s features are Reviews, Loyalty and Rewards, Wishlist,  Social Login, Instagram and UGC.