Value? How Much Are Customer Reviews Worth?

Craft Maker Pro » Value? How Much Are Customer Reviews Worth?

“Word-of-mouth” is still one of the most powerful sales and marketing tools available to handmade businesses and one of the most popular ways for customers to recommend local businesses.

VCustomers generally don’t trust what they see in advertising, but many believe the reviews written by other customers on the Internet.

Not convinced? Here are average figures from various marketing studies:

  1. 80% of consumers trust advice from family and friends
  2. 60% trust customer reviews they read online
  3. 15% trust advertising

So, what can you do?

It’s simple! Carry on with your good business practices to satisfy your regular customers and keep them coming back, eventually they may suggest you to their pals. However, happy customers may not be aware where to leave reviews, there are polite and subtle ways to ask for the referral from your regular (and even new) clientele. Here are a few:

E-mail

Include in your email marketing campaign a thank you message where you can encourage your subscribers to leave reviews. Within the email somewhere, be sure to include direct links to the review sites to make it easier. This method is great because it’s done while the purchase/service is still fresh in the consumer’s mind.

Review Tool

Utilize a tool like ReviewBiz. It’s free and a great way to make it easy for website visitors to leave a review on popular websites. While it’s a passive approach, make it easy carries merit and gains response.

Social Media

Remind your social media followers to leave a review. Perhaps a message or micro-post on your social media pages for example, “If you liked our service, consider leaving us a review! It helps us continue to provide a great product/service and lets others know a good place to go!” Remember that the life of a tweet or a Facebook post is very short, so you may need to repeat the message to reach as many people as possible.

Etsy’s Review System

Etsy’s review system is a record of a buyer’s transaction with a seller on Etsy. It’s based on a five-star rating system, with one being the lowest and five being the highest.

A review can be edited any number of times while it’s still eligible to be left for a transaction. When a review is left the buyer’s profile information will be publicly displayed in the seller’s reviews.  The ability for a buyer to leave a review is based upon the *estimated delivery date of the order and will expire 60 calendar days from that date. 

Buyers can leave a review by going to Your Account > Purchases & Reviews and locating the order you want to leave a review for. The option will not be available if the order is not yet eligible for reviewing.

Negative Reviews

Reviews from your satisfied customers will definitely help you increase your sales. Think of the time when you visited Ebay and found these awesome personalized shirts. Before you decide to make a purchase, you checked the shop reviews to avoid being scammed, right?

Potential clients who read a negative review are more interested in seeing how you handled the situation than anything else.When you get a negative review, respond in public, solve the problem. This shows that you are listening and engaged which will often encourage more feedback. When you get a positive review be sure to say thank you.

These are just a few ways that you can generate a consistent stream of positive reviews for your craft business. There are many other effective strategies for promoting your handmade business online. Let us know what other great ideas you have to facilitate reviews for creative businesses.

Gary Capps
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