Learning to ask customers for reviews can do wonders for your brand. Reviews build an online reputation among your customers and competitors.
You must have heard that–words have power, and customer reviews are one example that can underlie the statement above. A few words in the reviews can make a great impact to the customers who enter your eCommerce store or even in huge marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart.
The difference between one star and even a half-star can take customers over to your competitors. In order to collect those valuable words and stars, you have to learn to ask customers for reviews politely. Without an effective method, you risk missing out on potential customers in search of new customers.
In this article, you will learn how to ask for a customer review and ways to ask for a review.
Why ask for reviews?
The undisputed fact is that potential customers trust the words of other customers more than what you say about yourself about your brand’s products or services. Reviews are word-of-mouth steroids that build credibility and trust, eventually impacting sales. Why would you miss that?
- According to PowerReviews 2021 report, 99.9% of customers read online reviews before purchasing, and 96% of the customers search for negative reviews. Ugg! The number is sky-scraping.
- 49% of the customers trust reviews as much more like personal recommendations from their friends and family, according to Brightlocal.
- Reviews play an important role in the SEO ranking of particular products. Even in giant marketplaces like Walmart, the product with many reviews ranks higher than its competitors.
- The business that actively collects and displays reviews sees a visible conversion rate of 270%.
- Customer reviews for a site, product, or both are crucial for determining the competitors’ conversion rates. You must be thinking about how to ask for a customer review; well, that is a high-risk task, but not if it is done strategically.
How to ask a customer for a review?
Asking for a review from your potential customer is an art; doing it right can help you increase your conversion rate without the fear of losing your existing customer. Whether it can be collecting and displaying it on Google SERP or displaying it on a big marketplace like Walmart, there are different ways to ask for customer reviews;
- SMS/text message
- Website popups
- Social media
- In-person requests
- Over phone call
- Printed materials
Though we’ll be covering the ways mentioned above, we strongly recommend not sticking to one pathway but figuring out the best ways for you. Even there are review management tools like BayReviews, Stamped, Shopper Approved, and Yotpo to make this process simpler.
Let’s move down to read the ways in detail for better understanding.
7 Effective ways to collect customer reviews you should know
1. How to ask customers for reviews via email
Email is one of the most effective ways to send review requests to your customers, but doing it right matters.
a. Craft the subject line
The subject line is the important aspect that can make or break your email. Yes, what makes you get a better open rate? – Subject line, isn’t it?
Always make your subject line relevant to the email copy and keep it short, like, ‘What do you think about this? Or {{first name}} would you mind to say a word?’
b. Drill down to personalization
Personalization is the key to increasing your reply rate, and with AI being the industry buzzword, customers are craving personalization and humanized content. Feel free to sprinkle some friendly, warm-tone into the banter.
c. Call to action
Make it easy for customers to leave valuable reviews with the CTA button. The button can either automatically open the review screen or direct customers to the reviews page.
d. Follow up
Although you may not hear back from customers often, there is nothing wrong with following up gently as a reminder to give them their valuable feedback.
2. How to ask customers for reviews via SMS/text message
One of the most responding channels from your customers is SMS campaigns. Your customers are more likely to read their text messages than emails.
If you are wondering how to ask customers for reviews via text messages, then here is a way out.
a. Keep it short
Text messages are personal channels; if your audience has opted in for it, they love hearing from you, so use them wisely. Technically and practically, the maximum number of characters in a text message shouldn’t exceed 160, something that gives your audience better reliability.
b. Add safe links
Spammy links circulate everywhere, and your customers might become suspicious when they see one via text message. So, it is always important to provide a clear link with your brand name along with the URL.
c. Timing matters
The most important thing to consider when sending an email or SMS is time. So, it is good practice to send an SMS when they are active and likely to respond; we would say business hours are safe hours for communicating.
3. How to ask customers for reviews via website popups
One good strategy for collecting reviews effectively is to create a space on your website to ask or give reviews. This not only strengthens your reputation but also drives positive responses. Usually, reviews on websites are collected via exit popups. Technically, these popups are used to collect site reviews to understand the user experience, but some eCommerce sites also collect product reviews.
a. Dedicated reviews page
It is good to create a dedicated reviews page where your customers can visit to read reviews from all your potential customers. Even those collected reviews can be rolled out on the homepage.
b. Displaying of reviews
One more suitable way to showcase the collected reviews is to display them as a popup widget. When a customer scrolls through the product page, the reviews related to that particular product can pop up to trigger conversion.
c. Click trigger CTA
Anywhere the CTA is a gateway to completing the action, it should be clear, visible, and clickable. It should redirect customers to the right path and prompt them to leave a review after they complete the purchase.
d. Optimize for mobile
Cell phones are an important means of shopping nowadays. People shop while they are on the move. It is best to ensure that your popups are optimized for the phone device.
