In this fast-paced world where customers are constantly bombarded with choices, they often seek reassurance and validation before making purchasing decisions. Positive customer reviews not only builds trust, but also act as a compelling form of social proof to drive more customers to choose your products or services over the competition. This post will help you learn how to grow your business by harnessing the power of customer reviews.
It’s no secret that consumers heavily rely on online reviews when making purchase decisions. According to a survey conducted by BrightLocal, 76% of consumers “regularly” read online reviews when browsing for local businesses. Many savvy consumers also do the same thing for online businesses, where they’re often faced with more choices. With that information in mind, let’s learn how to grow your business with customer reviews!
The Importance of Customer Reviews and Testimonials for Your Online Business
When potential customers visit your website, TPT store, or Etsy shop for the first time, you need their first impression to be a positive one. Positive customer reviews can help provide the exact reassurance customers need to make a purchase.
Customer reviews provide invaluable insights into the quality, reliability, and overall customer experience associated with your business. They serve as a source of social proof, instilling confidence in potential customers who are considering your offerings. While positive reviews highlight the strengths of your products or services, the constructive criticism in negative reviews can help you identify areas for improvement.
Benefits of Customer Reviews and Testimonials
Customers who visit your site should feel comfortable buying from your business. You want them to know the site they’re visiting is trustworthy and the products they see are worthy of their investment. You increase your odds of converting visitors to customers when you provide proof your products will do what you say they will. Reviews and testimonials are the best way to do this and as a side benefit they improve SEO (seach engine optimization) too!
Building Trust
Building trust in your brand is the cornerstone of a successful business. Reviews and testimonials aren’t the only way to do this, but they do play a crucial role in the following:
Establishing Authenticity and Social Proof: Testimonials and reviews are authentic voices of real customers who have experienced your products or services. When potential customers see genuine feedback from people who have had positive interactions with your business, it provides them with social proof that your business is legitimate and reliable, making it easier for them to trust your offerings. You want your customers to read a review and instantly feel connected to the problem/solution presented in it.
Creating Transparency and Openness: By openly showcasing both positive and, to some extent, negative feedback, you demonstrate transparency. This openness lets people know you’re not trying to hide anything and are confident in the value of the products you provide. Buyers appreciate businesses that are willing to be vulnerable by allowing their customers to speak about their experiences whether good or bad.
Overcoming Skepticism: In an era of online scams and deceptive marketing, consumers can be skeptical when dealing with business new to them. Genuine testimonials and reviews act as a counterbalance to this skepticism. They provide evidence that your business is real and has satisfied customers, reducing the fear of wasted money on useless products.
Reducing the Risk: For customers, trying out a new product or service can be a risk. Testimonials and reviews help reduce this risk by offering insights into what can be expected from a product or service. When potential customers see others have successfully used your offerings to fill the same need they have, customers are more likely to see their purchase from you as a guaranteed success.
Improving SEO and Brand Visibility
Utilizing customer reviews and testimonials to improve SEO is a smart strategy that can enhance your online visibility and drive more organic traffic to your website. Reviews do this in a few different ways.
Fresh and User-Generated Content: Search engines love fresh, relevant content. Customer reviews and testimonials provide exactly that. Each review adds new content to your website, signaling to search engines that your site is active and regularly updated. This can lead to better crawling and indexing of your pages, potentially improving your rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).
Natural Language and Long-Tail Keywords: More people are using “natural language queries” with the rise in voice search such as Siri and Alexa. Because customer reviews and testimonials tend to use the same conversational language, you are more likely to rank higher in search results when your site contains them.
Testimonials often contain specific phrases, terminology, and long-tail keywords that are relevant to your products or services as well. Long-tail keywords are more specific and have less competition, making it easier for your content to rank higher in search results when potential customers use those exact phrases in their searches.
User Engagement Signals: User engagement signals, such as time spent on page, click-through rates, and bounce rates are important for SEO. When visitors engage with customer reviews and spend more time on your pages reading them, search engines interpret this as a positive signal of content relevance and quality which boosts your rankings in SERPs.
Backlink Potential: Exceptional customer experiences can lead to organic backlinks as others share their positive experiences and refer their audiences to your store. Quality backlinks from reputable sources are yet another factor in search engine ranking algorithms.
Here’s an example of how this works. If a seller on TPT has 50 reviews mentioning their “engaging middle school science lessons”, they will start to rank higher in searches related to “science lessons for middle school” than a competitor with no reviews.
This in turn could lead to other sites talking about your products (quality backlinks), and more people visiting your site. The more your customers talk about their positive experiences with your specific products or services online, the more signals search engines have to connect your business to related searches and keywords.
How To Strategically Collect Reviews
Gathering customer reviews and testimonials for your website or web store requires a thoughtful, proactive approach. You need to create easy ways for your customers to provide reviews and sometimes provide an incentive to get them to do so. Here are four tips for how to grow your business by strategically collecting reviews.
Set Up Automated Email Requests: After a customer makes a purchase or uses your service, send an automated follow-up email requesting feedback. Include a direct link to the review or testimonial submission form. Timing is crucial! These emails should be sent shortly after the purchase or interaction when the experience is still fresh in their minds, but also after they’ve had enough time to benefit from your solution. Experiment with the timeline until you find the sweet spot.
