If you are struggling to get reviews of your product, you might want to rethink the way that you approach your customer. If you aren’t calling them to take the action of writing a review, they may not bother. Here’s how to get more reviews from your customers.

1. Make it easy for them

Don’t have a complicated system, and don’t require them to write a lot of text – a star rating system with optional text box can help you to get those ratings in. If it’s difficult to leave their opinion, they may just close the page and move on.

2. Send an email

After your customer has received their product, give them a couple of days to start using it. Then send them an email with a link to where they can leave a review, and ask them for their thoughts. This can often be enough to prompt some responses.

3. Include a note

If you are delivering a physical product, you can always include an actual piece of paper or card which has a request for their review written on it. Make sure to include clear and concise information on where and how they can give their thoughts. Be cheerful and friendly in this note, and phrase it as though you are asking for their help – because you are!

4. Offer a reward

What do customers get for leaving a review? Warm, fuzzy feelings? This may not be enough. Offer them a 10% off voucher, free shipping on their next order, or so on as a reward for leaving a review. You could even assign them loyalty points which they can exchange for rewards later.

5. Leave a prompt on the shopping page

When your customers come back to visit your site, they may look back at the item they already purchased. If they do so, make sure to record the fact that they have bought it and leave a prompt on the page which asks them to review their purchase. This may cause them to remember that they haven’t given feedback yet, and push them into action.

6. Send (another) email

We all lead busy lives. It’s possible to miss emails, and it’s also possible to forget to come back to them later even if you intended to. It could even be that the reader is too busy at that moment and so simply deletes it. But you can follow up with another email a little while later on, reminding them that they still haven’t left a review and asking for their thoughts.

7. Share other reviews

One way to really get people to involve themselves in the review process is to offer the potential for exposure. If you share your favourite reviews on your newsletter, or your social media pages, with credit to the authors, then you are likely to get more people wanting to leave their thoughts. They will want to see themselves in print in your content. This builds a sense of community and will allow them to feel more like part of a team, along with the other fans of your brand.

It’s hard to convince someone to do something which will not really benefit them, but will instead make your company better placed to sell products in the future. That’s why you have to make it seem either like they are doing you a favour that you are grateful for, or like there actually is something in it for them. You also have to encourage them to action, rather than just waiting for them to take the initiative themselves!