Are NO REVIEWS worse than negative reviews?

[Clodbuster]

I have a automatic system where emails are sent to customers 10 days after delivery. There is an incentive to place a review. Out of the thousand odd since starting I've had TWO reviews. One scathing and one very complimentary.
So - If I look for reviews on a product and not see one it does not really cause me to look elsewhere. Is not having a review a train smash? I have heard that search engines don't regard them much as they can be fiddled.

PS, the scathing one was more aimed at the industry not me, I could not trace an order to him.

 

[Ozzy]

If I look for reviews on a product and not see one it does not really cause me to look elsewhere. Is not having a review a train smash?

Just adding a vote for your info that I behave similar to your comment here. No reviews does not make any significant impact on my buying behaviour, but equally if all things being equal in a comparison and one product has loads of 5* reviews and the other I'm looking at does not then I will pay more attention to the one with loads of 5* reviews. Doesn't mean I'll buy it, just means I'll look more closely.

 

[fisicx]

Maybe it’s how you are asking for a review. Do you want a review of the service or a review of the product?

 

[Clodbuster]

The option is theirs.

 

[fisicx]

Not sure I understand. 10 days after purchase suggests you want a review of the product. If so do you say this explicitly in the email?

If you want a review of the service then the email should be sent the day of delivery.

It makes a difference

 

[Clodbuster]

I do ask for a review of the product as I think that is more valuable, then the customer is offered a link if he/she/they/it would prefer to comment on the company/service .
The email unfortunately links to each product that is bought and that may be upto a dozen different items. Gets a bit cumbersome.

 

[fisicx]

In which case change how you ask for reviews.

 

[Ozzy]

The email unfortunately links to each product that is bought and that may be upto a dozen different items. Gets a bit cumbersome.

Reading this and imagining of I had purchased 5, 10, whatever, items and then got an email asking e to leave that many reviews I would not bother.
However, if the email asked for a review on just one of the items (perhaps some logic that asks for a review on the item with the least reviews, or the lowest review rating) that could make a difference?

 

[Clodbuster]

That is a good idea - I'll enquire. Did think of using only the first one/two ordered but frequently those would be of lesser importance.
Saying that - one item is purchased fairly frequently as well and those have not returned reviews. That will only show one link.

 

[fisicx]

Also experiment with different wording. Do you use the buyers name? Is the message friendly and welcoming? Are you using words to entice them to review? Is the review form easy to use? For example, using selectors instead of asking them to write.

 

[ukwebhosting]

Hi

If you have sent thousands with only 2 engagements I would maybe look at the possibility you have a mail delivery issue with these emails and only a few are getting through.

How are they sent is it a third party review service or your own system etc?

 

[Clodbuster]

They are generated from the Shopify system. It is possible to alter the text within the template and I guess the logic if you know what you are doing - which I don't.
I think the emails do go out as I've run a couple of tests over a few months.
A query - does anyone else send out similar type of email and get better response. Perhaps this is the wrong way to go about it.

 

[ukwebhosting]

What email address do they send to customers from? Also is there a separate reply to address?

Worth checking out at the very least.

 

[Clodbuster]

sent to the email the customer used on his order. I do not know what email is shows as coming from - I'll run a test to see but will have to wait 10 days (I may be able to force a send - don't know).

 

[ukwebhosting]

OK great when you have it let me know and I will take a look over it for you.

At least then you can rule that in or out.

 

[fisicx]

How many traps do you sell each day?

Could you send the emails manually while testing different formats?

 

[Clodbuster]

Yes I could - I'll compose a few options over the weekend. What would you suggest??

 

[fantheflames]

I'd say neutral! But having a mix of positive and negative reviews may be better. It depends on the person. It's definitely understandable to be concerned about reviews, I think it's a big talking point.

Consumers are getting more 'smart' and they are noticing things that don't seem right. So, I'm thinking, what doesn't seem right to the follow-ups you're sending your customers to leave a review?

As suggested, I'd experiment on different ways of obtaining a review. You could have three different emails i.e. personalised and simple (no branding), highlight the incentive, or show your current reviews and show appreciate etc...

Will take a little time to set up so I think manual emails is a great idea for the time being!

