You don’t need to be a master marketer to know that customer reviews will influence a purchase decision. In fact, you are probably part of the 95% of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase (Spiegel Research Center, 2017) Customer reviews are highly important in establishing trust and credibility—two important things that help us decide whether to purchase or not. In this episode, we take a deep dive into user reviews and ecommerce, including: • What channels are most effective, and how to change your outreach based on channel. • Where to use product reviews most effectively in your marketing. • How you can automate your process for generating reviews Customers spend 31% more on businesses with excellent reviews, per Invespcro.com. If you do not have a focused strategy on gathering more customer reviews, you are literally leaving money on the table!
Some highlights from the show:
4:11 - How to leverage reviews and use them to your advantage
8:48 - How to ask customers for reviews
13:26 - How to test and optimize tactics to get more reviews
19:32 - the benefits of one tactic that few brands use - the handwritten note
22:06 - how to (ethically) incentivize more reviews
Links:
Episode 3 Sequence
Jeremy: Hello, and welcome to episode three of the cart overflow podcast. Today, we're going to be talking about getting more user reviews for your eCommerce store. Gen, you want to tell everyone listening what we're going to be talking about today and a little bit more depth, and then also why they should get more reviews for their store.
Gen: Yeah, absolutely. So, it starts with a rhetorical question, I guess, is like, what do you think about when you're making a purchase? And I think the, the way you think about it, it changes a lot when you're buying online. And obviously we're focused focusing on eCommerce. I think product reviews are super important and something that I'm excited to dig into because it's so important in driving awareness and then also sales. And when I think about like, why it's so important, ultimately I think it comes down to trust. Why do you think reviews are so important?
Jeremy: I shop on a lot of different sites as a consumer, and I need to feel that I trust the store that I'm shopping on if I've never bought from them before. It's about trust with the store, but also trust with the product.
So what is the product going to receive? What do real people say about it? And I want honest opinions.
Gen: Exactly. Yeah. And that was actually looking online too. Like how does social credibility impact how people purchase. And I think the stat I saw was 70% of shoppers will actually consult online reviews to purchase. And then a 93% will actually have those reviews, influence decisions. And I think the first thing that pops into my mind is Amazon.
Obviously you're very familiar with Amazon working in the Amazon space, but if you're shopping on Amazon, Are you going to buy a product that has five reviews and five stars or thousands reviews and maybe 4.7 stars. And maybe we'll get into that later in terms of like what the ideal rating you're looking for is, but ultimately it's that trust at the bottom of the funnel when you're making the consideration of which product to purchase.
And it's at that stage, I think that the reviews are super important.
Jeremy: I agree with you there. You brought up a very good point about honesty in the reviews.I want to see or consumers want to see both positive reviews, the majority have to be positive. However, if a few negative reviews are mixed in there with honest opinions of pointing out flaws in a product or pointing out something that they were disappointed in, uh, that's good to have because it gives the consumer a good idea of what they should expect from that product before they even receive it.
Gen: Absolutely. Yeah, it, it comes down to authenticity and I think you see this a lot with smart brands that are using. User generated content. So ads testimonials that you might record on your video, maybe it's the unboxing. Maybe it's actually using the product, but it's not a really polished brand driven ad, but it's just something like me and you would record on a review and I think it's that credibility and that authenticity that helps build a relationship.
It helps humanize the brand and then ultimately it helps drive conversions. But one other thing that I wanted to mention where I think. The product reviews are super important for e-commerce marketers and brands is that it actually drives higher average order value.
So those shoppers that will consult online reviews and see good reviews for a brand will actually spend more. The stat that I got from Invespcro is 31% more. A shopper will spend 31% more on a brand, on a product that has excellent reviews. So I think what we're seeing the importance of product reviews is that you're getting more awareness because of the referral marketing word of mouth.
There's also the SEO benefit of a product page that has more content. Um, so build better brand awareness. Higher conversion rates, higher average order value, and then just a channel to build a relationship, uh, and just be more authentic. So [00:04:00] yeah, many of us might think, yeah, product reviews are really important and it's an obvious thing, but I think that there are a lot of nuances and this is what I want to get into today of how can you get more reviews?
