A guide to increasing your customer review volume

What makes reviews critical to running a successful business? Depending on your role, that answer might change. Marketers may use reviews in ad campaigns to generate traffic and grow sales. Customer Support Managers might use them to reflect on current practices and make changes to enhance their customer’s experience, and Ecommerce managers can use them to figure out the next initiative to improve conversions.

Reviews provide an opportunity for your company to capitalize on the voice of your customers – providing next level experiences and enhancing your success.

Whether you are looking to grow sales, enhance your user experience, or improve your conversions – one thing is certain; reviews matter – and the volume of reviews ALSO matters.

Not only do more reviews lead to more accurate feedback, a small number of reviews can hurt your business even if they’re universally positive. You might be happy with your perfect five star rating, but if there are less than ten total reviews, over 75% of your customers won’t find the score trustworthy.

Let’s take a look at three ways you can increase your review volume, while also thrilling your customers.

1. Show off the reviews you already have

Leaving customer reviews and aggregate scores everywhere you can – your website, your social media channels, your marketing emails – can’t help but inspire customers to leave their own. To make it easier, link the reviews to their respective website or include a hyperlinked button to encourage them.

Of course, there’s no better place to show off your score than on Google, the world’s most popular search engine. Bizrate Insights syndicates every review it collects to Google Seller Ratings, impacting the all-important star rating that shows up in your search results.

2. Incentivize customer feedback

Your customers know that their time is worth something. Show them that you understand that as well by rewarding them with a discount, gift card, sweepstakes entry or special offer in exchange for providing their honest feedback.

Case in point – Bizrate Insights survey. With an average response rate of 15% (among the highest in the industry), we know a little something about incentivizing customers. Our tried and tested method provides thousands of retailers the opportunity to incentivize their customer’s feedback.

3. Rely on automation

Directly asking a customer to leave feedback can work, but if you want to collect more reviews in a way that’s cost-effective, time-efficient and scalable, you need an automated solution.

Email is often the simplest solution for this, and as part of Bizrate’s Online Buyer Survey, we can handle your needs. Our survey sends two automated emails to every customer who completes a purchase – one at the point of sale, and another at fulfillment. This generates a high number of reviews and creates a more accurate picture of the full customer experience.

Once you begin collecting more reviews in earnest, you may realize that it’s only half the battle. What happens when the feedback you get starts to turn negative? Download our eGuide, Negative Reviews, Positive Impact to learn how to turn feedback from unhappy customers into an advantage for your business.