Published by Trustpilot
21.10.20
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday upon us, it’s going to be an excellent opportunity for your Shopify Plus store to make lots of money. Last year, Shopify reported record-breaking sales of $2.9+ billion worldwide and this year it’s predicted to be even bigger!
At this stage, we hope you’ve got your BFCM strategy plan mapped out and ready to go. But there is something you might have missed out on: reviews!
Here, we catch up with Partnership Manager, James Owen of Trustpilot to discuss why reviews are important and how they can be used to take your store to the top this BFCM.
Why should online retailers consider reviews as part of their BFCM strategy?
I believe that all online retailers should consider reviews as a core part of their digital strategy, not just limited to the BFCM period. This is because as high as 93% of us consult online reviews as part of our buying journey. With so many enticing offers flying around during the BFCM period, the differentiating factor between retailers can be who has the strongest online reputation or who utilises social-proof more effectively.
Trustpilot has conducted third-party research into the effect reviews have on shopping cart abandonment and value. We found that integrating genuine feedback throughout the natural buying journey not only increases the order amount, it also heavily reduces the number of people that do not complete their purchase or abandon their shopping cart altogether.
How can merchants use reviews to increase sales this BFCM?
I’d suggest that every merchant needs to shout about their online reputation and display social proof as much as possible. This all contributes to yielding the highest amount of sales and revenue available during the BFCM madness.
Product reviews are especially important in my opinion, they are trusted as much as 4x more than any company description or product advertisement. For a customer, this is genuine and honest feedback from someone just like them that has bought the item they’re pondering over.
How can customers be encouraged to submit reviews?
Here at Trustpilot, we took the strong stance a while back to stop businesses incentivising their customers to leave reviews, this is now prohibited on our platform.
My advice would be to show your customers that you genuinely care about their feedback, so invite everyone that’s had an experience with your business and automate reminders to send to those that do not leave a review the first time around.
What’s more, customers will also be encouraged to leave reviews if they can clearly see feedback throughout their customer journey. Again, it signals that your business cares about their opinions, so they realise their review will be heard and valued.
Get in touch with our Shopify Plus experts today!
If you’re an online store looking to push your brand to a new level, we’d love to hear from you.
Our team of ecommerce specialists can help you create an online experience that your customers will love and keep them coming back for more and more. If you’d like support in creating a winning BFCM strategy or simply want to hear more about Trustpilot, then you’ve come to the right place. Let’s talk.
About Trustpilot
With more than 100 million reviews of over 425,000 companies, Trustpilot gives people a place to share and discover reviews of businesses, and we give every company the tools to turn consumer feedback into business results. Our mission is to bring people and businesses together to create ever-improving experiences for everyone. Trustpilot reviews are seen more than 5.5 billion times each month by consumers worldwide. With offices in Copenhagen, London, Edinburgh, New York, Denver, Berlin, Melbourne and Vilnius, Trustpilot’s 750 employees represent more than 40 different nationalities.