How can you leverage the reviews then? How can you ultimately just use it to your advantage?
Jeremy: Awesome. I think it is also important to point out that we are talking about two different things, but everything we discussed today applies to both. And what I mean by this is we're talking not only about product reviews. So the individual product that you sell that consumer, but also website testimonials, Google reviews, Facebook reviews, website testimonials are extremely important for an eCommerce store to have to build trust with that consumer.
Am I actually going to receive this product that they're promising me if I hand over my payment? And that is important to initially get that consumer to make a purchase or multiple purchases over time, and capture them in for that lifetime value. But I think all the tactics that we'll talk about today apply to both, or at least the vast majority will apply to both.
Gen: Sure. So where do you generally see brands use reviews most effectively? Like where on their site?
Jeremy: I mean, the obvious one that stands out is the product page, right on that product page, close to the add to cart button or buy now button. I was going to say. Those are extremely important. The other piece is in checkout. This is where testimonials are important. You've had that customer placed the actual product into their car. They're ready to give you their money. You want to just reinforce that decision. I think that's really important.
And it's definitely a piece that a lot of eCommerce shops miss. And then the last one that comes to mind is on the, on the homepage. So right away having testimonials on the homepage, I don't mean product reviews there, but having actual testimonials from previous customers, standing out, reinforcing the decision for me to visit that site.
Anything else that sticks out in your mind that [00:06:00] I missed?
Gen: No, I think one nuance of testimonials is this notion of influencers and micro influencers and then celebrities who are kind of getting involved in direct to consumer products, so then they lend their voice. And one example that I saw recently is Chrissy Tiegen, who's doing something for toothbrushes and she's, it was, um, it, the name of the toothbrush, maybe Quip or Gobi.
Uh, but yeah, I was like, okay, what I like about that is that it's somewhat aspirational. Uh, I think it's a lot of like millennial women who are probably their core consumer just based on the other user generated reviews and photos. So they basically just embed an Instagram image on it. Um, But I think for those brands that might be able to use somebody a familiar face, uh, that adds another level of impact and credibility and the aspirational element, like, Hey, Chrissy Tiegen uses it. John legend uses it, maybe it's it. It is of the quality that would merit $75 for a toothbrush.Otherwise you're paying five bucks for a toothbrush and you're happy. Uh, so I think that that's an important nuance for those brands that have the ability to bring in a celebrity or micro-influencer.
Jeremy: Yeah, if you're at that size, right. Cause it definitely takes some power to it to get to that point.
Gen: Well, I mean, yes and no, because you know, like celebrities will share, share an image on Instagram or Twitter, and that's enough. You can just take a screenshot or embed that tweet. So, yeah, it's not always paid it's it's often organic and again, that's something we'll, we'll talk about today and how to get more reviews.
Jeremy: I think there is one last point that you brought up. You actually mentioned it previously, which is ads. So in your advertising, Facebook advertising, where you're using imagery is a great example. Um, It definitely helps to use testimonials or product reviews in your ads. I have definitely made purchases off of [00:08:00] Facebook or off of an eCommerce shop from a Facebook ad that had a testimonial in it.
Gen: It's great for the hook to stop your, your finger from scrolling, but then also, and you're like, okay. I, you know, they, they probably, I think the more sophisticated marketers might target Jeremy Biron who's, you know, a 38 year old male in Connecticut, and maybe find a profile that speaks to you and resonates with your problems.
And then, you know, likewise might be a 50 year old female in California or something. Um, but that's a different topic. So one thing I wanted to hear about from your experience as an eCommerce seller, Amazon seller is your process for getting reviews. Can you walk us through some of the strategies that you have at a high level and then the tactics that you're using to actually start getting reviews.
Jeremy: Before you even get into when is an email sending or when is a text message sending and anything like that. I just want to point out to everyone, don't let the request for review, be your first contact or for your first personal contact with that customer. I hate when I make a purchase from a store, I don't hear anything from them, except for here's your receipt from your purchase. And then two weeks later, I get a random email that says, Hey, click on this button and leave us a review. Completely impersonal.
