This article was contributed by our partners at Urtasker
Amazon customer reviews come with many benefits. They provide proof of product for potential buyers, but they build trust and influence purchasing decisions.
Studies show that having just one product review can increase product sales by 10%; and, 200 reviews can increase product sales by 44%.
Reviews form an essential part of the sales cycle. These days, very few consumers will happily purchase a product from a new brand without seeing what past customers thought first. 70% of shoppers now seek out reviews before they buy, with at least 41% reading four or more reviews.
It makes sense. If you were choosing between two products and one had a slew of positive reviews while the other had none, you'd select the one with the better reviews.
Increasing sales isn't just about getting reviews, though. It's about turning them into an asset you can use throughout the sales cycle. When you do this, you increase customer confidence, which in turn increases the number of products you sell.
Here's a guide to leveraging customer reviews to increase sales.
First Things First: Respond to Reviews
Responding to reviews achieves several things. Firstly, it shows customers that you're willing to listen to their wants and needs and play an active part in providing a great customer experience.
Negative reviews warrant a well-thought-out and professional response, while positive reviews can make do with a simple "thank you!". That's because reviews shouldn't be a one-way, dead-end dialogue with your customers. Instead, they should be vessels of communication where you can show buyers you value their opinion.
Reviewers that receive a response will get a notification. When they see your reply, it'll create an instant human connection and cement a sense of brand trust. This strategy will resonate with future buyers, even those who haven't bought from you or left a review yet.
Customer reviews are vital for building brand trust and instilling customer confidence. Brands that reply to reviews tend to have better and deeper connections with their customers, which encourages them to come back for more.
Now that we've got that out of the way, here's how to leverage your Amazon reviews further.
1. Use Reviews to Fuel Product Development
Urtasker knows that better products will generate more sales. If you can take customer feedback into account and consistently use it to improve your products and provide customers with what they want, you'll make more sales - it's a no-brainer.
Customers will see that you're working hard and taking their opinions into account, which will encourage them to become increasingly loyal and recommend your products to anyone who'll listen.
Demonstrating you value your customers is essential for creating a sustainable brand built for growth.
The key is to listen to what your customers' asks are.
For example, scour reviews for feature recommendations or complaints about shipping and see if there's anything you can do to accommodate those needs.
2. Share Reviews on Twitter and Facebook
Customer reviews are versatile pieces of content, not to mention they're incredibly persuasive when influencing the purchasing decisions of future buyers.
Reviews are among the top ways consumers find out about new products. With 86% of companies today using reviews and other user-generated content throughout their marketing, it's difficult not to follow in their footsteps.
Sharing reviews across your social channels will help you reach new audiences and direct new buyers to your products.
Share screenshots of customer reviews alongside a link to the related product. Make sure you use keywords to describe your product in the Tweet or post to capture anyone searching for that particular word or phrase.
3. Share Reviews on Instagram
Instagram is predominantly a visual platform, so reviews work well in a visual format.
Screenshot positive reviews or create branded graphics that incorporate your best reviews to share on your feed. You can also add them to your Instagram Stories, and if you have enough followers, use the Swipe Up feature to direct users to the mentioned product in the review.
4. Share Reviews on YouTube
YouTube is the second biggest search engine globally, and consumers regularly use it to research reviews for products that interest them.
Create short videos that incorporate the top reviews for a product and link them to the said product in the video description.
This method helps you reach an entirely new customer base that predominantly hangs out on YouTube.
5. Add Reviews to Product Pages
Bring your product pages and listings to life by sprinkling customer reviews throughout them. If you use Amazon's standard product page layout, you can include a positive review of the description for shoppers who don't scroll to the bottom.
Alternatively, if you're using Amazon's A+ Pages or Enhanced Branded Content features, you can incorporate reviews in a visual and branded way as you tell your product's story.
Including customer reviews on your product pages enhances customer confidence. It also helps boost your rankings in Amazon search results.
Reviews are among the most critical factors in Amazon's ranking algorithm, which means that the more positive reviews you have and share, the better your products will rank in relevant search results.
6. Add Reviews to Facebook and Instagram Ads
If you're running Facebook or Instagram ads to your products, you have the perfect place to leverage customer reviews.
Today, consumers are tired of seeing polished images and ad messages from brands and instead want to see their fellow shoppers' real feelings. It's no wonder, then, that incorporating reviews into your social ads will generate more conversions. Research has shown that doing precisely this can 4x ad click-through rates and reduce cost-per-click by up to 50%.
7. Incorporate Reviews in Transactional Emails
Your transactional emails are an essential part of your business.
They keep customers in the loop about their orders, from payment confirmation to dispatch information. Sprinkle customer reviews into these transactional emails to add a human element and to maintain customer confidence.
8. Share Reviews in Email Marketing Campaigns
Sharing reviews throughout the sales cycle creates multiple touchpoints that strengthen the connection between you and your customers. Email marketing campaigns are vital pieces of the marketing puzzle and are a great place to incorporate reviews to drive sales.
9. Publish Reviews On Your Website
Amazon might not be the only place you're selling your products; you might have another independent site up and running to build an online presence for your brand; a perfect place to share positive customer reviews.
Some of the most effective places to do so are:
- The homepage
- Product pages
- Landing pages
- The checkout page
These channels support trust-building with your customers right through the sales cycle.
10. Create Rich Snippets for Google
Having your products show up high in Google's search results will generate more sales and get you more customers. It's simple math - the more people that see your products and product pages, the more chances you have to make a sale.
And Google loves sharing search results with reviews.
Reviews indicate that a brand or page is trustworthy, which makes Google more comfortable sharing it with their users. Even better, search results with reviews stand out, capturing the attention of searchers and encouraging more click-throughs.
To ensure your products show up with a review in their snippet, mark your reviews properly in HTML so that search engine crawlers can easily find and read them.
By now, you probably know just how critical customer reviews are. But it's not enough to just let them sit and gather digital dust on your product pages. Instead, leverage them throughout the sales cycle to build customer trust and generate sales.
Schedule your free 30-minute, no-obligation consultation with Urtasker now.
About the Author
Omer Riaz previously worked for over a decade as an information technology consultant for multiple big four consulting firms where he helped many of the largest 500 US clients improve their business processes via technology. During his journey in building (recruiting, hiring, training and managing) e-commerce teams he realized how other e-commerce business owners were struggling to fulfill their marketing needs. And there, Urtasker was born. Five years later we have a team of about 200 e-commerce consultants spanning over three global offices and we are going strong- managing over 200 Amazon seller accounts, eBay, Walmart and jet.com as well.
