Harvard Business School conducted a study showing that one star added to a star rating on Yelp could create a 5-9% margin in extra sales.
Customer reviews are the currency of credibility, considering the present-day digital scenario. Whether online reviews or offline, they serve as the social proof that can make or break a business.
Whether you're an entrepreneur, a small business owner, a digital marketing services provider, or part of a sales team, harnessing the power of positive customer reviews is essential for success.
Customers seek assurance before purchasing in this era as they are constantly flooded with various options. Naturally, customer reviews act as virtual word-of-mouth, giving potential buyers insights into the experiences of others. They create trust by offering a glimpse into a product or service's real-life usage and satisfaction levels.
Studies have indicated that customer reviews determine the overall success of a business. Trust, satisfaction, and increased sales depend on customers' positive reviews.
In this blog, we dive into the significance of customer reviews. We'll get deeper into the various forms of reviews. We will also uncover how to ask for customer reviews and ways to obtain great ones.
In addition, we'll also touch upon how many reviews are ideal for your business and how you can leverage marketing agencies to help get great customer reviews.
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Let us look at Amazon’s review system to understand why customer reviews are important and how they affect businesses.
![Customer Reviews: Why Is It Important? [Amazon Case Study]](https://janbask.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/jdd/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/12112054/Frame-293.webp)
As per the study by Harvard Business School on Amazon's ratings, each review they received influenced product sales. It was found that the product sold from 26% to 38% more for each extra star gained.
This growth margin demonstrates that customer reviews directly affect consumer behaviors and purchase decisions.
Besides, amazon makes a key selling point out of customer reviews. By letting customers make lengthy write-ups and ratings, Amazon has developed an environment whereby the customer believes other consumer's reviews; thus, sales and satisfaction improve.
Imagine this growth percentage added to each product that gets a review or star rating and its overall impact.
This whole review system shows how critical customer reviews are when determining the success or failure of a company's sales and consumers' confidence in any particular brand.
Different reviews present distinct perspectives and interaction opportunities that address various customers' needs and ensure valuable evaluations supporting future connections and enhanced business-customer relations.
Each platform has an avenue for branding and connecting with potential clients. It is up to businesses to leverage each platform to their advantage.
Let us look at various reviews and how brands best leverage them to boost brand recognition, confidence, customer satisfaction, and sales.
Psst! Don’t miss out on the pro tips we have prepared especially for you!
Below are some of the most common reviews in today's digital era.
Social media is one of the best platforms where brands can find customers leaving reviews, intentionally or unintentionally. People can comment on a business, its services, or its products through popular social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Such reviews can be textual or accompanied by pictures and videos and are usually referred to as User Generated Content (UGC), which is content created by customers rather than the brand’s sales or marketing team or even an employee, for that matter.
Using hashtags is an excellent way of leveraging social media for reviews. Hotel chain giant Hyatt perfectly executes this throughout its social media channels. They highly encourage their customers to share their experiences at Hyatt through social media platforms by using the hashtags #worldofhyatt #worldofunderstanding.
Apple also has a similar successful hashtag campaign that, in addition to enhancing product awareness, also acts as a customer review. #Shotoniphone is a long-standing example of how a brand can encourage customers to leave in-direct positive reviews for their product or services. In this, iPhone users are encouraged by Apple to post pictures or videos shot on their iPhones on social media platforms. This helps them spread the good word about their lenses or any camera updates on new devices.
Pro Tips:
Currently, many business entities allow clients to give feedback through email. These reviews are usually descriptive and more detailed, as customers can give precise details about their experience.
A brand that best leverages email reviews is Netflix. The video streaming service giant uses email surveys to generate customer reviews. They, time and again, send email surveys to customers asking for feedback.
However, what makes their email review game strong is how they consider the personalization aspect, i.e., addressing the customer by their name. They also stick to a short email and add warmth with their closing statement and signature.
Pro Tips:
This type of review is primarily seen in the mobile app industry, where users can rate and leave comments internally without going elsewhere or being redirected elsewhere. App store review is one of the important ones since it may assist in developing the application's user interface. In-app reviews can mostly be seen in ride-hailing services and food delivery services.
The brand that has been a trailblazer in in-app reviews is Uber. Uber, for the longest time, has encouraged customers to leave in-app reviews as soon as they avail of the service. A customer doesn’t have to leave the app; instead, the feedback window pops up automatically as soon as the ride ends.
And the genius thing here is that the feedback is two-way, i.e., both for the driver and the customer. This two-way feedback ultimately serves as the feedback for Uber's services.