Gen: Those emails by nature, they're called transactional emails and not surprisingly, your relationship becomes very transactional and here's the receipt. Where's your review, you know, two weeks later, you'll probably get a, a followup for another product that you might like. So I totally agree. It removes any emotion and that prevents a relationship from being built between consumer and brand.
Jeremy: Exactly. Have you emailed that customer, thanking them for the order in the first place. So you sent them a receipt, but did you send them an email the next day from somebody in the company thanking them for the order? Hey, we noticed this is your first order from our site, or we noticed that you've [00:10:00] purchased from us before.
Thanks again for coming back and making another purchase, make it personal. Do you have a system that notifies them for progress in shipping? As you know, I'm working on a Shopify app that handles order tracking. If anybody wants to check that out, it's on TrackBoost.com
The main piece of it is shipping notification. Hey Jeremy, your order is on its way. It's expected to be there on Thursday Or if something happens in flight on the way to the customer. Hey, Gen sorry that UPS didn't get you your order today. There, it looks like they're going to try again tomorrow. We'll keep an eye on it for you. Keeping it personal and then making sure that you're using a personal tone.
People like to feel appreciated, right? Follow up with these customers.
Gen: It's a fine line because in this whole process, I agree, you need to have a relationship. And I think you do that by adding value. However, I don't think you want to overextend into being a nuisance. And so what I'm saying is you have a limited number of bullets in your holster, so to speak, you can't continue to reach out with.
Hey, you know, just checking in, just checking, because this is all ultimately leading up to, if we are being strategic, to getting them to open the email, to click the button, to leave a review and then leave a review. I think it's important also to be mindful, and this is going to be different for every company, every email campaign.
But just generally, there's going to be a decline in open rates. And if you don't get the open rates, if people aren't opening the email to leave a review, then you might undermine your efforts to building a review.
Jeremy: agree with that. You don't want to constantly email them. And this happens when a lot of times, large eCommerce stores where they're sending email blasts each and every day. Uh, There's a very large eCommerce store here in the U S that I made a recent purchase from.
And I literally get a marketing email from them every single [00:12:00] day. Quickly unsubscribed.
You're right. You build a mentality in the customer's mind to ignore emails coming from your brand if you're not careful. Um, However, If you use your in your term, use the bullets in your holster wisely and email them when it counts, then you should get an open.
You might even get a reply. Whatever call the action you're asking them to take, you should get a higher number of actions. You brought up a good point. We can talk about emails as a request method, but I think we should also talk about other methods to ask for a review.
Gen: Sure, yeah.
Jeremy: So that first email that goes out, I always like to keep it short and sweet. Don't go on and on about the importance of why here asking someone to leave a review. A clear call to action is really important and remind them what they purchased. There's a lot of times where I will purchase from a smaller site, and then I get a request for review and I don't know what they're asking me to review.
Cause I don't recognize it. It's been a few weeks. I make purchases several times a week online and I don't remember what they're asking me to review, so I'm not going to review it.
Gen: Yeah, that just goes to the personalization , these days, pretty much, every tool will allow you to add the tag of name and insert the product and simple ways to at least trigger your memory. So, you know what you're reviewing.
Jeremy: I know that you've done a lot of work in email testing. What stands out in your mind about what these shops could be testing in these emails?
Gen: I think that the subject line is probably the most important thing, because again, if you're not getting the open, there's a far lower chance that you're going to get the review, unless the customer is so driven to leave a review. And at that point, if they are really passionate about leaving a review to they're going to be a five star raving review, or it's going to be a one star, this product is crap.
And I want my money back review. So you're going to get both ends of the spectrum. I think that the people that are a little bit indifferent, they might leave you a three or four star review. [00:14:00] But my point is that the email subject line is really the inflection point. I think of. Getting getting to where you need to go.
