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We recently started soliciting testimonials from customers and sending products and free service subscriptions to some smaller bloggers for review. My idea was that some small bloggers might not gain us sales right now, but in long tail thinking, down the road when potential customers and even press googled us for reviews the large the quantity of positive reviews out there , the more comfortable they would be with signing up! As a young company, I hoped it would give future customers more confidence! (I also didn’t think it would hurt with SEO). After perusing our google analytics and statcounter accounts it appears I was correct! We are starting to see more customers come and sign-up from these smaller sites!
Apparently, investing in your online reputations, especially for small stores and brands, can be vital to your success.
According to a recent study:- Some 91% of shoppers admit to searching the internet for online reviews and blog posts relating to small e-tailers’ reputations before ordering from them, and three in four consumers say they purposely buy elsewhere after reading negative web reviews of an e-tailer.
- 9 in 10 customers “say they purposely stay away from small online retailers with negative customer reviews on the web, according to a survey from 1&1 Internet, conducted by MaCorr Research.”
That said, I have found it isn’t always that easy to get customers, even satisfied customers, to remember to post a review or a testimonial…despite the 77% percent the study says would be give a review if offered the opportunity!
I am wondering how many of you solicit feedback from your customers? If so, how do you do this? Have you found anything especially effective? Has anyone tried third party platforms of third party sites to solicit customer reviews such as powerreviews?
Read Stephanie's other blog entries >
Customer Reviews are VITAL to online small business!