Pro Tips:
Not all customers like writing about their views on the products they purchase. Such feedback is usually uploaded on websites like YouTube, blogs, or other online platforms or even directly sent to companies. Thus, video reviews help make customer feedback more realistic and personal.
Starbucks is an excellent example of creating an everlasting brand campaign that would revive itself seasonally. The coffee chain giant has special season drinks such as Frozen Strawberry Açaí Lemonade for summer, Pumpkin Spice Latte for fall, Peppermint Mocha, and Caramel Brulée Latte for winter.
Whenever these seasons arrive, people, especially creators and influencers, take to social media to share their Starbucks experience and drinks on social media.
These days, people take to Instagram reels and TikTok to make creative videos, some of which later turn into viral posts. These videos directly or indirectly act as reviews that show the liking or disliking of Starbucks products and services. This gives Starbucks direct access to customer sentiments and also helps in the organic promotion of their products.
Pro Tips:
Customers can leave reviews about a company on sites like Google My Business and Yelp while accessing a company's listing. Such reviews are often posted about a business’s profile, and they play a considerable role in shaping the image of a business agency.
These reviews are primarily beneficial for getting to know the sentiments of local customers. In addition, it also helps promote local businesses if they receive positive reviews supported by pictures and videos.
Local restaurants, salons, bakeries, law firms, retail stores, supermarkets, etc, can use this type of review to connect with customers and improve service and customer satisfaction.
Pro Tips:
Another way customers interact is by leaving feedback under blog posts, articles, or other content pieces. These reviews may give a glimpse of the customer's perspective on the contents of the business.
Customer reviews on content play an important role in enhancing the content of a specific post or the type of content a business may post. Apart from that, it also helps in the presentation and execution of the content.
Pro Tips:
NPS, or the Net Promoter Score, is a survey-based system that evaluates customer loyalty and the chance they will recommend the business to others. Questions like "Would you recommend this company to your friend?" or some variations provide helpful information on customer satisfaction or loyalty.
Let us understand how NPS surveys help businesses by looking at an example.
Apple is considered one of the strongest players in leveraging NPS. They use the NPS surveys yearly to improve customer service and satisfaction. The company hasn’t made the recent NPS data public; however, in 2020, their average NPS calculated after taking the data from various sources was 61.
NPS is measured from -100 to 100, and as per the creators of NPS (Bain & Company), a good NPS score is 0 and above. This benchmark puts Apple in a powerful position regarding NPS.
One of the other important things to note is that Apple takes the NPS survey for each product. This means they ask their customers, ‘How likely would they recommend their specific product (iPhone, MacBook, Apple watch, etc) to others?’
This sets their customer review game at another level. They mainly send out NPS surveys through email. Further, to encourage customers to take the NPS survey, they display customer reviews from the NPS surveys on big screens in various retail stores.
According to research conducted, their NPS surveys help them generate an additional $25 million in revenue.
Pro Tips:
People can add pictures when commenting on a seller's product or service. They present a visual picture of their experience, making the feedback even more valuable, especially for travel, food production, or retail companies.
Photo reviews are another excellent example of user-generated content (UGC) where you don’t have to force people to create content for your brand.
An excellent case of photo reviews as customer reviews can be seen with AirBnb. Thanks to people sharing their experiences through pictures on social media, the brand today has become a household name for homestays, getaways, and holiday experiences.
Today, their UGC is part of an evergreen campaign, #Airbnbexperience. With this hashtag, they continue receiving customer reviews regarding pictures on various social media platforms.
Today, Airbnb experiences are another vertical where people learn about local experiences hosted by locals.
Pro Tips:
Choose a scalable technique like auto email requests or app pings that fits into your customers, employing technology to effectively address many customers efficiently, stressing the importance of feedback because of ongoing improvements in service delivery.
Personalize Your Request
Personalize your request when asking for reviews. Address customers by name and create customized text mentioning their experience or buying spree.
Communicate Their Importance To Customers
Let customers know their reviews help improve services, create better experiences for future visitors, guide others in making choices, and help your business develop.
Ask The Customer In Person
Politely encourage customers to give their opinions and review services during personal interactions while thanking them for feedback.
Leverage Moments Of Customer Happiness
Look out for instances whereby clients show approval and use that chance to request a review.
Begin With An Open-Ended Question
Ask customers for indirect feedback by starting with a question that encourages them to write about their experience.
Provide A Template.
Give explicit direction on writing a review. Provide a review template if you can.
