Drive more customer reviews with automated review requests. Learn how to streamline your review collection process for a more successful business.
What if we told you that your customers are dying to give you a good review, but you’re not giving them a chance?
We all know the importance of customer reviews. They literally have the potential to make or break your eCommerce business, especially in today’s market, where 77% of customers read reviews regularly before doing business with you.
But what are you actually doing to get the quality reviews you want?
To get reviews that are influential and believable, you have to be creative. That doesn’t mean you should go out and start writing glowing reviews for yourself—it would seem too obvious.
On the contrary, it means you need to tap into your customers who love working with your brand and take a different approach to get them to give you rave reviews—starting with automating your review requests.
In this blog post, we’ll explain how to set up automated review requests that won’t feel pushy and ones that customers will actually want to complete. Let’s get started!
| TLDR Key Takeaways |
| There are two main types of review requests (internal and external), and which one you’ll use will depend on your business goals. Building automated workflows for review requests will be easy if you’ve already set up email and SMS automation, as they both require triggers and rules. Customers are more likely to give you their honest feedback if you include a clear CTA with simple requests. |
Now, this might seem like a no-brainer since we’re talking about setting up automation, but you’d be surprised by how many platforms don’t have specific review request automation.
Some platforms, like Patch, offer more robust automation capabilities than others, helping you automate every step of the customer journey (including your review requests).
If you have to select a separate tool, make sure it can integrate with your existing workflows. This will make it easy to get started with automation and will ensure that your review process is as smooth and seamless as possible.
The next thing you’ll want to do is to decide which kind of review request you’ll want from your customer. Depending on your business goals, you may request reviews for internal or external purposes.
While you want those killer reviews to showcase your brand to potential customers, you may also want to track the effectiveness of your internal teams to ensure they’re doing everything they can to maximize the customer experience.
You can ask customers for:
Additionally, you’ll need to consider the channel you want the review to appear on (social media, search engine, website, etc.) and the level of depth you want your review to be.
One of the most popular ways to get feedback from your customers quickly is using a star rating system with the option to elaborate. These systems are easy to set up, and they automatically send out a request for feedback once a customer activates the designated trigger.
If you’re looking for something more in-depth, though, you’ll need to consider a written review. This type of review can take more time to set up, but it will give you more detailed feedback from your customers
Next, you’ll need to build workflows for your review requests. These will be a breeze if you’ve created email and SMS automation workflows. The key to setting up your automated requests is carefully selecting your triggers.
Timing is everything here. You want to ensure that you send a review request to the right customer at the right time, so you don’t become a nuisance.
It’s like when you’re out to eat at a restaurant, and the server checks on you right after the food is delivered to your table. Sure, everything looks good—but you haven’t had a chance to dig in and see if everything actually meets your expectations.
Ideally, you should request a review after the customer has interacted with your brand or used your product/service and is satisfied. Using a combination of if/then logic and setting rules works best here.
For example, when a customer makes a purchase, that triggers the system to send them a review request ‘X’ amount of days after the purchase. However, you set a rule that prevents the requests from going out to first-time customers.
This way, you’re sending review requests to customers who are loyal to your brand, thus increasing your chances of getting a better review. Additionally, by waiting some time before sending the request, you’re giving the customer a chance to experience the product before they review it.
Another example of a well-timed review request is to send a review request to customers who make repeat purchases of the same product. You could set a special trigger for this review request that would send out immediately after they complete their second purchase of that product.
By sending automated review requests to customers who’ve had a positive experience with your company, you’re more likely to get quality reviews that have the power to increase your online reputation and put you ahead of the competition.
Your review request shouldn’t feel like a test. Many businesses make the mistake of creating overly complicated review requests that are confusing for customers and lead to low response rates.
Instead, you should keep automated review requests simple with a clear CTA to get the most value from them. Your customers should be able to understand what you’re asking of them without having to read through large blocks of text.
Be sure to use clear language that everyone understands and avoid technical jargon. The last thing you want is for your customers to misinterpret your request and give the wrong response or avoid answering it altogether.
Additionally, it’s absolutely essential that you make it as easy as possible for customers to provide feedback. This includes giving them direct links to your form, landing page, or other location.
Finally, you want to make sure the request feels more personal. Include a customer’s name or other information that will make the request feel more tailored to them.
Once you’ve set up your review request automation, it’s important to monitor your campaigns just like you do for your email and SMS campaigns. You want to make sure customers are responding to your requests, and the feedback is valuable.
If you find that your campaigns aren’t performing well, then you might have to revisit your content and which groups receive your messages. Sometimes your timing is slightly off, or the message is not as clear as it should be, which could impact the number of reviews you receive.
And if all else fails, there are always incentives! We know customers love a good exchange, and one of the easiest ways to coax them into completing your review request is to give them a little reward for their time—whether it’s a limited-time offer or a discount on their next purchase.
Did you know that review rates are 15 times greater with SMS than with traditional email-based requests? That’s why at Patch, we make it easy to create both SMS and email messaging to generate reviews from customers.
Our platform is the perfect all-in-one solution to automate your marketing campaigns. We designed a user-friendly interface that allows you to:
Learn how to boost your business’s reputation with our platform. Schedule a demo today.
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