Five creative ways to encourage reviews and increase conversions

There are multiple ways to collect feedback during the customer journey. Many sites will suggest using incentives such as rewards or contests to encourage review writing. That’s not quite our style.

Trustpilot believes in openness and collaboration between customers and businesses. Our review process helps you encourage reviews but removes bias and incentivization because honest feedback from a trustworthy source is the best kind. 

Yet, it’s not always easy to gather. Only 5% and 10% of customers pen reviews, influencing approximately 20% of sales. Considering those numbers –  imagine if 50% of customers wrote reviews. Additionally, according to BigCommerce, 50 or more reviews per product can mean a 4.6% increase in conversion rate.  

But a question worth asking is how exactly do I collect piles of feedback during the customer journey without seeming coercive? How do I hit that 50% mark? 

We’ve gathered expertise highlighting ways to encourage reviews along the customer journey that align with the Trustpilot recommendations. Each method contains many supporting ideas and tactics that help you stay legitimate and attract the bounty of reviews you seek.  

First…

Time review asks correctly

It’s a common happening now. After a food order or haircut, a business will usually ask on the spot, “Can you leave a review?” For many customer-facing businesses, customer sales calls or on-site chat interactions present a great opportunity to request a review, especially if the customer is willing to offer an opinion.  

Reviews have power; we’ve proven that. We know 93% of people say online reviews impact their buying decisions, so including the request in customer interactions is essential. Thankfully, 71% of people will leave a review for a business if they’re asked, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep an eye on sentiment. 

Adapt your response based on the customer’s experience. A response full of gushing gratitude won’t work for those with lower star ratings. Instead, focus on resolving issues and improving outcomes. For great reviews, use it as an opportunity to show off your service positively via social proof. 

At Trustpilot, we have multiple ways to embed reviews into your online landscape. TrustBoxes are a useful tool for this. These widgets are placed on websites and contain recent reviews, TrustScores, and star ratings. You can also filter which reviews you want to feature, such as favourited reviews, reviews by star rating or tagged reviews with keywords that target specific audiences. 

The right time to ask for a review depends on the business type. In insurance, it’s usually best at the point of sale, or once a policy has been purchased. For e-commerce, it’s after delivery. At Trustpilot, we’ve discovered that sending an invitation closer to the last interaction is the sweet spot and leads to higher conversion rates. Still, reviews can also focus on service experiences, so don’t forget the whole customer journey. 

2. Use invitation emails, but get them right

Timing is everything, and now that we’ve established the best time to send an invite, how should it look to achieve maximum results? 

Emails are safe if asking each customer individually seems time-consuming (which it will be for bigger companies). The most effective emails eliminate fluff and over-branding. 

At Trustpilot, we offer email templates to help you start on the right foot. But if your preference is to create your own, then consider these tips: 

Focus on the star ratings

Include star ratings in your subject line, and don’t crowd the presentation with large imagery and convoluted copy that will distract from your social proof. Stick to 50 - 100 words. 

Be clear about the completion time

Studies indicate that including a reading time in copy increases engagement by 40%. So be sure to include how long it will take to leave a review in an invitation email. 

Stick to your branding

Be sure to add your company logo and brand’s tone of voice in the copy. But not too much. 

Placeholders

Be sure to use features (offered by Trustpilot) like name and stars placeholders. 

3. Consider different channels

SMS review invitations have a higher conversion rate; the average text open rate is 98%. An SMS review invitation is a quick and easy way to gather feedback; the minimal effort required increases the likelihood of a response. 

But beyond SMS, Trustpilot’s API makes it easier to customize where review invitations can appear. Star ratings can be featured in everything from live chats and surveys to push notifications.

4. Remind, remind, remind

Review reminders can increase review collections significantly based on Trustpilot customer experiences. Send reminders only when customers don’t respond to review invitations after a certain amount of time, give or take a week, especially for bigger purchase items. 

But much like review invitations, the business type informs the time between reminders. A restaurant review should take a few days, while a car purchase can take a few months. 

At Trustpilot, we include review reminders in our platform with a switch-on feature that allows users to choose how many days or weeks pass between the original invitation and the reminder. 

5. Listen to the data

After sending out review invitations and reminders, you build a data pool of information in a dashboard, like the one Trustpilot offers.  

A dashboard can help you understand what works and doesn’t with your review collections strategy. Is the mix of review invitation channels working? What are the open rates? Is the email template and language right for the region and customer base? 

Trustpilot’s dashboard allows you to view the number of invitations delivered within a chosen time period and the number of reviews that originated from those invitations. 

For reminders, it’s also easy to see these emails' impact on invitation conversion. 

If the goal is conversion rate, brands that focus on enhancing customer experience see an 80% spike in revenue. The best way to do that is to adjust tactics based on customer data offered by reviews. The more reviews, the better; use reviews as the key to unlocking conversions and make that 50% mark a reality. 

Key takeaways

• 

  We recommend collecting feedback without bias or incentivization to encourage honest feedback from a trustworthy source.

• 

  Businesses can request reviews during customer interactions, such as sales calls and at the end of an onsite chat interaction. 

• 

  Timing is everything when asking for reviews, and sending an invite closer to the last interaction leads to higher conversion rates.

• 

  Effective email invitations should focus on star ratings, be clear about completion time, stick to branding, and include placeholders.

• 

  Sending review reminders can greatly increase review collection, but the business type should determine the length of time between reminders.

Like what you read? The Trustpilot platform offers even more ways to automate your review collection and get the most out of your customer reviews.; try it for free by booking a demo here.