 

[lesliedocherty]

I have a automatic system where emails are sent to customers 10 days after delivery. There is an incentive to place a review. Out of the thousand odd since starting I've had TWO reviews. One scathing and one very complimentary.
So - If I look for reviews on a product and not see one it does not really cause me to look elsewhere. Is not having a review a train smash? I have heard that search engines don't regard them much as they can be fiddled.

PS, the scathing one was more aimed at the industry not me, I could not trace an order to him.

We do the same, and on average 2.9% of people leave a review, to be fair, our review request is quite tailored and we send out a compliments slip with a pack of haribo stapled to it, before we did this, our reviews were less than 0.7%

 

[fisicx]

Yes I could - I'll compose a few options over the weekend. What would you suggest??

No idea. Might be worth paying someone to create the emails.

I recall in an old thread you mentioned the Luddite farmers. Are your customers the sort who would leave reviews? If not it may be a pointless exercise.

 

[antropy]

In my opinion, no reviews is better than bad reviews.

Paul.

 

[AmazonGeek]

For me, it depends on where I am shopping. If I am on your website, I know your brand and trust you, then if a product had no reviews it wouldn't really matter. It is the brand I am buying.

If however you are selling on a website where you are up against competitors (eBay, Amazon, Google, etc) and they have lots of good reviews, then it makes a huge difference.

One tip, rather than ask someone for a review, if you can make them want to give you a good review, then your chance of getting one increases massively. A great product, outstanding service, really going above and beyond. Also consider a little surprise that they weren't expecting and/or something to make them smile/laugh. If you can do those things, then people are more likely to want to do it.

 

[antropy]

A great product, outstanding service, really going above and beyond.

Thanks Captain Obvious

Paul.

 

[fisicx]

One tip, rather than ask someone for a review, if you can make them want to give you a good review, then your chance of getting one increases massively. A great product, outstanding service, really going above and beyond. Also consider a little surprise that they weren't expecting and/or something to make them smile/laugh. If you can do those things, then people are more likely to want to do it.

Or not. They have first got to see the request for a review. This is probably going to be an email that needs to be opened, read and acted upon. If you have sent me a my dongleberry and it arrived by courier the day after ordering and is now plugged in and working I no longer care about you (the seller). I'm never going to use your services again so there is no incentive to do anything.

 

[AmazonGeek]

Thanks Captain Obvious

Ha ha - amazing how many people think they can do ok with a crap product. The number of companies that approach me for help but when you look at their reviews, customers are telling them they hate the product! But the seller ignores it and complains about the customer instead of doing something about it.

 

[AmazonGeek]

Or not. They have first got to see the request for a review. This is probably going to be an email that needs to be opened, read and acted upon. If you have sent me a my dongleberry and it arrived by courier the day after ordering and is now plugged in and working I no longer care about you (the seller). I'm never going to use your services again so there is no incentive to do anything.

Absolutely! It is getting harder and harder to get people to leave reviews. The going rate on Amazon is about 4% and people are far more likely to leave a bad one than a good one. Most people will ignore a request but if you can make them want to leave a review, that is a whole different ball game. All things equal, your reviews-to-sales ratio will be higher than your competition, which teaches the algorithm you are more relevant for each keyword and you rise up the organic ranks.

Imagine you buy that dongleberry and when you open the package, it comes with an extra little surprise (what that is depends on the product but generally it is something complementary to the main product), then the chance of you leaving a 5-star review increases by around 5-fold. Of course, not everyone will but you can't win them all.

By the way, re timing...the rule is to ask for the review when the customer is most excited. If that is when the order has just arrived, ask for it then. If on the other hand the product is something that needs to be used for a while first (hair-thickening shampoo for example), wait a bit longer. No point asking for a review on delivery.

 

[fisicx]

You can give me a free pen with my £2.99 dongleberry but I probably won’t see your request for a review. So there is no incentive.

I buy stuff all the time from screwfix using their app. Which means writing a product review is easy and takes seconds. EBay is pretty similar. But if you need me to sign up to Google to leave a review then it’s just not going to happen no matter how many incentives you give me.

And of course because there are more and more fake reviews written and you can get AI tools to respond to a review it does sort of make the whole thing pointless.