The number of online sellers is steadily increasing. Every day more e-commerce entrepreneurs or startups aspire to break into the business of online selling and achieve success. Keep in mind there are those that have already gone ahead and honed their methods to reach the top.
Top sellers have carefully set up their daily operation to achieve the best results.
For new sellers or those still searching for the best way to run an e-commerce business, be customer-centric. Amazon has dominated the e-commerce industry by doing one simple thing correctly.
They have focused all their efforts on their mission of providing an unparalleled experience for their customers. Happy customers are more likely to write positive product reviews, and the same is true for the opposite as well. Mad customers will vent by writing a bad review.
Why good reviews are important
In e-commerce, every seller is on equal footing. It doesn’t matter if the seller is representing a multinational company, a large local company or a small family business. The methods on how to grow an e-commerce business and succeed are the same for everyone.
This is extremely evident on Amazon. When online shoppers select a product, they are taken to page one of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Notice how the top sellers of that product that are listed on page one have more reviews than those listed at the next page.
Sellers that get reviews rank higher in the SERP than those that don’t get any customer feedback. Sellers that get many good reviews rank higher than those that only get mediocre reviews. Reviews matter in terms of product ranking and customer acquisition.
Veteran online shoppers read product reviews to gauge the value and overall reliability of a product. If a product listing has too many negative reviews, then experienced online shoppers are likely to skip that one in favor of a safer purchase.
Customers will choose a seller that has more good reviews.
77% of consumers read product reviews before making a purchase.
If a company has been selling on Amazon for only three months but has more reviews than a large company, then the startup is sure to get more sales.
Refining methods to generate reviews is a must to succeed in e-commerce. If a bad review done on Amazon proves invalid, then there are ways on how to remove feedback on Amazon.
Why don’t customers write more reviews?
Generally, people don’t want to be bothered with doing something that they won’t get anything in return for. Customers that write a review are either extremely happy or very disappointed with their purchase. In these two instances, they feel the need to share their experience.
Relying on customers to proactively write a review is a bad idea. Only two out of every one hundred satisfied customers will organically write a good review. Customers need a little push for them to go out of their way and decide to write a product review.
Don’t follow up
Not making the customer feel special is a surefire way to lose their future business. Customers want to be fussed over, not following up with them will ensure they don’t write a review. Most customers want to be assured that they made the right purchase.
Sending personalized emails to follow up and check in with the customer usually goes a long way with the customer. Customers appreciate it when sellers proactively reach out to reassure them that if there are any problems with the purchase, not to hesitate to contact them.
A simple email drip campaign can do wonders. Once a customer has received the product, send an email three days after the delivery date requesting for a review.
If they are happy with their whole customer experience, then more often than not they will indeed write that review. Use an email responder to automate business processes such as this.
Sell inferior quality products
Nothing is more disappointing to a customer when their order arrives, and it leaves them less than impressed. Who wants to buy something that breaks apart after a few uses? No one that’s who.. Sellers that post low-end products for sale will not last very long in the e-commerce industry.
Customers unlucky enough to buy these products will make it their mission to write negative reviews on the product page. Customers like getting a good deal, but they don’t like getting suckered.
Buying something for cheap but getting a poorly made item will infuriate any customer. They bought something at a reasonable price and thought they got a good deal.
Then because the product did not live up to expectations, they will end up harming the reputation of the seller by writing a bad review. All that can easily be avoided if the seller decides to sell only top quality merchandise.
Don’t add value to the purchase
An excellent way to lose the customer’s interest is by being a generic transaction. What that means is that a customer paid for a product and got exactly what they paid for, no more, no less. A generic transaction is by no means a bad thing, but it is also nothing special.
Most sellers don’t want to go through any extra trouble and incur additional expense for their customer. Sellers that go the extra mile to provide customers with an unparalleled customer experience will reap the benefits.
There are many methods for a seller to add value for the customer. A seller can provide the customer with a complimentary item together with the purchase item. It can be a simple item that is able to enhance the customer’s experience when using the original item they purchased.
For example, if the customer bought a coffee container, the seller can give the customer a free scoop as well. Another example would be to provide the customer with an ebook on the various methods on how to use a particular item.
Customers love receiving freebies
As long as the complimentary gift proves useful, then the customer is sure to take note, and that will help towards them deciding to write a review.
Don’t use positive product review groups
Most new sellers make the mistake of only relying on organic reviews and conventional marketing methods to promote their new product. Old fashioned sellers don’t even consider using review groups to generate good reviews for their products.
There is a subculture that takes the art of product reviews to the next level. Tenured sellers use review groups when launching a new product. These review groups can be found on online forums such as Quora, Reddit and even on Facebook.
These review groups provide sellers with the quickest route to generating good reviews for their newly launched products.
The only catch with these review groups is that the seller is expected to offer the products at a significant discount and sometimes even for free to the reviewer. This method may be somewhat unconventional, but it has proven to be very useful in generating results.
Don’t provide excellent customer service
It should be a simple matter always to give customers excellent service. This fact should be made into policy for any business. Some sellers make the mistake of ignoring the customer or worse – they make things difficult when their customer needs something.
The after sales period is just as important as the sale itself.
In most marketplaces, customers have the power to return their order to get a refund thereby cancelling the sale.
The seller would then be forced to give the customer a refund, and there is a big chance the seller may even write a bad review. Always handle customer concerns promptly and generously to avoid bad press.
Conclusion: Positive product reviews are the lifeblood of a successful e-commerce business. Online sellers that don’t understand this fact are left in the dust by their competitors. Take note of the 5 things not to do as listed above. Take the time to do the opposite and work toward building a regular flow of positive reviews.
Nathan Sharpe is the entrepreneur behind the business blog Biznas.
He knows that you must wear many different hats for your business to be a success. He helps others achieve this success by sharing everything he knows on his blog, as well as any new lessons he learns along the way!