You should beware of fake reviews that muddy the waters.
Review meta combed through 7 million Amazon reviews last year. They discovered that ‘incentivized reviews’ dramatically inflated reviews. ‘Incentivized reviews’ are ones where customers are given products either at a substantial discount or for free. The difference separating genuine reviews and incentivized reviews usually elevated products from the 54th percentile up to the 94th percentile in ratings.
Once Reviewmeta published all of this, it was only two weeks before Amazon announced that it was going to start banning incentivized reviews. However, the issue of bias is one that still lingers over the site. Travis Perkins plc discuss the importance of customer service and gaining positive reviews.
Do not emphasize the rational if it’s at the expense of anything emotional.
Objective facts and data regarding why your own product or service is truly superior is always going to be crucial. However, only appealing to consumers on a rational basis is an approach with its shortcomings, since words usually emphasize the rational more so than the emotional.
Dr. Robert Heath is a professor on the faculty of the University of Bath. He notes that a strong emotional resonance in the field of marketing has a much more significant impact on brand preference that influences how likely it is a consumer is going to buy something in the long run.
It is true that words can convey emotion. However, why restrict yourself to the traditional written content of customer reviews when there are so many better ways to do things? Keep in mind that genuine category creators such as Elon Musk don’t just innovate their products, as they actually innovate how they market themselves as well.
Use video and photo reviews to complement written reviews.
Perky Jerky is a meat jerky brand that’s growing quite quickly given its softer chew and a diverse flavor profile that appeals to the millennial palate. However, their success can’t just be attributed to the product itself, but also how innovative they were with their marketing. They’ve got hundreds of people known as “Super Jerk Fans” who ask fans to submit selfie reviews.
A photo collage of many Super Jerk Fans feels a lot more personalized than written text is, since you can actually see the emotion that’s on the faces of people much easier than words they might type.
Brian Levin founded Perky Jerky and he says that he has learned a lot more about the company’s super consumers from photo review than he might have from just text.
He wound up observing that many of his most fervent consumers were very active, such as endurance athletes and body builders, or had aspirations of being more active somehow, like those trying to actually lose weight. He can see where his consumers all are as well as how they use his company’s product. If you want some more advice on using videos for reputation management then look here.
Don’t focus on the selling as much as the story.
What might be the most valuable about a customer review is that you get a powerful and authentic story which re-frames problems in new ways that educates prospects on some new ways they can use a brand.
Generac is a leading manufacturer and maker of standby generators. They saw a tremendous impact on their business when they started emphasizing testimonials over technical specifications. This was quite a big shift for a business full of engineers.
One particular testimonial went over how they lost power and couldn’t find a hotel in order to accommodate their family and dog following Hurricane Sandy.
Prospective consumers who also happened to be dog lovers wound up resonating with the failure to find refuge during a storm, and the authenticity of the emotions of testimonials like these prompted prospective customers into converts who actually bought.