Complete Guide to Cultivate and Manage Customer Reviews

Word of mouth is the holy grail of marketing; your marketing manager can try his best. But there are a ton of factors that can’t be controlled.

In the last two years, influencer marketing has come as close as it can get with manufactured word of mouth in the shape of UGC (user-generated content).

But nothing resonates better and urges customers to act like a raw sweet honest review.

It doesn’t only urge customers but encourages you to improve your products and keep up your good work.

Social Proof Importance

If you’re a first-time buyer, you can get lost in terms. You can get cold feet at the check-out because you don’t know if you can trust the seller.

A bunch of reviews can create hype which creates peer pressure not for copy-cats but for people who don’t like to mess out on things.

And if you are a new store, second thoughts come in triples because people simply don’t like to waste their money.

That’s why it’s critical to feed their curiosity with something reassuring even if it is a 3-word review.

Benefits of Customer Reviews

Customer reviews signal and wave to Google that you have good products, and you deserve to rank higher on the results.

So, it can help you in search engine optimization besides the traffic.

But you can always stay relevant by taking the reviews seriously.

Each bad review can point out what is wrong with the product and the business itself.

If you reverse engineer that bad review it could help you see your business with fresh eyes.

Collecting Customer Reviews

Ask and you shall receive.

You can model brick-and-mortar stores, and ask your customers directly for surveys and reviews, especially if they’re repeating customers.

Facilitating the process is very important, as you need to serve them while appreciating their time.

So, make the process easy by using things like QR codes, direct links, and review programs.

Managing Customer Reviews

Make sure to respond within 24-48 hours.

Even if it was a bad review, you need to let your customer cool down as you do too for a couple of days.

To communicate the problem better without any harsh feelings or personal grudges.

If you’re a local store you can use Google My Business, if you’re an online store use your review app to keep monitoring and responding day by day.

For SEO bonus, always respond addressing the products that the customer bought to strengthen your signal to Google.

Leveraging Customer Reviews

Showcase your positive reviews on your landing page.

It’s the first thing a new customer will be looking for.

You can also repurpose them into marketing campaigns, using mediums like email marketing to publish newsletters or social media ad campaigns to quote those testimonials.

You can lay a ground for strong social credit.

Customer Reviews Programs

If you use a smooth review program like Judge.Me, your customers might be enticed enough to give you free photo sessions for the products that they bought.

That can help show how your hair product looks and feels.

Which gives you new material to repurpose.

Fake Customer Reviews

I know it might be easier to hire a company to publish fake reviews on your website.

Be assured that they will look fake no matter what you try.

As Google senses these acts, it can shut down your business for good.

They’re going to lead you nowhere.

Honest and authentic reviews can make your business up a trend over the night.

Even if you had to call each customer asking them for their review.