To build a business on the Internet and sell as many products as possible, you need the wishes and satisfaction of your customers. If they are satisfied with the quality of your service and product, you have a good chance of getting good customer reviews. But the question is, how do you motivate customers to recommend you and your business? There are many ways to get positive feedback from customers. In this article, we explain why customer reviews are so important, how you can respond to bad comments, and what tips you can use to get more reviews from your customers.

 

Why are customer ratings important?

Customer ratings can make a significant contribution to a company's success. Studies have shown that people are more likely to buy products if they already have positive ratings from other customers. As a customer, you often don't have the opportunity to test or view the product - especially if you shop online. Although companies list all the important information and details for consumers next to their product, every potential customer knows that no matter how good the product is, the company is dying to sell it. It makes a product with a lot of positive customer ratings look more trustworthy because others have already tested it and found it to be good. For this reason, customer reviews can be described as the reason for a successful success for companies, which is why every entrepreneur and founder will deal with them.

 

In addition to the customer confidence leap, many reviews have resulted in higher visibility of the company on the Internet. If an online shop can show countless reviews to customers, Google will reward the company with a better ranking. This is because search engines evaluate customer reviews as user-generated content. This search engine optimization can be especially important for small, local companies that invest less time in SEO work.

 

How do you react to bad reviews?

You should not react negatively to every bad customer review. On the one hand, customer ratings always give you the opportunity to further improve your products. See reviews as a constructive response to continuously improve product quality. On the other hand, you should never react angrily to negative criticism. Always be understanding and generous, because you don’t want to lose customers. Ignoring bad reviews would be a complete mistake. Take any criticism seriously so it doesn’t turn into a shit storm. Even if some criticism is explained a little too sharply, you should always politely ask what the problem really is. After all, not every customer can be satisfied with your product without exception. So please respond publicly so that other customers see that you are also responding to negative reviews as a company. 

 

Thus, keep in mind that bad reviews build credibility. If there are only positive reviews on the internet that appreciate your product in the sky, then there can be quick doubts on whether the reviews were written by actual customers.

 

Fake customer reviews

There are always companies that fake customer ratings to attract potential buyers. Fake, positive reviews are especially tempting if the products of the online store or mail-order company do not receive any or only negative reviews. But buying positive reviews is not wise for entrepreneurs, because false reviews can be warned. Deleting or blocking negative reviews can also be a warning and can be criminally relevant. If a warning is issued, you must expect a fine of several thousand euros. 

It could be even worse if the customer or the media could find out about the process and take the storm. The damage done to the image seen is much worse than the original bad review.

 

Tips For More Customer Ratings

In order for you to benefit from the many customer reviews, we offer you some tips on how to encourage your customers to rate your products.

 

Tip 1: Register With Rating Portals

The first measure is that you register your website or your online store with your industry-related rating portal. For example, if you are active in the travel industry, registering on an assessment portal is not very helpful in gardening.

 

Tip 2: Customer Ratings In Social Networks

Social networks like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter are playing an increasingly important role in the lives of most people. So use these networks to get customer ratings on the platform. Social media and networking sites are the real platforms to get more visitors. You can communicate like a regular visitor to showcase your services or products. So the chances of getting more positive reviews here are slim. Nowhere else do we have the opportunity to reach so many people today.

 

Tip 3: After-sales Emails

After successfully completing an order, you can still send a so-called after-sales email to your customers. In this message, the customer is asked to indicate their level of satisfaction - usually in the form of stars. These ratings are then displayed on the product page so that other customers can see how an item works on average. You can relate such evaluation requests to all possible, unique fields. For example, you can rate products, websites, order processing, or delivery services.

 

Tip 4: Customer Ratings During The Customer Journey

There is an option to combine evaluation requests on your individual pages after the so-called customer has visited or finished the order by visiting the website. Usually, a button of your own is enough to encourage customers to rate B-rated products.

 

Tip 5: Focus On The Customer

You should give your customer a good reason to review. However, this does not mean bribery. Rather, explain why his assessment is so important. Issues like "product improvement", "service optimization" or even "good and customized offers" can motivate customers to take part in the survey. The sooner the customer realizes that the review is beneficial for future purchases, the more likely he is to formulate a review. To be truly tempting, you can also offer a reward that is so high quality that customers will bite.

 

Tip 6: Simplicity Is The Key

The best way to get lots of customer reviews and recommendations is to have a well-organized form that can be filled out quickly and without much effort. Ideally, you give the customer a rating based on a multiple-choice approach: several answer options have already been given. The customer only has to click on one of them which they like the most or which does not come close to their opinion.

 

Tip 7: Ranking List, Title, Or "Hall Of Fame"

Customer ratings are vital, especially in the area of ​​large online shops. Companies like TripAdvisor or Amazon are so dependent on customer reviews that they put a lot of energy into motivating their customers. A published ranking list of very hardworking customers can be found for customer ratings, for example. Other companies have created their own "Hall of Fame" for hardworking customers or by awarding special titles.