Last updated on March 20th, 2023
Last Updated: 04-02-2020
You have seen something amazing online and want to buy it. But before you do that, you automatically click on the customer reviews for the product and start reading through them.
This scenario must be immensely familiar to you.
While buying something online, we often look at the product reviews. And why not? If something is used by many others and has also been recommended by them – then it’s a must use.
Importance and Impact of Customer Reviews
Word-of-mouth is an immensely powerful tool in the era of e-commerce and digital marketing. Customer reviews are honest feedback provided by people who have had prior purchases on the website. They offer potential buyers with the help they need in making decisions. There are chances that any question a potential customer has, it has already been questioned by someone else.
With social media being a powerful tool of communication, customers do not hesitate in sharing their opinions. Brands thrive these on customer reviews. Reviews on their products, whether positive or negative, are the fruits of labour to the companies that make them. The direct feedback between brands and their customers is a useful tool in content marketing.
Dealing With Customer Feedback
People are happy when the opinions they post to a brand’s page get a response. Even a simple thank you reply on a positive review improves customer satisfaction and drives repeat sales.
Positive reviews play an essential role in driving sales for brands. Even a few reviews on a product as compared to no reviews on a similar product are the deciding factor for customers. With multiple brands providing quite identical products for sale, customers often go with those brands that have a higher star rating and positive reviews.
Dealing With Negative Reviews
Negative reviews are nothing to scoff about. Studies show that any product with only positive reviews and a perfect 5-star rating is suspicious and that customers would usually pass over such products. To be convinced to buy any brand’s product, the customer would usually see the negative reviews and the response the review garnered.
Acknowledging a negative review does not mean changing the marketing strategy. A simple agreement about the shortcomings and rectifying the same helps in improving customer views. Studies show that brands that acknowledge their negative reviews tend to have plenty of customers who become regulars.
How brands utilize customer reviews?
Word of mouth digitally works wonders for brands, especially in this age of social media where our buying decisions are influenced by social proof. Customers now have also become more vocal and opinionated about their choices. So it is important to shed some light on how brands today can utilize customer reviews for boosting their content strategy.
Not only do reviews and feedbacks help customers make a choice, but they also help brands to improve themselves. Here’s are some examples of customer reviews and how brands get them. Keep in mind that these brands also make amazing use of AI in content marketing and use their content marketing resources to the fullest.
Amazon’s example:
I ordered a toy for my pet from Amazon. After delivery, I got an email from them asking for an honest feedback.
Uber’s example:
Similarly, my Uber trip with the driver was asked to be rated by the app. Customer ratings would help Uber in improving their customer experience.
Let’s look at examples of customer reviews to boost content distribution strategy
Using customer reviews in emails
You can add customer testimonials to your emails. Your potential customers are most likely to engage with your brand after they read reviews online by others Have a look at what we have done with our email at WittyPen.
Use customer reviews under the product
A brand like Romwe employs its user-generated content to influence others. I bought a top from them after I read some rave reviews about its fit and comfort.
Romwe’s example:
Collaborate with bloggers/influencers
Influencer marketing is on the rise, and everywhere you look, you can see brands utilizing the social media savvy salespeople to push their products and services.
Limeroad’s example:
Limeroad’s collaboration with an influencer (who’s also their user) is a great way to increase awareness big time!
Use customer reviews on social media
Most of your users are social media buffs, and they come across many brands while they scroll up or down their screen. It’s important to be visible to their eyes while they indulge in their scrolling behaviour. Here are some examples of customer reviews on social media
AJIO’s example:
While scrolling up my Facebook feed I chanced upon this ad by AJIO, and I saw that the brand has been liked by my friends. Now I have heard of Ajio before, but my friends vouching for the brand compels me to check it out.
Use the referral technique
I recently completed a course in Udacity. They sent me a “congratulations email” which also said the following.
Udacity’s example:
Now I was satisfied with the course and was also happy that they had been following up with me to give me career guidance post the course. And also complementing to that is the fact that I might get 50 dollars if I refer the course to someone.
