Buyer reviews are not always a bad thing. As luck would have it, buyer feedback, reviews, and ratings are good for buyers and sellers alike. Don’t you agree that buyer reviews and ratings can be a blessing in disguise?
It’s time we stop judging them as unfair and instead let us show you how to make the most out of your buyer reviews and how they can benefit your online business.
What Is a Buyer Review?
Before we get started, let us provide you with a better understanding of a buyer review.
Buyer review means the genuine feedback of a buyer about a product purchased from any eCommerce website. This is also commonly called a “customer review” or “service/product review”.
The Good, the Bad (And the Ugly) Of Buyer Reviews
Reviews come in two forms: good buyer reviews that are written by happy customers and bad buyer reviews that are written by unhappy customers.
Positive buyer reviews
If customers have had a very positive experience with your company, they might write about their great experience with your customer service or product to recommend it.
They can post on Facebook, Google, Yelp, or on your website directly to share their contentment and how happy they are about your brand.
Negative buyer reviews
When someone writes an honest negative review, it’s usually because they’re frustrated about something specific.
It could be because of:
- Poor quality, or not what they expected.
- The product was damaged or defective.
- Poor customer service.
- Their package did not arrive on time.
- Shipping costs.
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Customers who have been deceived will want to communicate their experiences with friends and other consumers so that they don’t experience the same issues.
How Buyer Reviews Can Boost Sales
Although it might be scary to face real and true feedback from customers, know that buyer reviews are an opportunity for your e-business to improve and grow.
Indeed, there are many benefits buyer reviews can bring to your online business if you know how to listen to your customers…
1. Helps you improve the quality of your products and services
One of the first benefits of getting reviews of online buyers on your site is to receive honest feedback about the quality of your products and service.
The greatest way to get good, honest feedback on your company is to enlist the help of existing users.
They may also be of particular value because they use it frequently – perhaps even more than you! They can give you accurate information and analysis on its advantages and drawbacks.
Once you’ve gathered those opinions, make sure to make them helpful and pass them on to the quality or research department. That way, it can save you a lot of time from doing in-depth analysis and research!
2. Increase buyer’s confidence in your online store
When buying on an online store, most consumers will look compare different sellers and their buyer reviews before making their final purchase decision.
The testimonials section allows clients to select which online store they want to buy from.
Whether your buyer reviews are published on different platforms such as Trustpilot, Yelp, or Tripadvisor, or directly integrated into your website, they’ll help increase credibility for your brand.
Prospects will know that your store is real, and has already been tried and approved by prior customers.
3. Build trust among buyers
Thanks to reviewers, an eventual prospect will know a little more about the product they are going to purchase from you before actually buying it.
Customers can feel safer knowing that other buyers have had a good experience with your company. Online reviews also show buyers how your business solved past complaints.
It’s likely that by reading this section, they’ll be more confident about the product or services you offer.
4. Increase sales on your online store
Receiving recommendations from other buyers who have tried your product is probably one of the strongest marketing arguments to be made when selling a product or service.
Reviews can assist other consumers in making an informed decision before purchasing a product. And they regularly play a major role in transactions as the 2nd most influential one according to Power Review.
According to their 2021 Ratings and Reviews research, displaying customer feedback on your website might improve conversions by up to 115%. So what are you waiting for?
5. Increase buyer loyalty
Another great point of allowing customers’ reviews and ratings on your website is that it can help with buyer loyalty.
Indeed, whenever an online store owner shows an interest and takes the time to answer or contact a consumer who wrote a message, it helps customer satisfaction, creates a feeling of being heard and noticed, and ultimately, establishes a long-term buyer-seller relationship.
Customer loyalty is one of the most potent methods to build brand recognition and repeat business for your company, which you undoubtedly want!
To do so, make sure you respond to any comments that might be posted on your website or any other platform. It could have great value for your future.
6. Improve your SEO and marketing strategy
Did you know that buyer reviews can help you improve search engine optimization?
Indeed, buyer reviews on your site or another platform are an important factor in the ranking of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of your online store.
According to Power Reviews again, 72% of product page traffic is happening on pages that display testimonials and ratings. A high rating would certainly increase your ranking on search engines compared to other stores that have not yet set up buyer reviews.
But that’s not all! If you do have buyer reviews posted on other websites such as on a dedicated testimonial platform or a Google My Business page, for instance, you could be creating backlinks for your website and improving its ranking or domain authority too.
In both cases, it will be easier for people to find you online, increase traffic, and possibly grow conversions!
How to Achieve Great Buyer Feedback?
If you want to create a great after-buying experience so customers want to share a positive opinion about your company, here are some tips:
1. Ship the product(s) at a great rate and on time;
2. Provide customer support appropriately;
3. Always thank the buyer for purchasing from you;
4. Acknowledge buyers’ complaints by providing a fast and effective solution. If needed, promptly provide the customers with a refund if they return the product;
5. Always be on top of your game – That means you should not let any review go unanswered. Make sure that they always receive a positive response!
How to Encourage Customers to Leave a Review?
1. Promote buyer reviews on your online store
You could place a buyer review sticker or star rating on all your products. This will encourage buyers to leave their own.
2. Invite customers to leave feedback by email
Simply ask them if they are satisfied with the product after using it, thanks to an email.
You can also include a text box for buyers to write in their comments or suggestions about your product or service directly on the product pages of your website.
3. Keep track of what your buyer says and do something about it
You should make sure to pay attention to buyer reviews on social media, by direct messages, and on other forums, for instance.
Make sure to thank those customers for their feedback and respond if needed. But note that you could also nicely ask them to replicate that comment directly on your online store.
4. Leave a cute note in the shipping box
Consider leaving a handwritten note in the shipping boxes of your customer’s purchases.
Explain that it’s deeply important for your company’s awareness and reputation if they could write an online comment about the product they just bought.
That’s all there is to it: now you know everything about the power a buyer review could have on your businesses’ growth.
Between the increase in conversions, customer loyalty, trust, and confidence in your brand, the potential traffic rise to your site, and SEO improvement in rankings and product development, there’s no reason on waiting any more time to set up customer reviews on your online store if they aren’t already!
We hope that this post has persuaded you to pay attention to your consumer’s voice, and we look forward to discussing another topic with you real soon.
Stay tuned. More eCommerce ideas are on the way!
