A client review refers to feedback given by past customers on your services or products. It’s an obligatory attribute to your business.
However, most small business owners don’t understand the impact of the reviews on their sales. As a result, they don’t collect the reviews, only responding to the negative ones.
Following this approach is a mistake, and most entrepreneurs soon come to learn this. Feedback from clients helps in building customer loyalty.
It assists in informing the customer about the product on sale and the business about its potential flaws. You can use this to improve the product and improve your sales.
Understanding the Science Behind Customer Reviews
Customers look at reviews because they don’t want to waste their hard-earned money on bad products or poor services. They all want to buy something that can benefit them.
In terms of statistics:
• 57% of customers state that reviews can impact their decision-making process. Displaying reviews on the product pages gives the customers a reason to justify each purchase.
• 9 out of 10 shoppers believe that customer reviews are as crucial as personal recommendations. It helps to show how many online shoppers trust and rely on reviews. They trust them the same way they would trust a recommendation from a friend or relative.
• Businesses that include customer reviews on product pages can increase the sale of expensive items by up to 380%. Additionally, placing testimonials on the sales pages helped increase customer conversion by up to 34%. The expensive items tend to make more money for the business than the cheaper ones. Increased conversion, therefore, means better profits.
How to Use Reviews to Increase Sales
It’s always a good thing to get a positive review from a client. However, how and where you use this review also matters. Below are tips on how to use them to increase sales:
1. Highlight Customer Feedback on All Your Business Product Pages
Please note that when running an online store, the eCommerce product pages are its sales pages.
It’s where customers will go when deciding the products they want to buy.
Although you should consider having a separate page showcasing all the testimonials, there’s also a need to select several reviews relevant to each product.
Ensure the reviews get placed on the specific product page. It would also help if customers used a rating system when leaving feedback.
2. Utilize Intelligent Client Segmentation
You need to pay attention to all the reviews touching on your business, including those left on third-party platforms such as Yelp.
If a customer has left feedback that you consider especially useful, make sure to grab it and repurpose it for your service or product.
For example, you may find a review that mentions a given demographic that you would like to target. Another one might mention a problem you want to tackle in your marketing.
Ensure each review gets placed on the correct webpage or advertising asset related to the issue in question. Where possible, place the review on your sales page and emails.
You could even have these reviews printed on the business marketing emails. Other ideas include:
• Putting them in targeted social media networking posts
• Ensuring it’s placed on the product page where it’s mentioned
Try to treat each review separately. Learning to leverage the extraordinary power possessed by customer feedback will assist your business in making more sales.
3. Use Reviews in Abandoned Cart Emails
If your business hasn’t started exploring abandoned cart emails, now is the time to get started.
Studies show that about 88% of all online orders get abandoned. The implication is that up to two-thirds of online shoppers don’t make the final step – checking out the cart.
Luckily, there’s a 63% chance that your business can recover a lost order using abandoned cart emails. Include powerful and positive reviews in your email to make them effective.
If possible, link back to a page that contains more of these reviews.
4. Deploy Smart Pop-ups to Assist You in Collecting Customer Reviews
Before you can begin showing reviews to your clients, you must collect them from willing customers.
It would help if you made the review collection process straightforward.
Keep in mind that people are busy and don’t have the time to fill in endless forms.
The easiest way to collect customer reviews is with a pop-up review form. You can use this form on the page in question.
Alternatively, you may also want to consider using Follow-Up extensions. The extensions will send out an email after the client has checked out a cart asking for a product/service review.
If operating a physical store where in-person sales are possible, you have the option of asking the customer for a review right there.
Another option is to conduct customer service callbacks to clients who may have purchased items having a given value. Ask each client to consider leaving a review of their experience.
5. Deploy Rich Snippets to Showcase Customer Reviews
Rich snippets get displayed on online search results. They are beneficial in that they will appear well beyond the traditional information.
It’s something you have probably seen in other businesses; where a star rating will appear beside the business name and/or products
Your business can benefit from this as well. All you must do is include a Product Reviews Pro extension to your eCommerce website.
6. Highlight Reviews that Have Customer Pictures
Depending on your business products and services, some of the feedback from the clients may include their pictures.
The reality is that reviews accompanied by client images are considered more persuasive, credible, and trustworthy than plain text.
If you have an option to include videos, do so. These are even more persuasive.
The Takeaway
Customer reviews and testimonials are a big deal. You must learn how to collect them from clients and use them in your online marketing efforts. Highlighting customer feedback on product pages, deploying rich snippets, and using reviews with customer pictures will lead to more sales. Tailor your marketing to highlight what these clients have to say.
Ciaran Hourican is the Managing Director of H-Training. H-Training provide career and corporate services, such as sales training interview coaching and career guidance for adults. Ciaran understands as a small business owner, the vital importance of online review from his own clients.
Customer reviews stock photo by Blue Planet Studio/Shutterstock