4. How to ask customers for reviews via social media
Social media is a great way to ask a customer for reviews. 72.5% of the US population actively uses social media, and Facebook is the leading social platform.
a. Select the platform to go
Every social media platform is not in maximum use in every place. It varies from country to country to people. So, it is important to choose the platform wisely for better reach.
b. Be concise
Grabbing your audience’s attention has generally reduced from 8 to 3 seconds. In the fast-paced world, we now have time to read a long-format text rather than keeping it concise.
c. Build a community
Like email, social media is a channel for creating and sharing a two-way conversation with your audience. In this competitive market, people love personalization as a brand; it is the best place to engage with your audience’s comments and posts to build a healthy relationship.
d. Leverage existing reviews
One more unique way to use social media channels, such as email, is to display existing reviews. With a small difference, you can share the existing reviews via email to cross-sell/upsell/abandon the cart. However, on social media, you can use them with a link and ask for reviews from your new customers.
5. How to ask customers for reviews in-person
Though your business has a physical store, online reviews have a great positive impact on the purchase decision. However, many automation tools, such as TargetBay, Stamped, and Yotpo, have a POS integration for email and loyalty programs, but for reviews?
Ask customers for a review in person has pros and cons. It can sound salesy and pushy or even that can make them drop a review when the conversation is face-to-face. Some tips to be followed are,
a. Wait for the right time
Once, I went to a store, and before I finished my purchase, a salesperson popped in and asked for a review. Even though I clarified that I hadn’t finished the purchase, that person was pushy and gave a harder nudge, showing a QR code to scan and drop a review.
So, it is always good to wait for the right time; it should happen at the checkout time.
b. Make it easy
No customers have time to log in and drop a review or search for the link to give a review. Always keep it easy for them.
A couple of weeks before I went into a store, in the trial room, I saw a QR code on the top right corner of the mirror and also at the center of the door with a question: ‘What can we do to make your next visit even more fabulous?’ – the height of confidence they have on their brand, product, customer service and what not.
c. Give a gentle nudge
After checkout, you can always drop a word to your customer to drop their valuable review. However, not all customers drop reviews immediately, so you have to tap them to make them do it gently.
That is where POS integration with the marketing automation tool helps. The tool feeds all your in-store customer details so you can follow up with them via email.
6. How to ask customers for reviews via printed material
As we mentioned above, make it easy for your customers to drop their reviews. Mostly, printed materials like QR codes are a way to ask a customer for a review if it is in a physical store.
7. How to ask customers for reviews over the phone call
Mostly, you and I must have gotten a call from the last purchase store asking for feedback on the product–the satisfaction level, or it could be for a service we enjoyed last time.
Back in March month, I visited a salon for a hair spa; the next day, I got a call from the salon staff asking for a service review on a scale of 10 and two more questions before she ended the call.
Brands work around the clock to build their reputations and stay ahead of the competition. Asking customers for reviews in all possible ways is not wrong.
What are the best practices to ask for a customer review?
Regardless of which review site or method you use to ask for a customer review, follow these tips to avoid trouble.
a. Keep it short & simple
The more effort it takes for the customer to leave a review, the less likely they are to do it. Always keep your review copy simple, short, and easy for your customers to understand, with one CTA on the appropriate page.
b. Prioritize happy customers
The first and forever valuable customer strategy doesn’t work in business. You should prioritize your happy customers and don’t dump them on multiple questions. We suggest you start with one question at a time in the funnel and start with a rating, and when they do, it will lead them to drop a customer review.
When the customer leaves a review for the products, you can ask for a site review. These can’t be done manually, but with automation tools, they can be.
c. Respond to reviews & feedback
Like your customers expect hyper-personalization in email, text messages, and even on reviews or feedback, they expect a response from the brand they love. In the big marketplace, Walmart, when your customer asks a question or drop their pain point, it is the best way to respond to them and solve it. This creates trust and credibility for your brand.
d. Do it right and save time
We agree that the way you ask for a customer review can vary, but to save time, make it systematic. Take a review request email template, customize it as much as possible, and use it whenever you send your customers. The same goes for text messages.
Collecting and displaying customer reviews is a great marketing strategy for a brand to build trust and credibility and stand out from the crowd.
Conclusion
Though there are many ways to ask for a customer review, it may vary depending on your business, location, and customers. Learning how to ask for a customer review is a skill that involves personalization, the right time, precise copy, and a platform to choose.
You can contact your customers via email, text message, in-person, phone call, or social media. But the key is to communicate the value to your business and customers. As every business is unique to its customers, we recommend following the above-mentioned strategies that fit your business’s needs.
Remember: Make the process easy for the reviewer and express gratitude by responding to or incentivizing them.
