Increase Your Conversion Rate With These Online Reviews Tips

Customer reviews are becoming a “silent salesperson” with more people turning to reviews when deciding whether to buy from you or your rivals. Whether customers are looking to buy a new car, book a weekend away or simply dine at a local restaurant, your well-tuned product descriptions alone may not be enough anymore to persuade customers to part with their hard-earned cash – good online reviews may be required to maintain or increase your conversion rate!

Benefits of Reviews

Reviews can increase trust as customers value the opinions of fellow customers. From a PPC perspective, if you receive enough reviews then you could see Google seller ratings alongside your ads which could increase your clickthrough rates as well as your conversion rates!

Even negative reviews can be helpful as a few negative reviews in the mix can make your positive reviews more credible. Reviews are also a great source of valuable, insightful feedback so make sure you use them well. Don’t view negative reviews as damaging, see them as constructive and learn from them to improve your business, your product offerings and your descriptions. If you respond to negative reviews promptly then people will respect your willingness to address issues.

Tips for Getting More Reviews

Make it easy

Tell your customers where to go to leave a review and what you’d love feedback on (customer service, product quality, value for money). You could send them an email inviting them to join your other customers on a review site or direct them straight to your Facebook, Twitter or Google+ page. If you come into contact with your customers then ask them when you see them. For example, if you own a restaurant then ask customers after their meal if they would mind leaving a review, or printing a message on their receipt.  

Thank customers

If you want to avoid incentivising customers before they review you, then you could consider thanking them with a discount coupon after they have submitted a review. If customers have gone to the effort of advocating your brand with a gleaming review why not say “thanks!” They may return to spend the discount coupon and leave another review in the process.

Respond

If your customers have taken the time to write reviews, make time to acknowledge them. You should always respond to negative reviews to show customers that you act on their feedback which will soften the negativity of the review and improve your credibility. Although time-consuming, some companies like The Ocean View Hotel in Bournemouth even make the effort to respond to positive reviews too!  

Exceed expectations

Customers are more likely to leave positive reviews if you exceed their expectations so try to go the extra mile where possible.

And last but certainly not least... Don't fake it!

You should never write your own reviews (or only offer incentives for positive reviews) regardless of how desperately you want to boost your ratings. Customers do notice the difference between genuine and false reviews and the effects of “faking it” could be detrimental.

Follow these tips for collecting the online reviews you deserve and watch your website conversion rate increase and your business prosper as a result!