The internet has made shopping a different ballgame for most people. Instead of being able to speak directly with someone or hold an item in your hand, the internet creates barriers in the online shopping process. The amount of personal exposure in the online shopping process is minimal. This makes online reviews incredibly important in the internet shopping process. One way to boost your online exposure and business is to encourage customers to leave positive reviews for your website.
By certain estimates, almost three-fourths of online shoppers use online reviews to determine who they will do business with. This makes online reviews an absolutely essential piece of the internet shopping equation. However, great online reviews aren’t something that you can easily control. To get positive online reviews you will need to have a solid customer base who were impressed enough with what you were offering to take the time to tell others about it. This isn’t something that you can order a dozen of, and it isn’t something that you can take care of yourself. Good reviews come from good customers, so the best thing you can do is encourage your existing loyal customers to leave positive reviews about your company.
To encourage customers to leave positive reviews, you need to have a strong strategy in place. Simply telling a customer that you would love it if they said something positive about you isn’t going to give them clear enough expectations to follow through with the task. To gain more positive conversation about you around the internet you will need clear expectations of where, what and how long each review should be.
Here are a few guidelines as to how you can encourage customers to leave positive reviews on different websites:
- Have a plan. Tell your customers where to go, when they should go there and how long their reviews should be. Having a precise plan in place will make it much easier on your customers to leave a review for your website.
- Pick reliable review-sites. Websites like Yep and Google + are known resources for online reviews, which means that people go there both to read reviews and to give them. Concentrate on having your online reviews appear where your people are by picking the review sites where you want your customers to lead remarks, and then guide them down those avenues.
- Try auto-responders. Incorporating auto-responders into your email marketing campaign can improve your rate of positive reviews significantly. Auto-responders work by encouraging users who have recently made a purchase to visit your online review website and leave remarks about their experience. Your email auto-responder should have a simple to follow, direct link to where customers can leave online reviews.
When starting out with online reviews have a long look at your “A list” customers. This includes your regulars, those who repeatedly return to your website to make purchases or take advantage of your services. If they are coming back, then chances are they are happy with what you are offering and may be willing to share their experience with others. Try encouraging your regular customers to leave reviews by offering incentives, like special discounts for those who follow through with the review process.
Your online review profiles are a valuable space for you. This is an area where potential clients may decide whether they give your company business or contact one of your competitors instead. Take advantage of this precious space by encouraging your customers to fill with positive reviews about your company.