9 Ways to collect customer testimonials for your online store

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Sanketee

Title

9 Ways to collect customer testimonials for your online store

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Person

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Sanketee

Date

Jun 30, 2023

Description

Global accessibility and convenience have shot the popularity of e-commerce stores through the roof. While this makes it a very lucrative business space, making your online store stand out is now tougher than ever.

Professionally curated ads lack authenticity. Here, customer testimonials for online stores can be powerful social proof. It lets you leverage real success stories to boost reliability and win your target audience’s trust.

Here are some stats to prove the power of customer testimonials to boost your e-commerce sales:

Reports show that displaying reviews can increase conversions by 270%.

Testimonials are user-generated content. Studies note that customers find UGC 2.4 times more authentic than branded content.

Customer testimonials are referrals detailing positive shopping experiences in your online store. Instead of sales-y marketing gimmicks, they showcase real experiences, building trust in your brand.

But gathering customer reviews can be tricky for beginners. To cut through the noise and drive more sales, here is our comprehensive guide on collecting customer testimonials for e-commerce.

9 proven strategies to get customer testimonials for your e-commerce store

Here are some surefire strategies on how to collect e-commerce testimonials:

1. Provide an exceptional customer experience

Before diving into any other tactic, you must create memorable customer service for your consumers. It amplifies their loyalty and makes them more likely to leave positive reviews for your online store.

Modern customers prefer to use their smartphones to shop online. According to Statista, US m-commerce sales exceeded $360 billion in 2021 and expect a two-fold growth by 2025. So, a mobile-first design for your online store is crucial to offer an accessible shopping experience.

Ensure your product catalog is easy to navigate and offers authentic item details. Add relevant filters and categories so your customers can easily find the item they want.

Collect customer data to personalize their experience in your online store. Offer relevant recommendations and let your customers add or remove items from their carts easily. Offer a smooth and simple checkout process so your customers don’t abandon their cart.

Ensure that you have resources in place to address customer issues promptly. Consider employing a 24x7 customer service team. You can also include chatbots on your website to resolve customer issues quickly.

Encourage customers to share their feedback on your website’s user experiences. Prepare survey forms with specific feature-related questions. You can use the positive reviews as customer testimonials. Moreover, critical feedback will help you detect loopholes and further improve your customer service. Consumers will feel valued and provide authentic customer testimonials to boost e-commerce sales.

2. Implement an automated email campaign

In the age of social media, email remains a reliable channel for maintaining an algorithm-free connection with customers. So, an email campaign can be a potent tool for collecting testimonials for e-commerce websites.

But manually emailing each customer asking for testimonials can be hectic. It’s impractical for a scaling e-commerce store and leaves room for error.

To avoid this issue, set up an automated email campaign to gather customer testimonials for e-commerce. Here, getting the timing right is crucial. Examine customer journey to identify shoppers who bought items from your stores recently. Place timely triggers so the email targets recent buyers within 5 to 7 days of delivery.

Personalized emails can engage customers and win you better testimonials. First, prepare a few email template examples. Segment your email list based on customer demographics and understand their preferences to curate the templates accordingly. Add a catchy headline to your email. Offer relevant recommendations and vouchers. Ensure your customers have a way to unsubscribe from testimonial emails.

For example, Bellroy sent this email 30 days after subscription to get a pulse of their customer’s views.

Offering them multiple options also increases your chances of getting customer testimonials for e-commerce. Here are some e-commerce testimonial examples you can request via email:

A short video testimonial describing their experience

2-3 paragraphs for your website’s testimonial page summarizing what they liked about your e-commerce brand

A tweet or Instagram shoutout

Virtual interview

The goal is to simplify it for the customer to leave a review. For that, include clear call-to-action buttons linked to your social media, survey form, testimonial page, or any other review platform. Then, embed your testimonials on your website for greater visibility.

Your social media channels can be a goldmine of customer testimonials. To maximize customer testimonial collection, actively leverage your social media presence.

Choose channels where your target customers are most active. To collect testimonials for e-commerce websites, platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok are the best options.

