How to Get More Positive Customer Reviews on Social Media

We live in a day and age when most people turn to technology to answer just about any question they have. Siri, Google and Alexa are usually within arm’s or ear’s reach to answer everything from “What’s the weather in Seattle on Wednesday” to “When was George Washington’s birthday?”

Not receiving immediate input on something drives us crazy! Think about the last time you couldn’t recall an artist or song title. You likely went straight to technology to provide an answer, rather than waiting for it to eventually come to you.

Let’s not forget about social media. We spend an increasing amount of time on social platforms where we absorb a wide variety of information from life’s most previous milestones to utterly useless, yet highly entertaining videos and articles. What’s important about social media to ecommerce businesses is its influence over people’s buying habits. And while sponsored posts and advertising campaigns will continue to be highly influential, people will still gravitate toward a business’s customer reviews on social media before they ultimately purchase a product.

According to this infographic created by 16Best.net on “Social Networks and their importance in Ecommerce Gateways,” positive social media reviews increase the conversion rate by 133% for mobile shoppers. Additionally, the more people that positively respond to reviews through comments and likes help to improve the brand perception for 71% of shoppers. Positive product reviews also bump up a product price by 9.5%.

It’s clear that positive customer reviews on social media pack a powerful punch for increasing brand value. But this begs one very important question…What can I do to get more positive customer reviews on social media?

1. Foremost, focus on delivering exceptional service. Don’t fall into the trap of misplacing your focus on simply collecting as many customer reviews as possible. Your primary focus should be on delivering quality and satisfaction to your customers. As a result, these happy customers are going to be far more inclined to take the time to leave a review.
2. Make your product review process easy and immediate for customers. Identify your most influential social media platform and direct your customers to leave reviews there. Customers don’t have the patience to leave reviews on 5 different sites, so be sure your call to action is clear and direct. Next, make sure you spell out the process for them in minimal steps. If you email them asking to leave a review, include links directly to the page to leave a review. Keep it short, make it easy and you will earn more customer reviews on a consistent basis!
3. Give customers an incentive. We live in a “What’s in it for me?” culture. Applying this to customer reviews means to want to offer an incentive to leave a timely and helpful review of your product. Some business offer a discount or free sample as a thank you. Think about what’s feasible for your business and be sure to promote this incentive.
4. Don’t expect it to happen organically. Very few customers take it upon themselves to offer a product review without any sort of ask or reminder to do so from the business. Furthermore, these unsolicited reviews tend to be polarizing – either very positive or very negative – because those extreme cases are when most people feel the need to provide a review. Don’t miss out on the “silent majority” by failing to directly solicit customer reviews as part of your marketing strategy.
5. Monitor and respond to customer reviews. Make sure that someone in your business is assigned to monitoring customer reviews. For the positive ones, respond with a thank you or possibly follow-up with the customer to see if they have the potential to be a brand ambassador. For negative reviews, also be sure to follow-up quickly to address any issues and right the customer’s wrongs. In doing so, the customer may choose to leave a follow-up review that’s positive. If nothing else, other people browsing your reviews will see your commitment to customer service which will counteract the review’s negative impact.
6. Show gratitude! Thank each and every customer for their review, either by commenting on the review or sending them a follow-up email. If you choose to implement an incentive program, this provides the perfect opportunity to touch base with the customers and offer thanks when you provide them with their discount or sample product.
7. Integrate customer reviews into your marketing strategy. After investing your time, and possibly some free products to build up your customer reviews on social media, be sure to get the most out of them by integrating your reviews into your ongoing marketing strategy. You may choose to share some of the reviews on your website, in e-newsletters or feature them as part of your paid social media advertising campaigns. Given how influential customer reviews are to ecommerce, you want to put a spotlight on the great ones to increase the impact they have on new customers.

Are you struggling to engage your customers to consistently leave reviews on your social media pages? Share your hurdles or ask a question so we can help lend some advice!