It’s like a reward to me. So, I won’t really mind doing my bit of referring this course to others who might be potential candidates for it. And when my friends see this, they would also not mind taking a look at this since it has come from me. Similarly, most of the apps use messenger apps like WhatsApp to share “Referral schemes”.
MuscleBlaze app’s example:
So it is extremely important to be creative about using testimonials and reviews on different platforms. We have two experts here – Zain from Digital Vidya and Anshuman from Upgrad – who will share their views on how you can use customer reviews for boosting content strategy. Zain Siddiqui
Zain is a trainer at Digital Vidya and he loves conducting online marketing workshops for entrepreneurs and corporates under Startup Nebula. He is also the co-founder of Wicked Broz which is India’s premier graffiti agency.
Zain’s take on using customer reviews for boosting content strategy
Getting a customer to write a review for you means not only that your product and service rocks. Following up with them immediately after they have experienced your service is the best way to go about it.
That’s a science in itself altogether. Here are two ways that I personally think should be used to blend customer reviews into your content strategy.
Turn that testimonial into a storytelling tool
Your consumer review gives you leverage. However, don’t forget that you are putting your customers in the spotlight. You are sharing part of your success with them by celebrating them on your website/marketing. Don’t just use a standard testimonial functionality. Make an effort to introduce the customer to your audiences. Design their hero journey. Don’t forget your customer is always the hero in the hero journey.
Your product is usually the herald or if you are a consulting business, you are the mentor. When you write a blog or case study about them, think hard about how did you turn them into a hero? What does their business usually do? Write a short write up on your relationship.
Use their logo or pictures if possible. Any moments when you thought this might not work out? What were the challenges? What happened when you finally won? How did you come to know? Read this case study on Zivame by WebEngage to get an idea of what I’m saying.
WebEngage’s example:
Explore different facets of your story with them in different forms of content. A single customer review can be faked, multiple touch points in a story cannot. Repeat the template for other customers.
Get your customer to talk about you in their channel
Anshuman’s take on using customer reviews for boosting content strategy
Make use of social validation and relatability
Content marketing is all about giving value and helping others. Think from a human perspective. Once you have made an all-out effort to celebrate your customer’s genuine hero journey using your tool or service, they would be more than happy to share your case study on their social channels or refer you to their friends.
It completes the cycle of trust. If your customer is a big multi-national or an emerging startup, maybe, just maybe, a teeny bit backlinking from their site would more than help your SEO.
But even if they don’t, don’t worry. Google’s Panda update counts brand mentions as implied links and that itself should suffice. That customer review is a powerful tool.
Don’t just look at it as a way of building trust and credibility and waste it in using it as a sticker on your Emails or at the bottom of your landing page. Whatever you do, think long-term and think creatively. Turn that trust into belief. Anshuman Agrahari
Anshuman currently works as a Content Marketer at Upgrad. He previously co-founded and headed marketing at InternStreet a platform to connect students with mentors in the industry in various Tech, Design and Marketing courses.
Make use of FOMO
Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is an anxious feeling when you think of exciting or interesting prospects happening elsewhere with others.
Customer reviews act in the same way – If a product is being liked, talked about or recommended by many of your friends – then you are bound to find out more about it. As a content marketer, you must be able to tap into this emotion at the right time.
Zomato’s example:
For example, in Zomato’s ratings, Natural ice cream tops the list. People who look at it would be curious to know about the high rating of this place and would check it out.
Final thoughts
Positive reviews can play a huge role in shaping a business’s content marketing and content marketing strategy. Potential buyers place massive weight on the opinions of others before making a purchasing decision.
Just drafting a plan is not enough. To remain ahead of the curve, a brand’s content marketing team needs to always be on the lookout for customer reviews and respond to them at the earliest – whether they are positive or negative.
So by nurturing customer relationships and gathering positive feedback you can successfully drive sales and brand growth and help in a content marketing campaign. With this, we have come to the end of our blog on examples of customer reviews.
We want to thank Zain and Anshuman for giving us some valuable inputs on the topic. Hope you use these insights to boost your content strategy.
