Risk aversion is innate for online consumers. In fact, researchers say that nearly 90% of consumers consider product reviews before completing an online purchase.
The reason is simple. Customers never want to be bogged down or disappointed by anything they have either never experienced themselves personally or have yet to see others use and/or try. For them, the trust factor plays a more decisive role than the cost or variety of a product that they can see on display. Therefore, consumer reviews are a must for online retailers (e-tailers). In fact, some would argue that good product reviews are the heart & soul of a successful e-commerce site.
In this post, we will share a few simple tactics that can help e-tailers attract more reviews for their e-commerce store. Ensuring those reviews are positive? Well…that’s on you and your amazing product development team
Get Going with Apps
The Magento Marketplace offers Rating Extensions that can easily and automatically collect and display product reviews on your website. These extensions come with a variety of features such as support for site functionalities, email notifications, colorful review and rating bars and can increase your cross-sales and up-sales. Yotpo and Review Booster are great examples for review extensions that not only ensure credibility of the reviews, but also provide a range of powerful features to simplify review management.
Ride the Social Media Wave
Social media platforms and outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs and forums are, in fact, unmatchable sources of User Generated Content (UGC). Let’s face it, your customers and followers are more likely to provide product feedback on social media platforms than on your e-commerce site.AddShoppers and Social Share are examples of popular Magento extensions that can turn your customers’ purchases into valuable social media feedback.
Instead of trying to compete with these widely popular platforms, leverage the opportunity, be active in information sharing and increase your knowledge of customer behavior. The chances are high that you will end up offering the right things to the right shoppers at the right time.
Source: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/promote-products-with-social-media/
If you wish to target your products to specific demographics, segment your group of potential followers and run target-specific ad campaigns on Facebook. There is no better medium to share your business with families, friends and acquaintances connected to your followers. In short, embrace the social media craze and you will realize that it may yield better ROI than your standard ad media.
Use Email Marketing Software
Email is the second best effective marketing medium (after Search) that can significantly increase your rate of product reviews and subsequently, potential e-commerce revenue. To begin with, you need a verified list of email contacts, and a fully featured email marketing software solution for automation and list segmentation. Once you offer incentives and discounts to customers in exchange for online reviews, you can rest assured that your numbers will pick up. Quick tip: This strategy works best when you send personalized emails to customers just a few days after they make a purchase on your site.
Reward Your Loyal Customers
Money can lead to more money. Customers can lead to more customers. If you know how to nurture healthy relationships with your loyal customers, earning positive reviews isn’t a tough task anymore. Remember, 80% of e-commerce revenue comes from about a fifth of existing customers. With great product reviews from satisfied customers, you have more chances to attract repeats as well as new business.
Delight Your Customers with Free Credits
Genuine positive product reviews are priceless and as such, are hard to get for free. Normally, customers don’t post reviews voluntarily unless they feel overwhelmingly satisfied by your product or surprised by your offerings. Therefore, consider trying a more engaging approach. For instance, send them an email with store credits to spend within 24 hours and ask them to write short reviews in return – there is a possibility that the message goes viral and you’ll even get more than expected.
Use Third Party Websites for E-commerce Store Promotion
Create insightful content that’s worth sharing. As an example, try writing tutorials and useful articles on shopping related topics and posting them on popular shopping sites and blogs. This will help you attract avid readers who will indirectly follow your e-commerce store to consume and possibly share more information and product descriptions with their contacts.
Position Yourself as a Thought Leader
If you excel at writing product reviews, are in the business of competitive product analysis or simply knowledgeable about your industry, the results could be even more gratifying. Once people recognize you as an industry expert, they will trust you and refer you and your e-commerce website to others. This, in turn, will increase user engagement and generate more product reviews.
Don’t forget, getting great reviews means your e-commerce website must perform flawlessly to keep up with demand. Check your website’s statushere.
Other suggestions
Think we missed out on some new strategies with good turnarounds? Please share them in the comment section below.
