It's no secret -- to land a product review you usually have to ask for it.

And nowadays, it's deceptively easy to do this. You can stick package inserts in boxes, mail post cards, send email newsletters, or call up happy customers to request their feedback.

Why, then, do some companies procure a lot more reviews than others?

Asking is not enough

After building several marketing tools over the years, our team has learned that how you ask, when you ask, and why you ask play a huge role in actually receiving reviews.

To illustrate, here are a few examples to consider when developing your review collection strategy.

Timing

When should you ask for a review?

A weight loss supplement should probably wait a couple months, as dieting results are gradual. Meanwhile a hamburger restaurant has the best luck within hours of someone finishing their meal.

Commitment

Your customers are smart. They intuitively understand that (positive) feedback will help grow your business. It's not unreasonable, then, for customers to expect you to make it easy for them to do you a favor.

Feedback requests that make customers verify their identity or register for a website fail to meet this expectation. There are much better ways to ensure a customer's integrity without time-consuming questionnaires.

Incentive

Rewarding customers for sharing feedback is not a new idea. The most common formula is "do X, receive Y." But there are a lot more variables than merely the size of the incentive.

When Airbnb switched their referral strategy from "receive Y" to "give Y," referrals grew 300%.

Airbnb Referrals 2.0

As another example, let's say your clients are large enterprises. In this case, it's unlikely a discount on their next invoice will be interesting to end-users, as they aren't personally paying the bill. 

But an office pizza party for your "top partner clients," on the other hand, may be a perfect incentive for both sides to invest resources in a long-form case study.

For companies on a budget, you can apply variability to a review incentive by offering a raffle prize to "1 of the next 10 reviewers" versus compensating every single participant.

Context

If a customer buys your product without talking to a human, they might feel uncomfortable being solicited for reviews via text message. 

On the other hand, if your customer worked directly with a salesperson it could feel impersonal to mail them a postcard.

Knowing which communication channels your customer prefers will go a long way in making "leave a review for X" a realistic item on their todo list. 

Why us?

We think about review collection principles a lot. At our previous company, Fomo.com, we experimented endlessly and implemented everything we know it.

This led to us publishing a staggering 150+ full length case studies (source), in addition to 100s of reviews across a dozen platforms.

Now, at GetReviews, we're turning those best practices into a product from which any online business can benefit.

Introducing Outbound

Starting today, customers can leverage our expertise in consumer behavior by enabling our latest feature suite, Outbound.

How it works

  1. Upload customer details (via API or CSV - sample format)
  2. We collect reviews (with customer detection surveys)
  3. Grow your company (by showing them off)

The entire process is automated, with minimal up-front configuration required on your part.

As stats pour in -- visible inside your Outbound campaign dashboard -- we'll iterate the timing, messaging, and incentives on your behalf.

Airbnb Referrals 2.0

The Outbound suite is already equipped with email and SMS campaign types. Direct mail and other channels are on the way.

Airbnb Referrals 2.0

To get started, simply click Campaigns from your GetReviews dashboard. From there you can preview the message content, configure sending delays, and more.

Put Reviews on Autopilot

Hoping for a 5 star review isn't a strategy. A sophisticated, empathetic, dynamic review collection campaign is.

Earn your first 10 reviews with us absolutely free, no credit card required, then upgrade to a plan that starts as low as $19 /month.