Over the last couple of years, the size of the worldwide e-commerce market has grown substantially, since millions of people now prefer purchasing products and services over the internet. In fact, statistics show that in the United States, the online shopping market is valued at approximately $547 billion, whereas recent trends predict that these numbers are bound to keep on growing. The same fact is applicable to the cryptocurrency and blockchain markets, since numerous businesses are now actively offering crypto and blockchain-based solutions.
The growth of cryptocurrency businesses entails a shift in the paradigm of customers. Product and service buyers are no longer able to test out merchandise in person, while simple marketing-based descriptions no longer cut it – especially since the market is overwhelmed with thousands of competing businesses.
While the implementation of marketing techniques is mandatory for the success of any business, online reviews have become considerably more important. Nowadays, reports indicate that prospective customers do their due diligence whenever they’re shopping for a specific product or service.
This research effort is generally based on the customers’ desire to learn more about the product in question, by reading online reviews. So far, numerous studies have shown that positive reviews are bound to positively influence purchase decisions, while also increasing conversion numbers. On the other hand, negative reviews do the exact opposite.
Based on these aspects, the article will focus on highlighting the key tips that crypto and blockchain-related businesses must follow to ensure that they receive organic reviews from their customers.
The disadvantages of purchasing reviews
Before anything else, it is important for us to conduct a brief presentation on why purchasing reviews is never a good idea.
Generally, paid reviews are bound to lead to a decrease in customer trust and overall business credibility. Oftentimes, paid reviews are easy to track, especially if published on large platforms such as Amazon or eBay. In fact, most online marketplaces have verification systems installed that work round-the-clock, to ensure that businesses do not pay for fake reviews.
Being exposed is bound to have a negative effect, as it can lead to being banned from specific platforms, thus leading to potential profit losses. Similarly, this concept is also applicable to other platforms where crypto-related reviews are posted.
Additionally, paid reviews often lack the quality, insight and personality that genuine reviews offer. A 5-star review stating ‘good product, will recommend’ shares absolutely no insight into what using the product is actually like.
On the other hand, organic reviews originating from actual customers are considerably more helpful to prospective buyers. Reviews serve as an alternative form of word-of-mouth advertising, so they’re bound to be most effective when they’re genuine.
How to get reviews organically?
Numerous cryptocurrency and blockchain businesses choose to rely on artificial reviews since they’re having difficulties in encouraging customers to leave organic reviews. Therefore, the next section of the article is focused on outlining several tips meant to inspire users to leave organic reviews.
1. Let your users know where they can actually leave the review
Numerous businesses fail to indicate review options to customers. As such, a smart tip is to place links to your social media handles, alongside other platforms where users can leave reviews. Recommended platforms include Twitter, Google, Facebook, Trustpilot or Bitcointalk. All marketable content (regardless of whether it is email, website or social media content), should feature call-to-action messages and links.
Any business that does not use social media platforms is missing out on precious user engagement, brand awareness, and review potential. Therefore, if you’re not yet present, create a business account!
2. Ask for the reviews in a right time
Generally, businesses should refrain from bugging users to leave reviews, since this practice is bound to tire customers out.
However, there are several moments, which we refer to as triggers, when businesses should indeed ask customers for a review. Relevant triggers include moments when a customer is happy with the purchased product or service. Examples in this case include a new purchase, a subscription extension, a successful delivery, or even a helpful solution provided by the support department.
Picking out the right time generally entails keeping close track to your relationship with each and every customer. Doing so sounds harder than it actually is, given the fact that there are numerous personalization tools available online, designed for this exact purpose. There’s a learning curve associated with this tip, yet the process can be easily automatized.
Do keep in mind that a company should only ask for reviews in case they’re certain that the customer in question was indeed happy with the product/service received. Asking for a review in light of customer dissatisfaction will likely have a negative effect, such as a bad review.
3. Try to automate the process for posting reviews
With this in mind, manually sending requests for reviews is bound to be time-consuming and costly. Unless your business practice is based on occasional large orders, requests for reviews should be automated.
Luckily, there are numerous systems meant to handle this aspect available online. The general idea here is that you want to organize automated emails to be sent out, following trigger detection. However, email marketing practices point out that emails shouldn’t sound generic or robotic.
With this in mind, it is essential for crypto and blockchain businesses to personalize automated email templates, by using the available data, such as the name of the customers, when the purchase took place, whether this is a recurring purchase, alongside the product/service bought. Doing so will not only encourage reviewers, but will also increase email open-rates, facilitate customer engagement, and give you an opportunity to advertise other products as well.
4. Make it as easy as possible
Oftentimes, customers have busy lives, which means that dedicating time to writing reviews isn’t one of their top priorities. This represents the main reason why businesses should focus on making the review process as streamlined as possible.
General tips in this direction include showing an example and preparing a template. Businesses should also avoid asking customers for too many personal details, especially given that we’re living in an era where privacy is no longer taken seriously by numerous market giants. It’s also indicated that you stick to one platform when asking for reviews – no customer has time to rate you on each of your social channels.
5. Answer to the reviews
Answering reviews represents a smart customer engagement technique, which has three main positive effects:
- You’re able to personally thank the reviewers for purchasing your products/services and for taking the time to comment on what their experience was like. This helps promote a tangible relationship between the business and customer, while also facilitating brand loyalty;
- Answering negative reviews gives you the opportunity to mitigate a negative experience that a customer may have had. This shows other readers that you care about customer satisfaction, and that you’re willing to go the extra mile. When presented with a negative review, acknowledge your fault, and be willing to make it up to the unsatisfied customer. Failure to do so will likely drive other potential buyers away;
- Review readers will gain some insight into your business practices, thus increasing overall market trustworthiness in your services. Review answers help showcase that as a business, you value your customers’ opinions, which speaks a lot about the quality of your products and services.
6. Try to do something extra
Market research has shown that customers are more prone to leave a review whenever a business goes above-and-beyond, by either offering them an extra product/service, discount, or simply excellent service.
Therefore, positively surprising customers is bound to increase the likelihood of receiving a review. Even if no review is posted, the customer in question might still help promote your business through word-of-mouth advertising.
For instance, beauty and perfume shops tend to offer customers free samples of other products – not only are they useful, but they also encourage reviews and serve as an excellent marketing technique. This tip can be adapted to the crypto market as well.
7. Share reviews that you have received to stimulate action
Don’t be afraid to share reviews that you have received on other platforms. In their search for a specific product or service, a prospective customer might only stumble upon one of your online accounts.
With this in mind, you can publish reviews on your websites, while also sharing them through social media posts or on forums such as Bitcointalk.
Bottom line
Based on everything that has been outlined so far, these tips are bound to exponentially increase your chances of receiving positive reviews from customers. Do keep in mind that most customers post less than 5 reviews every year, so it is essential for your service to be top-notch. After all, no customer will invest time into writing a review for a product or service that was generic and failed to surpass or even meet their expectations.
Similarly, it is essential for businesses to avoid insisting. No business should make review acquirement their sole priority. Going the extra mile while providing quality products and services generally serves as a positive incentive for encouraging reviews.