Offer Incentives for Reviews: Many customers won’t leave reviews without an incentive. TPT automatically rewards customers by giving credits forward future purchases by leaving a review. If you’re selling on your own website, you could offer similar credits or coupon codes in exchange for honest feedback. There are plugins to automate this process and build your own reward program.
Make Leaving Reviews Simple: The easier you make sharing feedback, the more customers will participate. Include prominent links to leave reviews or embed a widget on your website. Avoid lengthy forms and complicated steps! The less effort required, the more likely customers are to participate.
Encourage Social Media Responses: You should also engage with your customers on social media platforms. Encourage them to share their experiences with your products or services and provide a direct link to the review submission page. Consider running contests or giveaways that require participants to submit a review as an entry.
This is not an exhaustive list of ways to gather customer reviews and testimonials, but it should give you some ways to get started. Remember that the key to successfully gathering reviews and testimonials is to create an easy, streamlined process for your customers. Always appreciate their time and feedback, and ensure that their experiences contribute to improving your offerings and enhancing your overall customer experience.
Where To Display Reviews
There are many places you can feature excerpts from customer testimonials and reviews. Consider adding reviews to your website, social media channels, and throughout the checkout process. Customer reviews and testimonials can significantly impact your credibility and conversion rates by showing potential customers real experiences from satisfied customers as they move through your sales funnel.
Your Website
Customer reviews and testimonials don’t have to be limited strictly to a product’s page. Consider sprinkling them throughout your website!
Homepage: Choose several of your best reviews to display on your homepage where everyone visiting your site will see them. This immediately captures the attention of visitors and establishes trust from the beginning. Analyze the reviews to make sure they touch on a variety of pain points of represent a variety of your offers.
I have this section on my homepage, which also has social proof numbers based on previous clients served. I also have a rotating slider of reviews in my footer.
Dedicated Testimonial Page: Have a page on your site dedicated to displaying testimonials and reviews. This page can serve as a hub for all your customer feedback, making it an easy place for site visitors to see what others are saying about your products and you. Here’s a look at mine!
Product Pages: A great way to boost conversions is to have the top one or two reviews for a product right on the individual product page itself. Potential buyers will be able to see how useful the product was to real-life consumers when making a purchasing decision.
This client review is displayed right above the “add to cart” button.
Throughout the Buying Process: You can also place testimonials strategically throughout the buying process. For example, you can show reviews in a sidebar as customers browse your online store or at the top of the cart page. An example would be adding a backlink to the Thank You page after someone has made You can also integrate testimonials into your thank you and upsell pages to encourage further sales.
Social Media Platforms
You can also leverage social media channels to share customer reviews and testimonials. You can create graphics or posts that feature positive feedback along with images of the products being reviewed for your Facebook or Twitter accounts. You can also use reviews alongside pull quotes for Instagram and Pinterest. I have a highlight bubble on Instagram with client reviews.
Whichever route you take, remember to keep the display of customer reviews and testimonials cohesive with your website’s branding. The goal is to create a seamless, positive user experience that builds trust and encourages visitors to convert into loyal customers.
Tips for Tackling Negative Feedback
Even with your best efforts, some negative reviews will happen. Handling them with grace and empathy demonstrates a level of care and concern for your customers’ satisfaction. It can be tricky to navigate, so here are some steps you can take when receiving negative feedback.
- First, stay calm and objective. When you come across negative feedback, take a deep breath and approach it with a calm, objective mindset. Remember that feedback, even if critical, can provide valuable insights for improvement.
- Take some time to truly understand the customer’s concern. Read the feedback carefully to determine what the actual problem is. Consider whether the feedback is about a genuine issue, a misunderstanding, or a subjective experience.
- Acknowledge the issue and begin your response by acknowledging the customer’s concern. Show that you’ve taken the time to understand their point of view.
- Thank the dissatisfied customer for sharing their experience and sincerely apologize for any issues or inconveniences they experienced.
- Publicly respond to negative feedback professionally without getting defensive. If possible, share how you’ve used their input to improve. Customers will appreciate you taking action based on critiques.
- Finally, provide an appropriate solution (if needed). Offer refunds, revise errors, or offer complimentary services to resolve concerns. Turning negative situations into positive resolutions shows genuine care for your customers, and oftentimes customers will respond to this with positive reviews.
Remember, how you respond to negative feedback can greatly influence how the unhappy customer feels and how other potential customers perceive your business. By addressing concerns with professionalism, empathy, and a commitment to improvement, you can turn negative experiences into opportunities to showcase your dedication to customer satisfaction.
While negative feedback can feel discouraging, view it as an opportunity to improve and make adjustments when necessary. You’ll find when you prioritize providing exceptional products, you’ll exceed expectations. As a result, many happy customers will outweigh the few negative voices.
It’s Time To Grow Your Business
By harnessing the power of customer reviews, you have have an incredible opportunity to build trust, attract new customers, and drive business growth. When you learn how to grow your business through embracing customer reviews as a vital asset in your marketing toolkit, you’ll watch as the positive impact ripples through your business. Encourage your customers to share their experiences, respond to their feedback, and watch as the power of customer reviews propel your business to new heights!
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