Once you've created a desirable product that lives up to expectations, don't stop there. Over-deliver & provide excellent customer service.
Make your brand experience IMPACTFUL to maximize the likelihood of gaining positive organic reviews.
After product differentiation, main image, and price, reviews are usually the fourth most powerful factor that determines click-through-rate (CTR) & conversion rate (CR). According to Reevoo stats, reviews will give you an additional 18% in sales, and a product with 50+ reviews will have a 4.6% increase in CR.
Although Amazon's Early Reviewer Program and Vine Voices can get the review train started, they won't get you more than thirty reviews.
Here's how to wow your buyers into giving five-star reviews and becoming your loyal customers:
1) Unexpected in-package gifts
Do not ask for reviews at this stage. The customer already did you the favor of buying your product. It's time for you to give back.
All relationships are made of continual interactions. The business-consumer relationship is no different. Give then get. And then give and get again. And so on.
This is not a bribe for a review. Asking for a review at the same time as gifting will make the gift come off as though you're just doing it for a review when your goal is to make the customer feel special. Of course you want the review, but long-term customer relationships lead to larger overall profits. Get them to like you.
Makes sure the gift is unexpected and don't advertise it in your listing. When the customer opens the package, BAM💥 they find a pleasant surprise!
Advertise how you've differentiated your product. You need the differentiation to increase clicks and sell your product. But that isn't over-delivering if you give them exactly what they expect. If you both deliver on expectations AND gift, then your customer will be ecstatic and much more likely to leave a good review.
Make sure that your gift is inexpensive to source. It has to fit your packaging and not be so heavy that it increases your shipping costs. (Our members learn a lot more about Amazon weight classes and fees!)
As low cost as it is, your gift should still be perceived as high value. 🤩
Have it make sense for the kind of customer your product is going to. You wouldn't include a whetstone when your product is a kids toy, but it makes sense if you sell pocket knives.
Another powerful thing to keep in mind is how you want to enhance your brand experience.
Galen Leather sells leather goods made in Turkey. Within each package, they add complimentary gifts from their home country. This emphasizes the brand’s story and the product’s origin.
It's easier and more scalable if your main product supplier also supplies the gift or can source this gift item on your behalf from nearby factories. If not, you can source it from a separate supplier in the region and ship it to your main supplier’s factory for final assembly.
Your complimentary gifts do NOT need to be branded.
BONUS (unexpected, impactful tips from Just One Dime):
Donations
Once you’re up and going, you can consider sponsoring ‘community uplift’ programs or donating units to charities. In return, these non-profits will market your company both online and at their events.
You can also write off donations (in many cases) on your tax forms! Feel good and get good!
Additionally, it's effective strategy to move excess and slow-moving stock!
Thank you cards
Although time consuming, hand-written notes are powerful.
Grilla Grills, which sells grills and smokers, does this effectively. They provide each customer with small gifts to enhance their BBQ experience and a handwritten thank you note. 🍢
This enhances the chance of positive reviews by making customers feel special and want to return the favor.
Here's how you can emulate this:
- Hand write thank you notes.
- Ship inventory to yourself first.
- Insert your notes in each product.
- Ship the products to Amazon's fulfillment center.
It's also possible to ship your cards to your supplier and have them put the notes in the packaging.
There is something a handwritten note can do that no printed thank you card can. It shows effort and commitment.
Word-of-mouth can go far. Even just one ecstatic customer sharing their overwhelmingly great experience with your company can inspire massive trust and bring customers to your door.
Prizes
This can be:
- sending a customer who wrote an above and beyond review a high value gift.
- entering buyers to be selected for a raffle giveaway. 🎟
Combine any of these methods as you like!
2) Golden ticket
A "lead magnet" is a free item or service that you give away for the purposes of gathering buyers' contact details. But because of the way we've seen lead magnets used, we prefer our own version that we like to call "golden tickets".
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Product inserts and lead magnets have become all about taking—about asking for more—specifically reviews. These benefit the seller.
Golden tickets are different in that they are about giving. Golden tickets benefit the customer.
The ticket first mentions the gift and creates exclusivity. It makes them feel as though they got a ‘lucky’ product.
Remember, the purchasing of a product is an experience that you control!
Giving away this item/service should enhance the value of your original product.
Digital magnets are the most scalable since there's no cost to distribute them to customers.
Consider:
- eBooks
- Guides
- Video courses
- Recipes
- Coupons
- Warranties
We dive a lot more into these options for our members.
Research what your customers need in terms of reaching their goals and solving their problems. For instance, if you're selling Japanese sashimi knives, then your customer is likely a cook who prepares fish. A digital guide to fish preparation techniques would suit their needs! Or modern Japanese fish recipes. 🍣
What would drive them to dive into their phone or computer to get to your website? Whatever it is, that is the golden ticket you want to use.
Send this slip to your manufacturer for printing and final assembly.
Not only does this create impact that drives your customer experience, but you are now building your email list with targeted customers. This is an audience you can reach out to anytime.
If you need help creating such a ticket, fiverr and Upwork both offer great freelance services.
3) Follow-up
Send emails from your Seller Central account* after they've received your product. There are tools to automate this. We have four goals:
- Over-deliver
- Start a relationship and turn one-time customers into fans
- Avoid negative reviews
- Materialize good experiences into positive reviews
[*It seems likely that Amazon will disable the ability to send emails from Seller Central. In this case, you will have to depend on your golden ticket to get your customers' emails.]
When you create the first email, I suggest using the subject line “Surprise!” It has a high open rate since people assume they're about to receive some value (always deliver on expectations). Have it go out the day the package ships. Personalize it to the person, offering more value where you can. Give unhappy customers a chance to reach out so you can make it right.
Do NOT ask for a review. 🚫
For email number two, make the email subject "Hey [buyer_name], did you get it?" This is personal and curious. Trigger this email to send two days after the estimated delivery date to give the package excessive time to get there. You're checking in on the buyer and giving them an opportunity to report any issues.
In email three, make the email subject “[buyer_name], do you remember me?” Tie it back to whatever your earlier interactions were and state that it's the last email so that they don't get annoyed. Ask for their feedback and insert a link that directs customers to leave a review. Ask customers to respond directly to you (rather than rate on Amazon) if they’re unsatisfied. Trigger this last email five days after the estimated delivery date.
Every customer will experience some form of customer delight, enhancing the chances of positive reviews and reducing the number of negative reviews.
While these strategies aren't ‘hacks’ or ‘tricks’, they absolutely work!
In fact, we specifically avoid short-term ‘tricks’ and focus on the long-term.
Keep it organic. Put the work in up front. Blow your customers away. 😮
