There is the general phenomenon: We love to go into restaurants which are buzzing, rather than the almost empty neighbouring eatery, where still a few poor souls found their way to for whatever reason.
The magic word for such behavior is Social Proof.
Wikipedia defines it as “Social proof (also known as informational social influence) is a psychological and social phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior in a given situation.”
Now, what does Social Proof have to do with customer reviews?
Well, the more customer reviews or the better the reviews a product or a website has, the more it works like social proof for your visitors to buy your products as well. It just makes life easier, if we can rely on others, who have ordered this product before or been in that restaurant. We do not have to think too much about which restaurant, yoga block, or toolbox is the better choice. Otherwise, we would starve before we finally sat down at the table and order our meal or we would not buy anything, as the massive number of products would just overwhelm our brains.
At the end of the day, the shopper wants to make reasonable decisions, which he can justify in front of him or herself. If he has to spend hours to compare the different toolboxes, which specific features they have and if these features are useful for him, he will be very prone to postpone the shopping and at the end, he might even consider the toolbox not as important anymore.
Well, that is not the way to bring your services and products to the right audience. You want to make it as easy as possible. The decision for your products has to be made quickly and in full force.
Customers want to be convinced!
Prominent examples for a lot of great and detailed reviews are Amazon, Etsy, and Ebay amongst others. A lot of their success is hugely based upon product reviews made by customers.
5 ways to show customer reviews on your website
There are different ways to show customer reviews and social proof for your brand. Below are a few options showing you how to make use of social proof for your business.
Classic Review: This is the most simple option: You pick a few of your best reviews and post them on the homepage or your about-us page.
Product Reviews with Star Ratings: You may want to show reviews as star ratings on certain products.
Video Reviews: The ultimate Way of showing a customer review is through a video review. Because it is so easy to consume and we get so see human faces, which is scientifically proven to convert the best.
Facebook Reviews: You may want to show off your Facebook or Google Reviews if you have many great ones.
Instagram Branding Reviews: You can show the proof for your brand through embedding Instagram posts by your fans who have hashtagged you.
How can small businesses make use of reviews?
Not every business has customers who will record a video review, or even write a product review. However, there are ways you can utilise customer reviews for yourself.
If your product is strongly connected with your brand, because you are offering a service for example you should definitely start collecting reviews on Facebook and on your Google-My-Business-site.
Use your personal connection with your clients and ask them specifically for a review, even if it’s in written form. And give them precise questions, which they can answer. That makes it easy for them to follow your request, instead of sitting in front of a blank piece of paper and not knowing what to write about you.
Select the right questions you will ask. The best idea is to pull the questions from the most frequently asked ones by all your customers.
But before you get into it, please read below for tips & tricks you should take into consideration.
Tips & Tricks
Do research!
Before you start to invest money into your website to set up a star rating option, do the research and Google your own business to see what others have to say about you and your products. Ask the right questions to get the right answers. Otherwise, you might launch your star rating option and on 95% of your product pages you will keep seeing the following text for a long time “Be the first one to leave a review”. Such a store can look abandoned. With the right research before this will be avoided.
Monitor!
Make sure to always monitor your new reviews. When starting with collecting reviews on Facebook and Google you should answer all customer reviews and later on, only the ones which drop below 5 stars. Of course, make sure to keep getting the best reviews you can.
Use the info!
While receiving new reviews, your customers will also mention points which need improvement. Do take them into consideration. Don’t glance through them quickly. Because they are worth gold and can provide you with a true source of reflection on your business. Never forget that the customer is at the heart of each business.
Search your emails!
Check through old emails to see what customers wrote to you in the past. You might find some golden nuggets in there which you can use to set up reviews on your website. You should ask them if they would allow you to post it on your website.
Make an offer!
When starting out with asking your customers for a review, you can offer them a voucher or the option to participate in a draw. If you offer a voucher for your store, you could end up creating a recurring customer.
Claim your website!
If you happen to receive real reviews on other platforms, such as Trustpilot or BB make sure to claim it for your business and reflect the good ratings on your website with an inserted image link.
Final words:
We strongly suggest using the power of customer reviews and showcase them on your website.
Customer reviews are the social proof which provides confidence to new customers when purchasing your goods or services. Use the power of it for yourself!
If you need help with finding the right social media marketing platform on which to ask your customers for feedback or reviews or you just want to get going with your next Marketing Campaign, get in touch with us today. We have a lot of experience in the Digital Marketing world of 2018 and beyond.