5 Ways to Get More Customer Reviews Using Social Media
Uma Bhat
Mon, 09/03/2018 - 13:30

How much influence do you think the customer reviews have on a person’s buying decisions? 


You will be surprised to know that 85% of consumers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations.


This makes it more important for you to generate positive customer reviews which can make or break your business. But how do you acquire reviews?

For this you need to have a strong and well planned reviews acquisition process which is proactive and not reactive. Instead of waiting and hoping that customers will write reviews, you should start to actively use social media platforms such as the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest to bring in the customer reviews for your business.

Here are 5 Ways to Bring In More Customer Reviews Using Social Media:

1. Make Your Review Buttons Visible

The global trend is moving towards online shopping. Most of the online shoppers browse online reviews before making a purchase. This shows reviews have become an influential sales and marketing tool.

Get more reviews on your social page by enabling individuals to post their review on your product or service. At the end of a purchase make it easy for the customer to provide the review by incorporating review buttons on social pages. With just one click, they should be able to share a comment or their experience about your product.

For example on Facebook, to make customers review tab visible, you have to log into your business page and under setting->Edit page->Reviews, click on ‘Show reviews’. This makes the reviews visible to public and people can also leave a review on this page.
 

2. Request for Customer Reviews

 


68% of consumers have left a review after being asked to do so (BrightLocal, 2017)


When you ask for a customer review, generally it proves to have better rating than otherwise. This is because a customer who is happy and upon being asked for review generally leaves a positive comment compared to unhappy  customers who  decides to add a comment on their own.

Thus, asking people to leave a review on social media results in better and higher rating for your product.

There are many ways in which customer reviews can be obtained. One way is by automating the review process. Using tools such as ReviewTrackers can track, manage, and respond to reviews and social mentions in one centralized place.
 

3. Offer Incentives For Writing Reviews

Do you remember proactively writing reviews for any products that you purchased? No!!


Study reveals that out of every 5 customers 1 customer rely on reviews for making a purchase decision. But 81% actually do not write any reviews proactively. 


While people want to read reviews before buying, but not many are ready to write a review!!

Hence business should focus on converting customers into reviewers by offering incentives in exchange for reviews.

Social media managers can run a review incentive campaign to make their customers to review their product or service. But ensure that all incentives are compliant with the guidelines set by the ACCC in accordance with the Competition and Consumer Act (2010).

For example see how Adagio Teas is gathering reviews by rewarding five loyalty points for each review written.
 

4. Contest Entry In Exchange For A Review

When you are planning for a contest on social media, it would be a wonderful idea to get people to share their review as part of the entry to contest.

People love challenges and winning!! So people do not mind to answer few product related questions or to rate your product before entering into the contest. Make the contest prize very interesting and enticing.

The contest giveaways can be in the form of store gift certificates, accessories designed only for the contest giveaways, some of your popular store products or gift cards to restaurant or cafes.

Make sure to run the contest for several weeks so that more people are participating and there is a chance to gather higher number of reviews.

For example see how Nordstrom is trying to get product reviews through a contest. It is encouraging social media users to provide product reviews in exchange for a chance to win $1,000 gift card.
 

5. Collect More Visual Review Content


PowerReviews research found that nearly all (97%) of shoppers seek out visual content prior to purchase. 


The pictures from products are being considered as a review by many consumers on social media.

Consumers are seeking out pictures from real customers who are using the products and services. The images and videos from consumers are being used as a way to fill in gaps that might have been created in a written description or a start rating.

The visual content shared by the company helps the consumer to connect with a product. As per the research study, nearly 72% of consumers are more likely to buy a product that has reviews that feature photos and videos in addition to written text.

To make it easy for the social media uses, allow consumers to upload pictures and videos of the products and services directly from their camera into their Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds.

The PowerReviews Image Gallery allows brands and retailers to showcase consumer images in an engaging gallery directly on the product page. The Image Gallery increases the visibility of visual content, leading to higher engagement on product pages and a greater conversion rate.
 

Conclusion

Social media has offered a whole new opportunity for business and brands to enhance relationship with customers. This is emerging in the form of customer reviews.

If properly used social media can be explored to collect the voice of the customers. The thoughts and opinions of customers can be collected in the form on reviews through social media. It is the most comfortable and informal method of communication which is free of promotion and selling.

Customer reviews have come a long way to establish itself as a great way to not just market a product but also to build quality content on your social pages.