So I think focusing on the open rate is super important. Uh, and I did actually, uh, find some data. So yotpo is one of the biggest, apps for Shopify eCommerce stores, um, to leave reviews and had a really interesting study. It was over like 200,000 emails of shops asking for reviews. And there were four takeaways that I found.
Uh, One is asking questions in the subject line will lead to greater open rate and higher conversion to a review. Uh, The second is including the store name will lead to an increase interviews. The third is incentives will inspire more reviews and that's across the board regardless of industry.
And the last one in terms of subject line is asking a question will drive a higher open rate.
Jeremy: that's interesting.
Gen: Yeah. And I think if you think about it, it's about curiosity. And I think curiosity peaking interest in the reader is one of the foundations of copywriting because copywriting, we're always trying to move to the next line or just move a little bit further down.
And if you read just one line in the subject of your email, the next step is to open it. So peaking curiosity is super important in. Getting the open rate and then that will domino effect into more reviews.
Jeremy: I think it is important to point out if you're only getting a few orders a month. testing your subject line or testing an email in general is going to take a long, long time to get any type of results out of it. Uh, at least statistically significant results. And if they're not significant, then you could be making a mistake by choosing one over the other.
but that would be the same as not testing.
Gen: Yeah. If I'm only getting a few, few orders a month, I'm picking up the phone [00:16:00] or I'm writing a handwritten letter or tracking them down somehow.
Jeremy: that brings up a good point. Any other methods that you want to point out as far as outreach, you brought up phone? I think that's a great one. Especially if you have high LTV with your customer base,
Gen: yeah, I think from the companies, I think that I've seen that have really great. Uh, customer support it's it's interaction on social media. And I think that gets to our very first point when we're talking about an authentic brand, somebody where you know, that there's actually a human behind the logo. Uh, so having conversations on social media, uh, those are the brands.
I think whether it's, uh, B2B, SaaS, or e-commerce direct to consumer, uh, the companies that engage on social, um, Are are really, uh, I think differentiated in terms of, um, ways to build a relationship which leads to more reviews. I think
Jeremy: have you seen any luck with brands that are doing SMS outreach? So text message outreach for reviews.
Gen: No, that's a good question. I have anecdotally from seeing what's going on with other companies, I haven't myself as a consumer, but for example, yacht co where they acquired SMS bump, uh, another Shopify app.
Jeremy: yeah, I saw that.
Gen: yeah. And, uh, I've seen a lot of people talking about SMS as maybe the next frontier of.
Marketing direct to consumer marketing, which is ironic because it's a little bit older of a platform, but if you consider how many, uh, how many texts do you let go unread? Um, and I think there's a stat of like 95% open rate of SMS. And I would totally believe it because, you know, if you see a little red number next to your messages of unread, it's almost like something that's nagging at you and you want to open it.
Jeremy: Oh yeah. I open every text message I receive.
Gen: Absolutely. But [00:18:00] I also have like tens of thousands of unread messages in my email. So just that simple data point would lead me to believe that SMS is a great channel for actually getting to the end consumer. Um, but I don't have primary experience myself.
Jeremy: as long as it doesn't get abused there's a pharmacy here in the U S that text messages, me like crazy. I've unsubscribed.And what I think is multiple times. But, it definitely gets abused. Um, you brought up phone outreach.
I recently made a purchase from a company called Sweetwater and sure enough. They called me a couple of days later. It was great. I didn't answer the phone. They left a voicemail. Couple of weeks later after they figured I'd been using the product, they call it again.
Just to follow up, just to say hello. Did I have any questions about the product? Was there anything they could have done better in terms of the purchase? Uh, it was a good phone call, but it's a high lifetime value. If you're selling, if you're selling $20 gizmos
it's not going to be easy to make phone calls, right.
Gen: I have no idea what Sweetwater does. Water filtration.
Jeremy: Uh, that's a good guess, I bought this microphone from them.
don't purchase a lot of audio equipment So they called not too long after and asked me if I had any questions about the use of it. How did it sound? How did it work?
Kind of thing.
Gen: okay. But most importantly, did you leave a review?
