People buy from people – whether that’s directly or through recommendations. If your business isn’t using customer reviews in your marketing, you’re missing a trick. OnBrand answers the top 5 questions on how to use them properly.
Customer reviews are strong marketing assets and if you’re not using them, you should be. We use our case studies all the time, because we’re proud of what we do & how we’ve helped our customers.
Good reviews are always the best (obviously!), but negative reviews give you insights into where your business is frustrating your customers. So, they’re useful too in their own way.
However, we’re only interested in using the good reviews for marketing purposes. So, I’m going to answer the top 5 questions businesses are asking Google right now about how to use customer reviews.
What Is A Customer Review?
A customer review is a requested or unrequested review of your company, its products and services.
They will mainly be unprompted customer-generated reviews (for example, Trustpilot or Google reviews) and requested reviews (those that you as a business generate by proactively asking for them).
OnBrand Top Tip: Customer reviews come in many different formats – including audio, video & written – and some become detailed case studies which a business will use as a sales tool to convert new customers.
Why Are They So Important?
Customer reviews are so important because they make your business look great when used properly.
One customer telling another customer that your products/services are amazing is the best free marketing your money can’t buy.
OnBrand Top Tip: Make giving a review easy for your customers is key. Join a platform like Trustpilot and advertise you’re a member on your website – then, let your customers do the rest. The double whammy of a good rating on an independent reviews site & the simple fact it’s not you telling people you’re great means maximum credibility.
Can I Ask For Customer Reviews?
Yes, you can ask for customer reviews. In fact, your CRM email cycle should factor in asking customers for reviews somewhere in the journey.
We’d recommend post-sale, for the obvious reason that asking any time before that would be weird.
OnBrand Top Tip: If your CRM email cycle has a quote confirmation email, or post-initial contact email, put a case study on that email or the email that follows up that one. You might just find a well-timed customer review that makes you look amazing is what tips them over the line.
How To Write Customer Reviews
The best way to write a customer review is to let a customer write it for you. Unprompted positive words will always be the most valuable reviews you get.
However, if you ask a customer for a review, offering to help them write it based on an email they’ve sent you or asking them questions over the phone will still offer value.
The format of the review – and whether or not you decide to turn it into a case study – will also affect how the review is written.
OnBrand Top Tip: If you’re writing a case study, make sure you scene-set by presenting the customer’s problems and ‘before’ situation. Then cover how your business solved the problems and the impact you’ve had on your customer. This format will tell a better story.
How To Use Them
You should use customer reviews on every channel your business communicates with customers.
They should be pushed on social media, used as sale-closing conversion tools, sent to potential customers in your CRM journey, and they should be easy to find on your website.
OnBrand Top Tip: Pick a great quote from a customer, turn that into a cool-looking social media post using Canva and post it. Simple as.
If you enjoyed this blog, head over to our case study about how we helped a catering customer achieve huge returns on their advertising spend. Or, if you’d like to discuss how OnBrand can help you use customer reviews to boost your marketing, give us a call on 03333 220022.
