How to ask for a review

In today’s increasingly social age, user reviews are a much-used resource for people looking to try new services or buy products online. In fact, in America, 4 out of 5 people read reviews before making a purchase.

If we are unable to see, feel or test an item before we buy it, then we naturally look to gain more information. And what better way than through the eyes of others who have already made the purchase??

There is no better way to get an independent viewpoint than to seek insight from a current customer. We trust our peers and increasingly rely on their recommendations and feedback when deciding to make a purchase.

So as a business, if our future customers are actively seeking reviews, how can we use this to our advantage? How can we gain more reviews from our users to attract in new customers??

Well the good news is, it doesn’t have to be difficult. Nor time-consuming. Here we’ll show you some of the techniques you can use that will gain you more reviews, and provide some example templates to get you going. Simply adapt them to suit your business, and you’ll soon see your social proof ratings soar.

Why ask for reviews?

Have you heard the term ‘social proof’? It’s the buzz word in digital marketing. Without the ability to engage with customers in the real world (i.e. face to face) we have to make our products and services become more appealing. It’s all about selling them better in a digital world.

Increasingly marketers are relying on social proof or this. They use their customers to effectively sell their products and services for them, After all, we’re more likely to believe a customer’s genuine opinion, then the seller’s patter right??

Reviews also improve our search engine rankings, and can therefore increase the visibility of your business.? Many of us discover new products just by reading product reviews online.

So when we combine the trust factor that accelerates purchases, and the increased visibility from search engines, it makes reviews a pretty useful tool for businesses.

But what’s the best way to ask for them?

How to ask for reviews

Let’s take a look at the best practices around asking for reviews:

When’s the best time to ask for a review?

When asking for reviews, statistics show that the best time to ask is 7-14 days after a purchase. This can depend on what you’re selling and how long it takes a customer to try it out. If it’s an item of clothing that your customer can use straight away, then 7 days is ideal. If you sell a SaaS solution that take some set-up and training time, then 14 days may be a better time frame.?

What’s important here is that ask for a review at the early-use stage, when a customer has had the chance to try it out, and also has a positive feeling about the purchase. Within the first 14 days is when they’re most likely to give you a glowing review.

If you want to go deeper into the times of day to ask for a review, then there are lots of statistics that show that 12-7pm is the optimal time of day for asking for reviews, so if you can send your messages in the afternoon then even better.

How should I ask for a review?

When writing your message to ask for a review, it’s important to:

• Keep your message short. People don’t have a lot of time, so don’t fill your message with irrelevant content.
• Only ask for a single action from your message. This should be for them to leave you a review only. Don’t dilute the message with other content that could distract from the objective at hand.
• Make it easy for your customer to action the review. Including a link to the review site sounds obvious, but by making it as quick and painless as possible for your customers to review your business, you’ll get more completions.
• Make it personal. Include the item purchased, along with their name for better results.

Here’s an example message template:

Title: [First Name], please review your [product]

Hi [First Name],

We really hope you love your [purchase]. Here at [Company name] we’re delighted to have you as a customer, thank you for supporting our ambition to [company objective].?

We have other new customers just like you considering [Company name], and we know they’d really appreciate your opinion on how you’ve got on with your [purchase].

Would you mind leaving a quick review to help them out? Here’s the link, it won’t take more than a couple of minutes [link].

Thanks so much, and if we can be of any help, just get in touch.

What are the best channels to use?

The most popular method of asking for reviews is via email. This is because so many businesses collect emails from their customers. It’s easy to automate the send of a personalized email 7-14 days after a purchase is made, making it an effective channel to use.

However, with our email inboxes becoming so clogged up, and spam filters improving, there are other channels to consider also.

LinkedIn is a great platform for B2B companies that don’t have huge volumes of purchases every month. Using Dux-Soup to automate InMails to your customers is a clever alternative. And with InMails getting over 2.5x the open rate of emails, it’s a great channel to use for high value, low volume businesses.?

You can test this channel out by getting Dux-Soup for free. You’ll just need to ensure you have InMails with a Premium LinkedIn subscription, and you’ll just need to collect their LinkedIn URL as part of the checkout purchase.?

Text or WhatsApp messages can also be tried. With 56% of reviews being completed on a mobile phone, it shows how readily available people are on their mobile, so it’s a great place to catch them.

We recommend measuring the effectiveness of different channels to see what works best for you.

Should I incentivize reviews?

Incentives can be a neat way of getting more reviews. Some businesses give away universally appealing vouchers - for example Amazon gift cards, whereas other companies give away branded goods.

Incentives need to make financial sense to your business. There’s no point in giving away a $10 Amazon voucher for a product that costs $8.

If you are going to use incentives then it’s great to include these in your message headers.?

Here’s an example template:

Title: [First Name], get $10 to review your [product]

Hi [First Name],

We really hope you love your [purchase]. Here at [Company name] we’re delighted to have you as a customer, thank you for supporting our ambition to [company objective].?

We have other new customers just like you waiting in the wings, and we know they’d really appreciate your opinion on how you’ve got on with your [purchase].

That’s why we’re offering you a $10 Amazon voucher in exchange for a quick review? Here’s the link, it won’t take more than a couple of minutes [link].

Thanks so much, and if we can be of any help, just get in touch.

Follow-up

Because we’re all busy people, sometimes we need a little nudge. So don’t be afraid to follow up on your first request for a review. A second email/InMail/text message, perhaps using a different channel, can get you more results. For the time it takes to set up it’s really a no-brainer.

Here’s an example follow-up template:

Title: Remember to review your [Product], [First Name]

Hey [First Name],

Just a quick reminder to review your [product]. We’re all eagerly awaiting your review and so it would be great if you could do so within the next couple of days.

Here’s the link again [link].?

(Optional offer: Don’t forget we’ll send you a $10 Amazon voucher for your trouble)

Summary

And there you have it, some easy actions you can take today to start getting reviews flowing through and your social proof off the blocks. Feel free to add your ideas here too.??