How to obtain customer opinions? Ways to motivate consumers to share their shopping experience

One of the pillars of building a positive company image is proper acquisition of customer opinions. While a dissatisfied customer will gladly share a negative review online, a satisfied consumer won’t be as inclined to express admiration. Therefore, it’s important to focus your efforts on encouraging customers to provide reviews. If you’re wondering how to get positive opinions from customers who are satisfied with their purchase, this article certainly has the answer.

How do you encourage customers to give reviews and recommendations?

If you care about getting buyer reviews, you need to encourage them properly. A satisfied customer is the best brand ambassador, but often without the right motivation, they are not eager to praise your services online. Chances are that they will recommend your company to their friends, or whisper a good word about your product to their family, but will not share their experience with a wider audience. Therefore, it is in your best interest to get users to leave feedback. There are several ways to get recommendations, and all of them are a prelude to building long-term relationships with consumers.

As a reminder, you can gather feedback from your customers in your Google Maps business page, using your brand’s official social media profile, or on industry portals like Booking, among others. These are just a few of many communication channels with current and potential consumers that are an invaluable source of knowledge about their feelings about your product, service or company.

You already know why and where you should collect positive reviews, so it’s time to discover effective methods for collecting customer feedback. 

Ask for feedback in an email

One of the easiest ways to get feedback from satisfied customers is to ask for recommendations. Depending on the purchase path your customer is going through, choose the right time to persuade them for sharing their opinion. You can send an email to encourage them at this point and ask to express their opinion about the online store or the customer service level. Take advantage of the moment when the user has just received a new product and is still excited about the purchase.

One of the tools for customer satisfaction survey and feedback management can help you with this task. A ready-made system for sending invitations, which are consistent with your corporate identity and reach the customers after ordering, will be provided by, among others, Rating Captain application. After the transaction is completed, the consumer will receive a personalized message with a request to provide feedback. This will convince him that his opinion has an important meaning in the development of your business and improving the quality of your services. 

However, sometimes just asking a buyer to share his impressions about the purchasing process is not enough. In this case, you can develop a recommendation form or support questions that will make it much easier to edit the review. Remember also about the principle of reciprocity and do not leave a review without a comment. Show the customers that their opinion matters to you and that you treat all their comments as guidelines in the process of product improvement and company development.

Reviewing products on the website

Don’t forget to publish feedback widgets on your company website – such recommendations can be a magnet for new and undecided customers. The feedback form can also be placed on the product card, adding an appropriate call to action, e.g. rate this product first. At this point, also explain to the customer why their feedback is so important and how it can improve your business. If you’re a mail order company, it’s a nice surprise to include a card with a request to review your product or service directly on your website. Such a note of appreciation for the trust and purchase should be personalized to emphasize the individual approach to each customer.

There is no better advertisement than reviews of satisfied consumers. If you want your customers to leave positive recommendations online, you need to make it easy for them. Giving opinions should not take too much time, which is why you should create a simple system of reviewing your products. Whether you ask customers to rate you in a survey or in the form of stars, don’t give up on the right incentive. A discount coupon for future purchases or a membership card can increase customer loyalty and loyalty to your business. Also, treat all feedback as important tips that are valuable business lessons.