A 5-Star Customer Review Strategy

Did You Know? 72% of customers won’t take any buying action until they’ve read reviews. (Source)

What’s the value of a star ⭐ ?

You can name one for under $20.

Or you can straight-up buy one to fund your planet’s interstellar war effort for a cool $24.5 million.

But what about from a marketing perspective?

While a little abstract to think about, various analyses have tried to estimate the value of a 1-star increase in a company’s overall online review rating.

• For restaurants: +5-9%

• For hotels: +11.2%

• For the valuation of publicly traded companies: +7.8-18.9%

So it looks like we can say each star is worth about a 10% increase (or decrease 😱) in revenue. According to Moz, reviews influence about 15% of Google’s local search ranking method, so we’re really settling around that same number.

While 5-star reviews always are the goal, a mix of good and mediocre/bad reviews is ideal.

• A customer’s likelihood of purchasing peaks somewhere between 4.0-4.7 stars and decreases from 4.8-5.0.

• 68% of consumers trust reviews more when they see both good and bad ratings.

• 95% of customers get suspicious of a company’s rating if there are no negative reviews.

• Businesses whose total number of reviews include 15-20% negative actually earn 13% more annual revenue than businesses whose reviews include just 5-10% negative.

• In the B2B space, 40% of buyers say negative reviews help build credibility for a product.

And while quality is key, quantity is just as important.

• Businesses with 10+ reviews earn 52% more revenue than average.

• Businesses with 25+ reviews earn 108% more revenue than average.

• Products with 5+ reviews are 270% more likely to be purchased.

• Customers require 40+ reviews before they trust a company’s star rating.

Data analyst warning: Those “more revenue” stats can be misleading, because larger companies that generate more revenue tend to have more customers, which inherently leads to more reviews (on average). Still, those stats still are interesting.

What about review-related consumer behavior?

• 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.

• 37% of consumers go directly to a review site to find reviews and 54% will visit a company’s website after reading positive reviews.

• 90% of consumers read 10 reviews or fewer before deciding whether they can trust a business with 68% needing 6 or fewer.

• 73% of consumers think reviews more than 3 months old aren’t relevant.

• Verified reviews increase conversion rates by 15% compared to anonymous reviews.

Reviews aren’t just a one-way street either. There’s a ton of value in just reading and replying to customers who took the time to leave feedback.

• Businesses that reply to at least 25% of their customer reviews generate 35% more revenue. Heck, businesses that respond to even 1 customer review earn 4% more revenue.

• That’s because 89% of consumers take the time to read your replies with 70% changing their opinion about a company based on that company’s reply. (I think that means 70% of customers who left a review, but I’m not entirely sure.)

• When asked what reading a company’s reply to online reviews did for consumer perception, 41% said it shows the company cares about consumers, 35% said it shows the company has great customer service, 22% said it shows the company is trustworthy, and 14% said it shows the company’s products are high-quality.

I can feel your excitement through the screen. You’re hyped and ready to pump up your review stats.

But, like, how exactly do you do that?

5 easy ways to step up your review game today

Review-related tasks are super easy to put on the back-burner. For companies without much of an online review presence, it can feel like a ton of effort for little reward.

Plus, it’s scary to ask people what they think about you!

But remember, the data shows that customers require 40+ reviews before they trust a company’s star rating, and (unfortunately) your products aren’t going to review themselves.

Here are some easy ways you can get the ball rolling today.

1. Claim your online accounts (and make sure they’re updated)

50% of Google My Business profiles remain unclaimed by their respective business owners or have either incomplete or inaccurate information.

2. Have you tried asking?

This is the marketing version of the IT world’s “Have you tried turning it off and turning it on again?” but with good reason.

Between 50-70% of consumers will leave a review if you ask them to.

3. Make it as simple as possible (and then make it simpler)

Think about all the times you’ve been asked to leave your feedback or provide a review.

• When an employee says, “Don’t forget to leave a review!” and you assure them you couldn’t possibly forget despite somehow completely failing to register what they just asked you to do.

• When a cashier hands you a receipt and says, “There’s a code at the bottom to leave your feedback,” and you’re like, “Honey, this receipt is going in the nearest garbage can, and I’ll even considering littering if I have to.” (Unless you’re my wife, whose purse is at least 65% crumpled receipts at any given time.)

• When a business owner says, “I’d really appreciate if you could leave us 5 stars on Google or Yelp!” and you say “I absolutely will!” knowing full well that you’re lying straight through your teeth.

Make the review process as simple as possible (and then make it simpler). 80% of reviews originate from follow-up emails, so let’s start there.

1. Follow up in an email (or text message, whichever is most appropriate).

2. Genuinely communicate how much you appreciate their business.

3. Leave a link to the review platform (or platforms, but we also don’t want to over-complicate things).

4. Provide clear instructions on how to leave a review.

5. Maybe even toss in a discount or some other incentive.

And don’t be afraid to follow up a few days later with a polite reminder. While I don’t have data that speaks to the effectiveness of follow-up sequences specific to reviews, it’s well-established that follow-up emails work wonders with a 31% increase in reply rate for follow-up emails sent after 3 days.

4. Standardize your process

Make asking for reviews just a normal part of your standard flow.

• Create automated post-purchase email sequences that include asking for a review at whatever interval makes the most sense for your business (and then follow up!).

• Set goals for the total quantity and average rating of reviews to give you targets to work toward.

• Allot time each week to reading and replying to reviews.

• Repeatedly stress the importance of reviews to make it part of your company culture.

• Have a process for incorporating the feedback you receive as part of an iterative improvement process.

5. Go respond to your reviews right now when you’re done reading this email

We already saw the stats about how much of an impact simply responding to reviews has (upwards of a 35% increase in annual revenue). 53% of customers expect a business to reply to their review within 7 days, but better late than never, so go reply to some customers reviews…now!

Everyone say, “Hi!” to Jocelyn T 👋

Question: What’s the most random fact you know?

Jocelyn T’s Answer: “When the guy who invented the frisbee died, he was cremated and his ashes were turned into a frisbee.“

ChatGPT-Generated Joke of the Day 🤣

How do you catch a squirrel?

Climb a tree and act like a nut!

Suggest a topic for a future edition 🤔

Got an idea for a topic I can cover? Or maybe you’re struggling with a specific marketing-related problem that you’d like me to address?

Just reply to this email and describe the topic.

There's no guarantee I'll use your suggestion, but I read and reply to everyone, so have at it!