Last updated - September 18, 2024
For an ecommerce store to thrive, the first step is to provide good-quality products or services. The second step is to gather those happy customer reviews. It is imperative to understand the best time to ask for a review. Customer reviews are an integral part of your business growth. Positive and negative reviews can help you turn out your ecommerce business for the best. It is imperative to understand the best time to ask for a review.
Timing is very integral to customer reviews because one should not be too early or too late to ask the customer for a review. In this blog, we are trying to discuss the different aspects of customer reviews and most importantly the best time to ask for a review for your ecommerce store.
Why should you ask for customer reviews?
Customer reviews are very important for the growth of the business. 75% of customers regularly go through customer reviews before making a purchase.
We can analyze the many reasons why you should take reviews from customers:
- Building brand image: When there is a good set of reviews for your product or service, it automatically elevates the brand’s image. Nobody is going to ignore a brand with a good set of reviews.
- Incorporates trust and reliability: When the website shows a mix of positive and negative reviews, it makes sure that the business bring in an authentic approach.
- Increasing sales: When there are a lot of reviews, it can promote people to buy more products or services from your ecommerce store.
- Improving products or services: Customer reviews are also a window to take in the negatives and improve the business’s products and services.
Why is timing critical for customer reviews?
- Enhances Response Rate
If you are confident about the service or product you have delivered, then it might not be very wise to wait weeks to get around the customer reviews. When they are rightly enjoying the product or service, they will be more obliged to give the right feedback of the service or product.
- Capture at the right moment
The emotional peak is the right moment to capture the correct customer review. When they are just using the product or service, there is a good chance for them to be highly satisfied with the product and will be ready to give off a good customer review right away.
- Better trust and credibility
When reviews come in at the right time, they become more organic and trustworthy. Timing is critical as when asked too soon or late the customer review can sound desperate or unprofessional. It can also eventually result in tarnishing the brand’s identity.
- Retains Customer Loyalty
When you ask for a customer review, the customer will get the impression that you are well-involved in your business as well as the confidence you have in your product or service. it gives them all the more reason to come back again and purchase from you.
When is the best time to ask for a review?
Many factors govern the best time to ask for a customer review. It can be based on the kind of product or service you are providing, customer satisfaction levels, the mode of asking, etc.
To make sure that you get an encompassed review, you will be required to give the customer enough time to use the product once or twice. but, if you are providing a service, you can ask the review when the service is completed. Asking way too soon without giving the customer enough time might sound desperate.
As discussed before the type of product also determines when the review needs to be asked:
- Hard Goods: Wait for at least a good amount of time to get customers to review goods like ovens, refrigerators, washing machines, etc.
- Soft Goods and Perishable Goods: These are goods that are usually used immediately and thus you can ask for a review in a week or two.
- Seasonal Goods: These goods are in season only at some times of the year. A Christmas wreath will not have sales all around the year but only during the season and thus asking for a review needs to be quick say take only a week.
According to Power Reviews, one can ask for reviews two days a week. It can be either Wednesday or Saturday. Wednesday because it’s the middle of the week and people might try to review to break off the slump. Saturday is the best time for a review as it is the start of the weekend.
Cash on the positive experience of your customers. If they reach out to you telling you about how much they loved your experience, then there is no better time to ask for a customer review.
When that particular customer makes revisits to your website for products or services, then you need to personally get to them and ask for a good and detailed customer review.
How to ask the customer for a review?
As you own an ecommerce store, there are many ways in which you can ask for a customer review. Let’s look into some of them:
- Reviews via Email: Emails are one of the best go-to options for getting customer reviews. When emails are sent right off the bat, the purchase is still fresh in the minds of the customers and if they are happy with the product or service, they are likely to give a good review.
- Request reviews on product pages: A business’s success can be evaluated based on the reviews the business has. When a customer sees a good set of reviews on the product page, it is a nudge to buy a product. This is also an easy way to ask customers to add reviews.
- Reviews via Landing Page: A dedicated landing page can be an option for big businesses. This shows the strong foundation of the business and the dedication they have towards their customers.
Final Wrap
Customer reviews are essential so is the timing of asking customers to review. Asking customers too soon and too late can harm your business. Therefore, it is essential to learn and understand the best time to ask for a review and this blog entails just that. Learn right to scale your business in the best possible way.
FAQs
- When is the best time for a review?
The best time for a review depends on many factors, like the type of product or service, when the customer makes repeated purchases, etc.
- How long should I wait before asking for a review?
Before asking a customer for a review, you can set a minimum of 7 days as a margin.
- Is it okay to ask for reviews repeatedly?
Yes, but do not go harsh and desperate. Keep a gap of a good few days after initial communication.
- What if a customer doesn’t give a review?
It is not right to push and respect their decision. But, you can politely ask the reason they are reluctant to give a review.
- Is incentivizing customers the right way to get a review?
No, it is not right to incentivize customers to give a review as the response becomes biased.