In 2023, all business owners need to focus on getting more reviews from their customers and using them in their marketing. This is also called review marketing.
It is important to have a strategy for constantly collecting new reviews, as 83% of people state that reviews must be relevant and recent to be trustworthy.
For now, let us focus on going over how anyone can collect more reviews from their existing customer base – regularly.
Step 1: Provide Good Service
This might seem like a no-brainer, but this is a very crucial point. If one does not have happy customers, collecting product reviews will only reveal that there are plenty of areas to improve in your business.
Therefore, one needs to first make sure that one’s business is delivering high-quality products or services and that their customer service is top-notch.
Step 2: Take a Look at the Customer Journey
Once one has made sure that their core business is running smoothly, it is time to have a closer look at the customer journey.
When it comes to collecting reviews, one can skip the awareness and consideration stage and focus on what happens after the customer has bought something. These are the meaningful customer touch points you want to get feedback on.
Examples of Meaningful Customer Touchpoints
- Right after purchasing
- Delivery
- Week or two after purchase
- Three to six months post-purchase
- Interaction with customer service
- Returning customers
Once one has mapped out all the meaningful customer touchpoints, it is time for the next step.
Step 3: Pick the Customer Touchpoints
As the goal is to get as many customers to provide you with a review, it is highly important not to bother them with too many review requests.
Picking one or a maximum of two customer touchpoints on one’s customer journey where one thinks it is crucial to get reviews.
Step 4: Choose a Review Solution
No matter how many customers one has, it is always a smart move to automate as much as one possibly can. This also applies to collecting reviews.
If one’s goal is to get more reviews, it makes sense to first define a few key features one needs to make this happen.
Consider These Features
- Size of customer base
- Frequency of sending review requests
- Channels for sending review requests
- Customization options
- Integrations to one’s CRM and other systems
- Ease of use
- Price-point
- The level of automation offered
- Customer service
There are many solutions on the market that help organizations collect more reviews effectively. However, setting up an authentic review generator is not a one-size-fits-all type of situation.
Step 5: Rinse and Repeat
As the digital world is constantly changing, one should keep in mind that the best way to get reviews is under constant turmoil as well.
Tracking one’s overall review score and response rates are good benchmarks to keep an eye on regularly. If one notices any major drops in either of these, it is very beneficial to make changes to both manage one’s online reputation and to keep the business running.
One Way to Get More Reviews
Next up, a review collection strategy for an imaginary company. One can use this as an example to help craft their very own strategy.
Basic Information About Company X
- Company has both B2B and B2C customers
- 150 new and 30 returning customers monthly
- They sell a physical product
- Shipping is done by a third party
- Main product is 10% more expensive than the competitors’
- In-house customer support
Setting a Goal for Review Collection
Company X currently has reviews on different third-party websites (Yelp, Google, Facebook) as well as sent to them directly via email and support forms. In other words, all their reviews are scattered across different platforms and are hard to manage.
The company sets three goals:
- Send at least one review request to each customer
- Get response rate to review requests to 30%
- Find a way to embed their existing reviews to the website
Going over Customer Journey
As company X has both B2B and B2C customers and their customer journeys are a little different, they are looked at separately.
Stages of B2B Customer Journey
- Initial meeting with a sales representative
- Offer sent
- Possible further meetings
- Deal closed
- Delivery
- After-care calls within two months of purchase
Stages of B2C Customer Journey
- Placing an order online
- Delivery
Review Requests Sent
Having defined the customer journeys, it is time to decide when the review requests will be sent.
B2B Review Requests
Company X decides to first start to automate getting reviews a few weeks after delivery. Their secondary priority will then be to also get feedback after a few months of using their product.
After they have succeeded in getting reviews at those stages, they’ll also ask for reviews after the deal is closed to get reviews for their individual sales representatives.
B2C Review Requests
As Company X is currently not having any interactions with their B2C customers after their purchase, they decide to ask for their feedback one week after the delivery to get their first impressions.
Later on, they plan on automating a review request six months after the purchase. These reviews can then be used on the website and on social media to prove why Company X’s product is worth the extra 10% price.
Choosing the Best Solution
After Company X has clear goals set and they are aware of when they would like to send review requests, it is time to compare different review solutions with one another.
There are plenty of options to choose from, but company X wants to make sure that they get all the features they are looking for.
After making sure they have found the perfect match for them, Company X can start to automate their review request processes. Additionally, they will be able to add that important social proof to their website.
Having Reviews Is Crucial
As the world becomes more and more digitized, it is very important to pay attention to how many reviews one has. Furthermore, many customers are now buying online instead of face-to-face which creates the issue of companies having to build trust online.
Going over different customer journeys and setting a clear goal for collecting reviews are the first important steps each company should take. Well planned is half done!