Ask customers for reviews
Customers who’ve had a bad experience with your company are more likely to leave a review than those with good experiences. Happy customers tend to just move on with their lives.
To avoid an unfair ratio of negative to positive reviews, you need to actively seek feedback (good and bad) from all your customers. The best way to do this is with post-purchase emails.
Before we go on, it’s important to note that, according to Google’s policy for seller ratings: “Merchants are not allowed to offer their customers financial incentives to write reviews of any kind. This includes but is not limited to free samples, gift cards, discounts on future purchases, or anything of monetary value.”
This policy certainly makes the job of getting reviews more challenging, algeria cell phone database but not impossible. The trick, as with marketing emails, is to make the ask in the right way, at the right time.
Use messaging that is personal, conversational, and on-brand. Reviews.io has some great templates and examples to get you started.
Send your review requests at the right time. First, of course, you want to be sure the customer has actually received their product—otherwise, things could get awkward. But there are also certain times of day when people are more likely to leave reviews. Check out Reputation’s research on how to time your request emails.
Subject lines can make or break someone’s decision to open your email. Make sure you A/B test your subject lines to see which ones drive opens. (Yotpo has some good advice on conducting this subject line testing.)
Experiment and apply what you learn. Keep track of the response your request emails get and look for the trends that lead to more reviews.
Respond to all your product reviews—both the good and bad
We’ve probably all seen business replies on Yelp that make us cringe—defensive responses that don’t acknowledge the customer’s frustrations. But far from being a business faux pas, replying to customer reviews is crucial to growing your business. According to Womply Research, businesses that reply to at least 25% of their reviews see 35% more revenue on average. Even businesses who only replied to a single customer review still saw an average revenue increase of 4% compared to those who didn’t reply at all.
The reason for this is fairly simple. When you respond to a review, you show both customers and shoppers that you care about their experience.
A fast, thoughtful response to negative feedback gives you a chance to make things right for the customer in question as well as showing future customers that you are committed to quality service. In some cases, customers will also change their review after receiving a reply from the seller.
reply to negative product reviewRetailer Elegant Gifts replies to negative customer feedback.
Don’t just respond to the people with problems, though. Shoppers like to see a company that’s engaged with its customers. Personal replies to positive reviews show shoppers the human side of your business and help establish confidence in you as a seller.
Reply to positive product reviewRetailer Elegant Gifts replies to positive customer feedback.
Not sure how to write a review reply? HubSpot has a great free collection of review response templates to help you get started.
Focus on providing excellent customer service
Ultimately, the quality of your Google Shopping reviews comes down to the quality of your products and service. That’s obvious, but it’s worth reiterating. There’s no way to game the system—if your product and customer service aren’t up to par, you won’t get good reviews. So, as you work on bulking up your presence in seller ratings and product ratings, don’t forget what’s most important.
Meet customer expectations for fast delivery service. Amazon has raised everyone’s demands when it comes to shipping. And while you may not be able to match free two-day shipping, it’s important to remember what you’re up against. Be transparent with customers about fulfillment and shipping times, offer the fastest feasible delivery timeframe, and make sure you can live up to what you promise.
Develop a strong customer experience strategy. Smooth common friction points for online shoppers by providing a mobile-friendly website and fast checkout process. Personalizing the shopping experience also goes a long way toward garnering favor with customers.
Small ecommerce businesses won’t have the dedicated customer service centers of larger stores, but that’s no excuse for poor customer service. Make sure you have a plan for supporting your customers, no matter how small your op