Want to simplify testimonial collection? Testimonial supports these and more integrations so you can easily import your testimonials and embed them on any platform. So, if your customer posts a TikTok, you can easily embed it on a platform of your choice.

While asking for customer testimonials for online stores, encourage buyers to leave a review on your social media channels. You can ask them to upload a story with a picture of the purchased items and a line or two on their experience, mentioning your social media handle. Include easy social media widgets in your emails and online store to make the process more accessible.

For example, Try Illuminate uses user-generated content from its social media channels as testimonials on the website.

Create engaging social media posts highlighting positive e-commerce testimonial examples. Feature happy customers and post snippets of their positive reviews. Don’t forget to tag them. It piques interest and drives more customers to share their experiences with your business.

Host live Q&A sessions to engage audiences and optimize testimonial collection. Such direct interaction with your customers lets you gather positive feedback. You can also detect issues in your customer service and elevate them further. Whenever you improve your e-commerce website’s UX, conduct social media polls to tap into authentic customer response. Reply to every positive and negative feedback.

Add a CTA button to your testimonial page in your Instagram bio and urge customers to leave testimonials for your e-commerce website. Use social listening to track customer conversations and mentions of your brand. Identify user-generated content and customer testimonials for the online store. Share them on your stories to increase visibility.

The Aura Bora website showcases positive Facebook comments of its customers on their experience with the brand.

4. Utilize an incentive program

Quality products and exceptional customer service may not suffice in getting your users to leave impactful reviews. If you want customer testimonials to boost your e-commerce sales, sweeten the deal with relevant rewards.

An incentive program can encourage your customers to leave glowing reviews. It is mutually beneficial and can bring in-depth customer insights instead of lukewarm and vague feedback.

Optimize email drip campaigns to promote your incentive program. Remember, you have a brief window to get the customer to open the email before they skip it. A high-converting headline will grab their interest and ensure they click on it. Keep it brief and get to the point quickly.

Your website should have a submission page for customer testimonials. It simplifies the process and the high volume of social proof helps boost e-commerce sales. So, ensure the page communicates the details of your incentive program there. Present the rewards they will get if they take the time to leave customer testimonials for your online store.

The incentive doesn’t have to be grand. Try these instead:

Exclusive discount codes

Offers on preferred items

Brand swag

Exclusive early access to sales

Price reductions

Free shipping

Design customizations

Loyalty points

Communicate the terms and conditions of the incentive programs clearly to your customers. It promotes transparency and further improves customer loyalty.

For example, Best Buy offers customer feedback incentives for every authentic, published review. They also detail the terms and conditions clearly on the page.

5. Create a dedicated testimonials page on your website

One of the best ways to collect and showcase customer testimonials for online stores is to add a dedicated landing page for consumer reviews. This way, your customers can easily leave their testimonials while visiting your site.

Simply add a review form to your testimonial page. Let your customers give you ratings and add a few sentences describing their experience with your brand. The process should be quick and easy to navigate so more customers can leave reviews.

Including a Wall of Love acts as reliable social proof for the potential leads browsing your products and services. So, ensure the page is not unidimensional. Include different testimonial formats to make it visually appealing and more engaging. You can add the following e-commerce testimonial examples to give your customers different perspectives:

Text-based reviews

Video testimonials

Reviews on external websites

Instagram shoutouts

Customer tweets mentioning your brand

Use automated tools to import customer testimonials for e-commerce from different review channels. Platforms like Testimonial let you embed customer reviews directly from social media channels and third-party review sites in a few minutes.

For example, Wyndly, a brand dedicated to providing affordable immunotherapy, uses Testimonial to showcase customer reviews on its website. The brand uses video and text-based testimonials to give site visitors a broader idea of its services.

6. Request reviews on third-party review sites

Many customers find third-party review sites more reliable for their unbiased representation of customer stories. It adds an extra layer of authenticity across your customer testimonials to boost e-commerce sales.

The first step to generating third-party reviews is signing up on credible review sites. Most customers trust Google reviews while opting for an e-commerce brand. You can also enlist your business on Amazon, Yelp, Better Business Bureau, Shopify Product Reviews, Trustpilot, etc.

