5 Winning Ways to Ensure 5-Star Customer Reviews

Do you buy products or services without reading the reviews? Most of you would say no. One of five customers these days choose to read the reviews before purchasing a service or product. Thanks to social media platforms like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Yelp, more than 85% of the customers trust customer feedback as much as a recommendation from family or friends.

There a few reasons why buyers trust these reviews:

Reviews represent a real-life use situation.
The majority of the reviews are unbiased.
They give confidence to the visitors about the quality of product/service.

However, getting good, genuine reviews from customers is challenging. Most of them prefer to read, buy, and sign off. People mostly leave a review because:

They are unsatisfied with the product/service.
They are satisfied with the product/ service.
They are somewhere in between but wants to put forth their feelings about the product/service.

How vital are Customer Reviews for Your Business?

Customer reviews are highly influential and boost your sales more than paid marketing. According to various market research reports:

People read at least ten reviews before they consider your product
The purchase rate of products with 5-6 reviews is 250% higher than the products with 0 reviews
Thoughts can affect the15% of your local search results
82% of the buyers read reviews online for local service providers/businesses
91% of the customers are influenced by positive reviews and more likely to purchase or get the product or service
5-star ratings get you 25% more clicks than a 2/3-star rating
80% of the B2B & B2C sales involve mouth publicity during the sales process
82% of small business owners rely on referrals as their no.1 source for new buyers

Where to Find Potential Customers?

Before you invest your valuable resources – time and money, you need to identify the source where your current customers and potential customers are likely to interact with you. If you find 50-60% of the customers’ active on Google or Facebook, start from there.

However, you must make sure you know your target customers, their likes/dislikes, and on which platforms they spend most of their time. In simple terms, you need to have a good knowledge of your current customer’s buying history and your potential customer’s persona.

Before you get started with getting reviews, there are two critical factors you must take note of:

1. Claim business listing:

A business with verified listing gives customers assurance of legitimacy. It helps them to trust and learn more about your company. If you are looking to get your business listed, here are some major review platforms.

Amazon
Facebook
Better Business Bureau (BBB)
Google My Business
Yellow Pages
Angie’s List
Yelp
TripAdvisor
Foursquare

2. Get the customer review link:

Once you’ve completed your listing, you need to get your customer review link so that you can share it with your customers and collect feedback. While some platform’s review link is similar to the business listing URL, there are some portals which have a specific review page—for example, xyz.com/babycry or xyz.com/babycry/reviews.

Go to your review page
Copy the URL
Paste it into the message you want to send to customers asking for reviews

How to Get 5-Star Reviews Online – 5 Crucial Tricks

Despite the significance of online reviews, many companies still choose to pay little attention to them. Whether you are just getting started or looking to boost the sales of your current business, here are some tips to help you to get the best of your efforts and gain more 5-star reviews on your business’s social media platforms.

1. Give them something unique:

When there are so many competitors, you need to offer something exceptional. There are a lot of things you can do to improve their customer experience. But it ultimately comes down to doing things better than their expectations. If you give them the best quality product and friendly customer service, we assure you that they won't be hesitant to rate you 5-stars.

2. Politely ask for the reviews:

According to surveys, if there are 100 satisfied customers, 50% of the customers would willingly leave reviews online. Reports also show that 76% of the customers leave reviews when asked. So, while asking, make sure to:

Be appreciative and let them know how thankful you are
Explain the importance of feedback for your business
Keep it short, sweet, and straightforward.
Offer some additional benefits like a gift card or flat discounts on the next order.
Include the review link along with a clear call-to-action

3. Be flexible with your communication channels:

Customers choose to communicate through multiple communication channels. You must select the right communication channel for receiving reviews. For instance, organisations that tend to ask for texts tend to find more reviews than those through emails. Also, you have to decide between the automated process and manual process.

Automated requests are customer-based, brings in more reviews, but the rating will be less than 5-stars.
Manual review requests are personal, time-consuming, but guarantees 5-star reviews.

4. Always monitor your customer feedback:

Your job doesn’t end with asking for feedback. You need to follow up regularly to check the rating and reviews. Whenever you get a review, you should:

Thank the customer for taking the time out to write the review
Be kind and appreciative to strengthen the relationship.
Address their feedback to make them feel that you are listeningto them
Keep your promise by actually doing what you told the customer.
Be active and engage with your customers all the time.

5. Try to turn negative feedback into a positive one:

No matter what you do, you cannot avoid negative reviews – and that's okay! Negative reviews allow you to improve your product/service for better. Get in touch with the customer and tell him/her how you would fix the problem.

You should see it as the opportunity to compensate and improve the situation. After fixing the issue, get back to the customer and ask if they are happy and would consider updating the review.

Concluding Words:

The more reviews a business has on online platforms, the more trustworthy a company becomes for a customer. It encourages them to buy from you and boosts your sales in return. As ratings can impact the overall success of your business, it's essential to monitor the negative reviews regularly and act towards improving the challenges to accomplish your business goal.

Learn More from Our Online Marketing Experts

These days, online marketing plays a significant role in the success of a business online. It's highly imperative for you, as a business owner, to uphold your business reputation and get the maximum outcome of your investments. For an in-depth understanding of online marketing and the prospects it holds for your business, you must get in touch with the marketing gurus at Essay.reviews. Here, all marketing experts have decades of experience in the online marketing area and possess impeccable knowledge of the latest aspects of digital marketing.

They can design the perfect marketing strategy for you and guide you to the right audience. Wait no longer and contact us today to improve your business’s online presence and boost your sales.