Jeremy: not yet, however, I don't know if I've gotten the email yet. That's a good, that's a very good point. I most likely will because I've had personal interaction with that company. Now,
Gen: sure
Jeremy: the brand sticks out in my mind versus just a single transaction. I think the other outreach method that you brought up, that's important to talk about are handwritten. Thank you. Notes or notes. There a lot of services out there. I've used them with my software company, Forecastly I used that in the past to do when someone signs up, send them a handwritten.
Thank you know, I was writing them myself for awhile. Once you start to get at scale, that's a lot harder to do in, there are services [00:20:00] out there that will help you do this. So either an actual person will write it , or they have robots.Some of them will do it in your handwriting.
Write a thank you note, sign your name and put it in the mail and get it out to the customer, which is pretty incredible.
Gen: what's that company called?
Jeremy: There are a bunch of them out there and I'm drawing a blank. As far as the specific names.
Gen: So actually one example related to that is athletic greens. And I saw this just online customer, and again, they tweeted it out with their purchase of athletic greens, which is basically a subscription, nutrients and supplements powder your ad to feel better in the morning. In the monthly package was one of their new products and there's a lot, little small sample size.
I think it was like a bar. And that's just an easy way. I think the strategy there is two pronged. One is you're like, Hey, I got something nice. You know, I'm getting that element of delight and surprise from the company. So maybe that, that bar just tastes better psychologically. Um, but then also. It's a lead magnet of sorts.
You know, it's, it's a way to introduce a product without having the customer make the purchase decision. Uh, but it's, you know, here just try this bar and more than likely, you know, if the next purchase decision comes around, maybe the person would purchase again or not. Um, but it's one opportunity when we're talking about.
Open rates like, uh, SMS being 95%, you know, what's a hundred percent open rate is going to be the package that you get in the mail. So that's just one place. Whether you add your handwritten note or a free sample product or something, that's just a great opportunity. Um,
Jeremy: I've gotten so many emails. When I, when I would send handwritten notes saying, wow, this is incredible. I haven't gotten an actual letter in the mail. And some of them were like in years, obviously we all get bills in the mail. We get marketing stuff in the mail, [00:22:00] but a handwritten note really, it's just the next level.
Gen: For sure.
Jeremy: You brought up samples, which reminded me of incentives. We should probably talk about incentives because incentives definitely help to increase the number of reviews at a site gets what are some of the methods that you've seen work in terms of incentives?
Gen: Yeah. Incentives are an interesting thing. And coming out of this from spending some time in the Amazon marketing space, uh, incentives were so. Overuse that they actually undermined the legitimacy of reviews to a shopper. So if you're shopping on Amazon, you'd see a product with a bunch of five star reviews.
It became so well known that reviews were incentivized, that it discounted the value of them. Um, so Amazon cracked out on them at you as a. As an Amazon seller can no longer incentivize reviews, but what does help? You know, I, again, I haven't seen the examples myself, but I do know, you know, what this standard strategies are and it would be, you know, a discount for view when it's within the terms of service or contests and giveaways, I think are also very helpful.
I personally, I'm a little bit skeptical. I've never won a contest that I've. Entered in, uh, I wonder a, is my luck that bad or maybe there are so many people, or most cynically, maybe they're not even running a contest, but they're just saying that. I don't have great examples, but I do know that those are some strategies that companies are using.
Jeremy: I agree with you as far as a chance to win or some type of a contest in exchange for review. From a consumer perspective,
Yeah,
right
just because most of the time, I think it's just made up. Are they actually even giving away what they say they're going to be giving away. However, there is a time and a placefrom a business perspective.
If you [00:24:00] have low margin products, you can't be giving away gift cards or significant discounts on future orders. It's just not possible. You can't give away t-shirts samples, things like that. if you have a low margin product, you have a low lifetime value product. Then that's the time and the place to be using the chance to win.