According to a study, verified buyer reviews showcase more 5-star ratings than reviews by anonymous buyers. So, contact your existing customers with links to your preferred third-party review sites.

Happy customers may go this extra mile. So, identify buyers who have already expressed their satisfaction. Ask them to create an account and describe their experience on the review site. You can extend your incentive program here to reward them for their effort.

Collect these third-party customer testimonials for your online store and embed them on your testimonial page. You can also add a few ratings on your homepage to pursue visitors with credible social proof.

For example, PopBrush’s customers leave reviews on the brand’s Trustpilot review page.

Plus, they collect video testimonials via Testimonial.to to share them on their website. Owing to their terrific product and the ease of testimonial collection, they have a whopping 500+ video testimonials on their site currently.

7. Run contests or giveaways

Conduct contests and giveaways that require customers to submit reviews. Such initiatives create memorable experiences and increase customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. It makes them more likely to leave customer testimonials to boost your e-commerce sales.

Keep relevant gifts and rewards as prizes in exchange for honest testimonials. These can be your store’s limited-edition products, a goodie bag with your website’s best-selling items, gift cards for your store, dinner, a spa date for two, etc.

Promote the giveaway extensively on your social media channels and your website. Post stories with pictures of the prize. Highlight the gift items. You can even create an exclusive hashtag for the contest.

Use your customer’s audience base on social media to expand reach. Ensure they mention your brand name in the review. Assign brownie points for aesthetically pleasing pictures and video testimonials. Remember to explain the contest rules comprehensively.

For example, Supergoop offers 50 points for leaving reviews on their product and more points for other tasks like following their social media.

If you find giveaways difficult to execute, opt for sites like View Points where consumers can leave reviews in exchange for loyalty points that they can redeem at a later time.

8. Engage with influencers and bloggers

Shoutouts from influencers and bloggers are one of the most impactful forms of testimonial for e-commerce websites. Modern social-media crowd values their favorite influencer’s opinion. So, when a social media creator or a blogger with an extensive reach across your audience vouches for your services, you are bound to get more customers.

Four Sigmatic leverages influencers and thought leaders like Dr Bindiya Gandhi — a blogger and Instagram influencer with 60k+ followers — to build trust in their organic coffee brand.

Remember, a monetary exchange won’t suffice in driving authentic creator reviews. You need to make them believe in your brand. To nurture their loyalty, send free samples of your products for them to try out. Ask them about their experience and then request them to post about your brand on their channels.

Once they post about your brand, repost the content on your profile. Don’t forget to tag the creator and thank them publicly. This way, you can increase visibility among the influencer’s audience and improve brand awareness since they may repost or retweet your mention.

9. Follow up with customers

Once a shopper purchases from your store, politely ask them about their experience with your business. If they express satisfaction, nudge them to leave a review. Add an easy-to-use feedback form or link to review platforms with your request email or message.

For example, Vuori sends post delivery emails to get a pulse of their customer’s experience with their products.

You may not get a testimonial with your first email. If you don’t get any response, send a follow-up email after a week or two. However, you don’t want to flood your customer’s inbox with frequent follow-ups. Focus on getting the frequency right.

If a customer declines your request, don’t nag them for a testimonial repeatedly. Remember, while reviews are influential, your primary focus is retaining the customer.

Conclusion

Testimonials allow online stores to harness existing customers’ voice and leverage it to establish credibility with potential customers.

Every customer is different. So, implement multiple strategies to pursue various consumer segments. Make it easy for them to leave reviews with widgets and clear CTA buttons. Provide multiple testimonial formats as options.

Understanding how to collect e-commerce testimonials may seem tricky initially. But with the right approach and a nifty testimonial tool, you can perfect the process in no time.

With Testimonial's no-code solution, you can import customer reviews from multiple channels directly to your website. Embed text-based and video testimonials, highlight impactful parts of a review, and create a stunning Wall of Love that impresses your potential customers.

Best part? With Testimonial, you don’t need developers.

To get more high-quality endorsements from happy customers, choose your Testimonial plan now!

9 Ways to collect customer testimonials for your online store