Let Them Know How Long It Will Take.
Communicate clearly with customers how long it takes to leave a review and assure them it will take a very short time.
Follow Up On Your Request
Follow up with a reminder email if the customer agrees to a review so they remember to give feedback.
Offer your customers a choice of platforms to leave their reviews. Include links or information on how to review on Google, Yelp, and Facebook, among other industry-related sites. Admit various tastes, allowing customer voices to be spread through different places.
Providing a remarkable user experience on your website and other online systems is essential. Simplify navigation, allow seamless cross-platform access, and include attractive visuals. With your website optimized, customers will provide their honest feedback without any difficulty because of the clear calls to action mentioned.
Furthermore, a sleek and attractive user interface can entice favorable ratings while improving customers' general attitude and confidence toward your company.
When requesting reviews, sincerity and honesty matter. Ask customers straight and sincerely about what they have experienced.
Never exert pressure or force. Offer constructive remarks for improving service provision. Respect feedback and customer reviews by letting them know you consider their contributions pivotal to creating excellent product experiences. Remember to show appreciation and gratitude towards them for their contribution as you build genuine trusting relationships.
Consider offering discounts and coupons for reviews. It serves as a gesture of appreciation and gratitude for their valuable feedback. Explain how their reviews help you improve your service. Transparency must be ensured by avoiding rewarding positive commentaries while giving a high regard for candid criticism. The method appreciates the fact that they are trying, and it upholds the authenticity of honest customer sentiments.
One needs to thank the customers when they review. Organizations should publicly appreciate their work on social media or privately through personalized messages. It acknowledges that they have invested their time and ideas, demonstrating sincerity and motivating more involvement. Thanking customers for their reviews shows gratitude, which helps maintain strong relationships and communicate to them how critical their reviews are to the business.
Acknowledging the sites that your customers operate in, including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, among others, opens the opportunity for direct demand for reviews. Seek customers' feedback in those spaces. Customizing review requests to fit their preferred channels encourages engagement, evidencing an understanding of where people prefer giving reviews.
Responding to all reviews, including the negative ones, gives the impression that the business cares about its customers' satisfaction. Publicly discussing concerns demonstrates one's transparency and commitment to solving them. This is a chance to demonstrate concern, provide answers, and convert what might have been seen as a tragedy into a happy event to build faith, trust, and confidence.
Share positive customer reviews you've already received. These are powerful examples of what is called social proof – sharing positive customer reviews that you've received can be beneficial in increasing your credibility among other potential respondents. These positive experiences need highlighting as they portray satisfaction and boost the trust of others, who can then have confidence in sharing their thoughts to make your business's review profile more complete and reliable.
Arrange your review section or platform by setting an example: start with positive customer reviews first. Highlight specific good customer reviews. As a result, this shows that you are willing to acknowledge and value their contribution, which has the potential to instigate reciprocity.
Additionally, it sets a mood of gratefulness, prompting clients to give gratuitous testimonials.
Organize events for customers who will physically meet with your business representatives, share their experiences, and leave reviews on the spot.
Develop an inclusive environment for customers to discuss their experiences while offering accessible review booths/virtual platforms. This personal touch fosters genuine interactions, potentially resulting in more detailed and enthusiastic reviews that reflect their positive experiences.
Reviews, whether positive or negative, are essential for any business, especially when validating your business. When it comes to Google reviews of your business, receiving at least one review per day may be optimal.
This number should eventually add up to 10 to 15 reviews per month. This range of numbers is just enough to showcase a good online presence for your business. If you continue receiving reviews within this range month-on-month, this will also reflect a steady growth of your business.
It is crucial to note that the feedback type doesn’t matter here. If you get a positive review, it automatically establishes a positive image of your business; however, even if you receive a negative review, it also establishes the authenticity of your business, demonstrating to customers that at least your business is not fake.
Digital marketing agencies employ various strategies to enhance customer reviews:
Review Management Strategies: Agencies develop well-structured strategies to push through reviews by email blasts, reminders, and directed queries, asking happy clients for their input.
Optimizing Review Platforms: They improve business profiles on various rating sites in terms of correctness, attractiveness, and accessibility to have a more significant number of evaluations.
Incentivizing Reviews: To increase participation, agencies can develop incentive programs, including exclusive offers for leave-a-review.
Feedback Analysis: Agencies extensively use sentiment analysis and data analytics to understand patterns and find positive aspects and areas where improvements are needed.