It's better than nothing,if you have a better lifetime value percentage off a future order, free shipping on a future order, a gift card, those are three amazing. Incentives because it encourages the customer, not only to leave a review, but to come back. it's a win for the store no matter what, because not only is Gen gonna leave us a review, but he's also hopefully going to come back and make a future purchase uh, from our store.
Gen: Yeah. now that we know, how we're going to ask what channels we might use, it might be SMS might be email. It might be phone or a handwritten letter. Then what, what, what do you think. The platforms are, or the resources that the stores can use to gather views and share them.
Jeremy: this were plugins are wonderful because no matter what, no matter if I'm using Magento, Shopify, whatever e-commerce platform you're using, there are a ton of different plugins or apps out there to help you get reviews. Automatic. If you're going to do coupon codes, right. Automatically handle those coupon codes automatically handle the email outreach. Even if, you're smaller and you don't want to use one of those plugins. you better have an email marketing tool. If you don't something else is wrong, right. And you can use existing email marketing tool that you have to set up some automation to automatically send a drip campaign, follow up email, check in, ask for a review you can use the tools you might already have.
which is important. But. You need to make it easy for the customer to leave a review.
Gen: Yeah, I agree. So you mentioned earlier having a followup review, very short and to the point, copy a clear call to action button, and then it drives them right to the site. And so I [00:26:00] think one thing that I'd want to add to what you're saying, plugins are good. But not all plugins are created equal. And so there are different features that you may or may not have.
And I think some of those are super important when I'm talking about how the review can contribute to a conversion rate lift. So like Yotpo, for example, which is the market leader. I think what they do offer is this full suite of, social proof. And I think some of the things that they have that an app, like Shopify's product review doesn't have, even though it's free. That's good. You're not going to get like the ability to upload photos or videos or a Q&A. So it's, it's more of like the multidimensional review. And I think like the visual cue of seeing somebody actually wear the hat that they just purchased or the blender that they just bought and see a video of it is really impactful to say, yeah, that works. And that's what I want to purchase.
Jeremy: those are great points. Photos and videos have had a significant impact on any stores I've been involved with in terms of reviews. If you can get photos of the product being used. And have them show up on your site on your product page, you will definitely get a higher conversion rate. pretty quickly paying for an app like Yotpo pays for itself versus using a free app like the Shopify product reviews app.
Gen: Yeah. And so I have seen. Uh, cosmetics companies in particular that will offer a discount on a future purchase in exchange for sending a video testimonial and review. And then those who just like paste on the site, whether the product page or the homepage, whether it's a video or just a screenshot with a quote in text.
Um, but yeah, you talk about win-win . the customer gets a discount on a future. purchase and .Then you as a brand, get a review. And then also, yeah, you're starting to , uh, take steps towards customer loyalty and increasing lifetime value over repeat purchases.
Jeremy: I think that the easier you can make it [00:28:00] for a consumer to leave a review, the better am I going to make them sign in. Or can I have some type of magic link in the email that automatically signs them into their account? So I can verify that it's a real customer leaving a review, the easier, the better. Keep it simple.
Gen, we've been chatting away here for a little over 30 minutes now, any last closing thoughts that you think that we didn't touch upon?
Gen: no, I just think , Starting to keep an eye out for how brands are using user generated content, because I'm seeing more channels as well. You know, like where tick-tock is important to you. And I have spent an amount of time, especially with I have my four year old daughter. I don't want to mention, uh, where tick-tock is just like, I just fall into this black hole of a time suck, but then I also see brands that are using tick tock videos.
Uh, Really effectively, you know, whether ads or user generated content. So I think that's like a really great way to create short soundbites and consumable content that will speak on behalf of you, but we'll have a brand advocate do the talking. So it really gets to the authenticity that other consumers will believe that will help drive them to go to the website and Convert based on that social proof
Jeremy: Definitely. Well, I think that pretty much wraps it for today. I hope everyone got a lot out of this episode, a lot of tactics that you can use on your own store to increase your reviews and eventually increase revenue.
Gen: alright. Well, thanks Jeremy. Thanks everyone for listening. Catch you next week.
Jeremy: Thanks everyone for listening. Catch you soon.