Customer Reviews

With customers increasingly relying on reviews as their primary method for vetting companies and developing beliefs about brand reputation, companies need to capitalize on positive reviews with a strong marketing campaign in order to increase brand awareness and build trust. While you should adjust your strategy to suit the channels your customers use and the review platforms you direct them to, there are a few points to consider as you plan your approach:

If your social media channels see high traffic, you’ll want to make sure to promote your customer’s positive reviews through each social media channel you use. This is a very effective way to reach many potential customers while also enhancing a sense of community around your existing customer base. Wherever possible, try to use the same channel the review was posted through to maximize potential for amplification. Cross-channel posting is also a powerful way to leverage reviews and amplify positive signals about your brand, building on positive experiences to expand your audience. However, your first goal should be to show the customer who left the review that you appreciate their business and are happy they enjoyed their experience. By responding directly to their comments, you show other customers that you truly appreciate their feedback and are serious about building relationships with your customers.  For example, responding back to an enthusiastic customer endorsement on Twitter with a “thank you” will add a personal touch to your efforts while spreading the positive exchange to many people simultaneously on the same channel.

When customers are deciding on whether to proceed with a transaction, they often look for specific reviews about the options they are considering. If your customer reviews focus on a specific product or service, you may want to add specific reviews directly on pages promoting those options. This can also separate general reviews of a customer’s overall experience with your business from specific components of that experience, which is useful for highlighting areas where product or process improvements could be useful in generating more positive responses from customers. It may be tempting to remove low-ranked reviews on your own page, but don’t give in - these are great opportunities. Responding to customers with negative product feedback shows other customers that you are serious about helping everyone use the product successfully.

Your support team has a pivotal role in both customer reviews and testimonials. When customers have exceptional experiences and are delighted with your service, they are on their way to becoming brand evangelists who post reviews that endorse your company and generate interest from prospective customers. But when your support team are not able to deliver a successful resolution or fail to show customers that your brand truly cares about their success, it’s no secret that customers are quick to post negative reviews and disengage. It's more important than ever to have a robust quality assurance program for your support team, as well as dashboard metrics to help you ensure SLAs are being met and customer satisfaction scores stay high.

Customer Reviews

Because support agents are often your customer’s first and only direct interaction with an employee, they represent the first step in building your brand’s reputation for taking a personal interest in customer success stories. Your support team should also be trained to look for opportunities to turn around negative experiences and create brand evangelists by fast-tracking resolution, exceeding expectations, and build positive rapport with the customer, giving them incentive to promote your team’s reputation for saving the day.

Your support team can also capitalize on positive customer interactions to recognize when highly engaged customers may be open to writing a positive review. Be sure to give agents clear guidelines on how to ask appropriately, and provide them with handy scripts that include updated links and instructions for completing the review process. Use this moment as an opportunity to guide customers in writing a review that emphasizes your support team’s commitment to prioritizing customer outcomes and satisfaction. If an agent has a particularly positive engagement with a customer, that may be a good time to ask if the customer would like to share that specific experience through a review platform.

Customer Testimonials

Customer support has an important role to play in generating customer testimonials as well. Because your support team will be familiar with customers who have frequent or unusual support needs, they can identify potential case studies based on the unique ways some customers are interacting with your brand. If they have developed a particularly close relationship with the customer, you may ask your support agents to be the first to reach out to see if the customer is interested in taking part in a testimonial.

The key to building a high-impact testimonial is to tell a story that clearly describes how your brand has played an important role in a particular customer’s success. This is a chance to cover the entire journey of this customer’s brand engagement, with specific examples along the way. Ask how the customer learned about your brand, taking care to emphasize the factors behind their decision to make a purchase or commit to a subscription. Next, gather details about the specific features or services that the customer has come to rely upon, and how it has contributed to their success. You’ll want to showcase your support team’s role in learning the customer’s needs, developing a relationship, and smoothing out roadblocks by anticipating their needs along the way. When potential customers see precise details about your support team’s commitment to helping every customer succeed, they’ll place a higher value on the testimonial and your brand’s reputation for excellent service.