How to Get More Online Reviews

Reviews of your online store don't just build trust with shoppers who want to learn about your products and services—they can also grow your store's organic traffic and bring you new prospects. But how do you actually get more of them? After all, every review is fresh content for your page, and your customers are naturally using keywords that work in your favour, helping other people find you.

Attract Reviews

Want to bring in more customer reviews? Here are a few techniques to make it easy. Show your customers how to leave a good review. Some people don't know what to say when leaving a review—they don't feel comfortable writing and end up stuck. When a customer doesn't know what to say, they often appreciate a tip or an example. That's where you come in: when you help them leave a review, think about which keywords you want to encourage so you can improve how your products rank in search results (SEO).

Give them simple, detailed steps

You can add a link in your footer such as “Share your customer experience”, or explain it in the email customers receive after a purchase, or post about it on your social media to encourage them to leave a review.

Promote the good examples

Pick one of your reviews that has it all and feature it in your emails or on social media. Look for a review that balances general comments about the experience with specific feedback about the product itself. That way customers learn they can write more than “all good” and “recommended”, and it becomes easier for them to write things like “it arrived on time, they answered all my questions” or “the product is really comfortable and the fabric feels lovely”. Run a giveaway – This one never fails. A giveaway gets your customers far more involved in everything you do. Run a giveaway that asks customers to share, on social media or on your page, what they like most about your store and similar prompts. Of course this works outside of customer review services, where only verified buyers can leave a review, but it will always help grow your reputation on social media (X and Facebook work best for this). Reinforce by email – Send emails with good review-writing practices and include a link so customers can share theirs on social media. Send a follow-up email – With Revi, an email goes out when a customer makes a purchase in your online store so they can leave a review quickly and easily. Even so, you can remind customers who haven't left one yet that their feedback helps your business improve with every comment. For more on this, see our guide on how to ask for reviews by email. Add a social sharing button – Customers who leave a review are often happy to share it on social media if you make it easy. Tell them their review matters and invite them to share their experience with the world. The vast majority of reviews are positive—and as for the ones that aren't, don't worry: handled well, they can boost your reputation, your transparency and your approachability. If you want to see how to respond to a negative review the right way, read our article on how to respond to negative reviews. Think about the crawlers – an important requirement for getting the most out of customer-generated reviews is that they're visible to search engines. If your reviews aren't visible when search engine crawlers visit your page, they won't help you climb the rankings or improve your SEO. Allow voting – While only customers should be able to leave reviews on your website (social media is another matter), visitors should be able to click “yes” or “no” to mark whether a review was helpful or helped them decide on a purchase. Keep an eye out for rating mistakes: if you spot a customer who left an “average” review but gave it five stars, talk to them and ask why. It may have been a misreading of the instructions or a simple slip.

Brand advocates

Remember that before your prospects get in touch with your business, they listen to what the people who know you best have to say—namely, the people who have already bought from you. They'll most likely search online, talk to friends and check out your Facebook page. So how can you get your customers to talk about you more often, and more strategically? By creating brand advocates within your customer base and nurturing the relationship: treat them at the highest level. Give them a reason to value your business by keeping your promises—delivery dates, flawless service, great customer support. Learn the names of your most relevant customers, talk to them as if they were friends, share “insider information” with them and follow up personally wherever you can. In other words, make them feel special. Remember that nobody is perfect, and that when you acknowledge your weaknesses or a mistake and fix it, you're building a relationship with them. When you ignore them, your poor relationship with them spreads far beyond your customers—to their friends, their family and everyone who reads their social media. And of course, thank them for taking the time to leave you a review. One of the best methods is to offer them a discount coupon for their next purchase. That way you show you appreciate them while almost guaranteeing they'll come back to buy again—and therefore leave another review. And so on, and so on.