Complete guide to get more social proof on your store 2022

Everything you need to know about ecommerce product reviews (social proof) 

In the following sections, we’re going to cover everything from the absolute basics of social proof for ecommerce businesses. We will look into the social proof definition, types of social proof, how to get more product reviews and how to get more positive reviews. 

What is social proof? 

Social proof is a form of marketing that addresses our need for verification and validation from others on things we are interested in or want to purchase. This is typically in the form of reviews, ratings, testimonials, influencer or celebrity endorsements, among others. 

Social proof from an ecommerce business standpoint is important because it helps ease the mind of consumers, removing the skepticism from their purchase decisions and nudging them to engage with your brand based on what other consumers like them have to say about your products. 

What are the different types of ecommerce social proof? 

Social proof comes in various forms as consumers tend to show their love or liking for products and services they purchase in different ways. Some of the most common types of ecommerce social proof includes: 

• Product reviews 
• Product ratings 
• Customer testimonials 
• User generated content (product pictures and videos) 

How do product reviews, ratings and testimonials build social proof for ecommerce?

Let’s take a look at how these different types of customer validations and verifications build social proof for an ecommerce business. 

1. Helps consumers filter out the noise 

A study found that a typical internet user sees an average of 5,000 ads every day on social media and the search engine. The statistic indicates the number of options they are being exposed to on a daily basis, giving them the choice to buy from them based on their needs and preferences. 

This is where Shopify product reviews and ratings come in. Social proof helps them sift through the options available to them, verify which of the options are best suited for the products they want to purchase and make an informed purchase decision. 

2. Helps businesses with SEO (search engine optimization) 

More than 60% of online shoppers start their shopping journeys on the search engine. It’s important for your online storefront to show in the search results for the right keywords and phrases. But what’s more important is ‘what’ shows up in the search results! 

Now you can’t continually keep updating your product descriptions to include keywords and reindex your pages. That’s where social proof like product reviews and ratings come into play again. 

Product reviews and testimonials are treated by the search engine as ‘content’, and hence get indexed in a similar way, helping you indicate how good your product is to the search crawlers, jostling up your ranking for certain phrases and keywords that get generally used to describe what you sell. 

3. Helps provide more product information 

 No amount of information is enough when it comes to exploring products and making online purchases.

You may have thought through all the information you need to include in your product descriptions and guides. But there’s always more to it and your customers are the best people to describe the items they purchase from you. 

For example, if a product style runs large or small, how it feels on the skin or whether or not, it matches the description you have provided on the storefront. Simply put, it helps store visitors make informed purchase decisions, leading to better experiences with your brand. 

There are obviously a number of benefits that come with product reviews and ratings. But how do you collect so much social proof?

How to collect more ecommerce product reviews and ratings?  

There is no one set way to get product reviews and ratings for your ecommerce store. But here are a few tried and tested strategies we have been using and recommending to our customers.

1. Make sure to follow up with your customers 

If you have been waiting for customers to come back to your store on their own, after a purchase, to review the items they purchased – that’s not going to happen! With so many distractions around them and the purchases they may have made after, it’s normal for them to forget reviewing your products. That’s where the importance of following up with your customers comes in. 

A few channels you should definitely make use of to request customer testimonials, product reviews and ratings include: 

• Emails 
• Social media 
• Web push 
• SMS 
• WhatsApp 

Don’t be overwhelmed though. With a product review app like AiTrillion, you can actually automate the review requests across multiple channels. This ensures that you are following up with customers in a timely manner, using their attention to your brand, to drive in a review before they forget about the purchase. 

Get the AiTrillion product review app for your Shopify store here. 

2. Ask the right questions 

Imagine being asked to write a paragraph about yourself while creating a social media profile. You wouldn’t know where to begin and end up creating a profile that you’re never truly happy with. That’s why most social media platforms walk you through a series of questions to guide your answers towards an optimal profile. 

You can apply the same logic to your product review requests and process as well. Here are a few questions you can use to give them a subtle nudge: 

• Did <product name> meet your expectations? 
• Did <product name> arrive on time? 
• Would you recommend <product name> to a friend? 

And if you’re looking for extremely specific information, you can take inspiration from the following type of questions: 

• Did <product name> fitting meet your expectations? 
• Did you like the material of <product name>?

Strategically think through the questions you want to ask your customers and the parameters based on which you want them to review your products.  

3. Make it easy to review your products 

When presented with a long form, we often tend to procrastinate and leave the task for later – because it feels all too time-consuming. The same thing holds true for product reviews and ratings as well. 

If the entire process of rating or reviewing a product includes a number of steps, the consumer is less likely to do it. That’s where you need an optimized process for requesting and then guiding the consumer through a series of steps to submit their review. 

Apps like AiTrillion have a pre-optimized process for requesting as well as getting consumers to submit reviews. Ideally, once a customer receives communication requesting a product review, they should be asked a few questions that help them answer in a directional and streamlined way, and their answers should automatically get submitted at the end of the process. 

Try the app today to see how our ecommerce experts have streamlined and optimized the process of product review requests and submissions. 

4. Display reviews and ratings on your site 

Another way to get consumers to review your products is to show them that others are as well. The herd mentality is real when it comes to consumer psychology. So make sure that you’re displaying reviews and ratings on your storefront, from day one – and they only make for beautiful additions to the site if you have the right product review app on your side. 