Responding and Engaging: Agencies also manage responses to reviews to increase customer interaction. This is achieved through gratitude towards clients and addressing issues raised while showing a personal concern about the review.
Strategic Implementation of Reviews: Agencies incorporate good ratings into their promotional literature, which includes newspaper advertisements, website content, and comments within forums.
Continuous Improvement: Agencies help hone their products, services, operational processes, and customer experience to continuously improve service levels.
Negative reviews are inevitable When talking about offline or online reviews. Negative reviews can heavily damage your brand reputation if not dealt with smartly. However, with the right Online Reputation Management (ORM) strategies, brands can quickly turn negative reviews in their favor.
Employ a brand monitoring tool to continuously track your brand across all platforms, In addition use review management tools so that you are notified of reviews and can respond to them quickly.
Ensure that you respond warmly to every negative review. Focus on improving the customer’s experience or immediately solving their problems rather than arguing or fighting with them.
Below is an excellent example where the business owner is offering the customer an opportunity for assistance.
According to Harvard Business Review, during their survey of customer service-related tweets of certain airlines and wireless carrier companies in the US, responding to reviews added to brand value.
In the case of the airline sample, around $6 worth of brand value was created with each successfully resolved issue. As for the wireless carrier sample, a customer who received a response to their negative tweets were willing to pay $7 monthly for a plan on average.
The same study showed that customers who did not receive any response to their negative tweets showed no significant change towards businesses or their service.
1. How can businesses make effective use of the best reviews?
Businesses can locate the top reviews by studying those that contain a lot of information, anecdotes, and emotions that connect. Using these reviews means displaying them conspicuously on websites, social media, and marketing materials to promote their credibility and demonstrate their beneficial effect on potential customers.
2. Why do America’s best reviews differ from global ones?
More often than not, America’s best reviews comprise cross-cultural content, leading-edge innovations, and vast consumer demographics. These commonly highlight regional-specific experiences about America, that is, its unique market, customer taste, and service provision patterns distinct from other geographical points that might not be appropriate for application in this setting.
3. What techniques can businesses adopt to ensure they get customer reviews?
There are several methods to get customer reviews, which business organizations can apply. These can be achieved through email campaigns, rewarding customers, simplifying the feedback review process, and using in-app prompts or post-purchase follow-ups.
4. What are the most effective ways businesses can improve brands using the best customer reviews?
Some of the best customer reviews become business tools when businesses incorporate them into their websites, social media pages, and marketing activities. Celebrating good times boosts the company’s reliability and reputation.
5. What are some of the best Online Reviews Sites for customer reviews?
Consumer traffic and power over customer decisions characterize popular Online review sites such as Google My Business, Yelp, Amazon, TripAdvisor, and Facebook.
6. How can companies use online customer reviews to enhance their goods and services?
The business can identify the area through positive comments, negative remarks, suggestions for new products, and highlighting what is lacking in products or services.
7. Why are online reviews for businesses important?
Online reviews for businesses are critical because they provide reputation, influence purchase decisions, build customer confidence, and provide feedback for future improvement, which are critical aspects of business development.
8. Are there any ways an internet marketing company can help address negative reviews with effectiveness?
A good Internet marketing company may help manage negative reviews by responding promptly, ensuring resolutions, or emphasizing some bright sides that should cancel such damage to any reputation.
9. How to Get Customer Reviews?
Succeed by making personalized requests for reviews, streamlining the review process, offering incentives, and thanking customers for responding.
10. What role does a digital marketing company play in handling and promoting positive customer ratings and reviews?
The strategic use of campaigns aimed at positive review highlights associated with a digital marketing company’s management of review platforms and feedback encouragement helps boost the brands’ reputations as legitimate, credible entities.
Receiving great customer reviews requires carefully understanding your audience and marketing strategies. It is a multifaceted approach where a business must understand the significance of reviews for its growth and digital presence.
Any business can only be successful in receiving great customer reviews by employing various methods to approach, request, and ask customers for reviews. These methods and strategies should be applied based on the various types of reviews and leveraging various review platforms, including social media platforms.
You must constantly check the reviews received, whether positive or negative and reply to them accordingly. One of the best ways to put your complete focus on customer reviews part is through marketing agencies.
A good marketing agency will leverage the analytics study and employ data-driven techniques and strategies to encourage customers to leave reviews. Although there is no set number of reviews that a business must have for growth, there should at least be some feedback reflected on their website.
This helps them with credibility and authenticity. With the help of a marketing agency, you can ensure consistent engagement with your customers, which will encourage customers to leave reviews across various platforms.
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