For example, if you’re using AiTrillion for product reviews, you can display social proof in the form of gallery carousel, review gallery slider, page widget or a floating button. It also lets you further customize the look and feel of how you display the widget. Install the app to try it now. 

5. Incentivise social proof 

Another way to get more social proof – be it product reviews, ratings, testimonials or user generated content, is to give the consumer something in lieu for the same. This could be an incentive of any form that adds value to them in some way – be it for their next purchase or on their existing one. 

For example, you could offer an exclusive discount on their next purchase for reviewing the product. Or you could offer discounted shipping on their existing purchase, if you need them to drop a review for the product before it gets delivered. 

6. Use product review tools to manage social proof 

Once you start getting product reviews and ratings, it is also important that you manage them well. The ecommerce product review tool should not just help you decide what social proof you should be displaying, but also the order in which the social proof is displayed – you obviously need to put your best foot forward to convince new store visitors to buy the product. 

This is where a product review tool like AiTrillion comes in. With an easy-to-use platform, the review tool helps you collect and manage social proof easily. 

Now let’s get down to solving how you can approach customers across different channels to leave product reviews and testimonials, a little more in detail. 

Examples of ecommerce product review request emails 

Email is one of the most effective channels to communicate with subscribers and customers. You can actually automate your review request emails with the help of AiTrillion, making sure it includes a visual and textual glimpse of the product they purchased and an easy mechanism for them to submit the review. 

Here’s taking a look at three review request email examples from ecommerce businesses: 

1. Review request email from Moment

2. Review request email from Everlane

3. Review request email from Target 

4. Review request email from Casper 

5. Review request email from Mack Weldon

Examples of product review request on web push notifications

Web push notifications are effective when it comes to grabbing a consumer’s attention almost instantly. They are also extremely effective at getting promotional messages across on both web and mobile web, making them an equally good channel to request product reviews and customer testimonials. 

1. Web push notification example to request product review 

Examples of product review request on Facebook Messenger

Facebook Messenger is also gaining popularity when it comes to communication between businesses and consumers. So far, the channel is being used to run promotional campaigns or offer support, but we think it can be used for requesting product reviews as well. 

1. Product review request on Facebook Messenger 

Examples and templates of ecommerce product review request SMS/ text messages 

SMS or text messages have a proven 98% open rate and about 45% click through rate. That’s why we believe they should be put to use for requesting customer reviews as well, apart from promoting your deals and discounts. 

Here are a few examples and SMS templates you can make use of, for requesting product reviews: 

1. SMS review request template 

2. SMS review request template 

3. SMS review request template 3 

4. SMS review request template 4 

5. SMS review request template 5

You can use the above SMS templates on other messaging apps like WhatsApp as well. 

How to turn negative reviews into positive customer experiences? 

You might not be able to turn every negative product review into a positive customer experience. But here’s what you can do to minimize them. 

1. Identify constructive and destructive feedback 

Consumers come from all walks of life and may leave product reviews and feedback based on their own personal bias. You need to set up an active mechanism to identify feedback that is constructive and destructive in nature, to be able to filter out the good from the back, and use reviews to derive insights that help you grow. 

2. Don’t ignore negative product reviews 

Too many ecommerce businesses ignore negative product reviews, not wanting to get into a tussle with the customers. But their ignorance further makes the consumer feel less cared for, leading to compounding the negative customer experience. So make sure, you’re responding to negative reviews as actively – because your responses get noticed by other consumers too! 

3. Use negative reviews as an opportunity to converse 

Don’t just respond to negative product reviews and testimonials. Use them as an opportunity to start a conversation with the customer and understand where their review comes from – you need to understand their side of the story to be able to address and resolve the issue at hand. 

4. Take the conversation offline 

The length of a conversation under a negative product review cannot be predicted. That’s why you should do your level best to take the conversation offline. Request the customer for details of their order and reach out to them personally on email or phone call, to understand why they felt so negatively about the purchase. 

Don’t be afraid to answer the tough questions and focus on listening to the customer more than defending your stance. 

5. Create a workflow ‘before’ requesting reviews 

Instead of asking customers to leave product reviews and ratings on your storefront directly, approach them for feedback. Based on their response, segment happy and unhappy customers. Then with further automations, create a workflow that reaches out to the happy customers to request for product reviews, and unhappy customers with a personalized approach to understand their experience with your brand. 

Free framework to ensure you get more positive product reviews

Based on our experience with ecommerce businesses across various industries, here’s a framework we recommend following to get more positive product reviews:

Want to implement this stack to get more product reviews and ratings on your Shopify store? Install the AiTrillion app today.

Conclusion  

Whether you’re a new ecommerce store or one that has thousands of orders coming in every day, social proof in the form of product reviews and ratings is important for your growth. But having to manage requests for reviews manually, can be tedious and often, overwhelmingly time-consuming. 

That’s where having an all-in-one app for social proof comes in handy. Ecommerce solutions like AiTrillion are made to simplify the process of collecting and managing reviews – in an end to end manner, easy. Reach out to us.

Install AiTrillion on your Shopify store today to get 12x more product reviews in no time.