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Here are the six ways you can use customer reviews as an asset — and not a liability — to grow your Shopify store:
1. FIND OUT THE MOST-VALUED BENEFITS OR FEATURES OF YOUR OFFERINGS#
Every product or service offers a wide range of benefits, but customers equally value not all. There is always this one or two benefits that win their heart and encourage them to choose your brand over your competitors. You can capitalize on the most vital benefits and develop an effective unique selling proposition.
A unique selling proposition (USP) is a special benefit [or unique aspect] of a company’s product or service that sets it apart from its competitors (Business Builder Mag).
You may pick one benefit out of the list, but a wiser approach is to read your customers’ reviews because some benefits are only realized by customers when they use the product or service and make it a part of their lives. Customers usually mention what they love the most about your offering or why they chose it — in their reviews.
*A customer’s review for a microwave.
2. FIGURE OUT THE EMOTIONS/FEELINGS YOUR CUSTOMERS ASSOCIATE WITH YOUR BRAND#
Emotional connections with customers are key to growing a Shopify store. They help you build a loyal customer base and increase your long-term profitability. But first, you need to decide what kind of emotions you want to evoke in your customers when they interact with your brand. For example, a Shopify store that sells the 60s and 70s-style bohemian fashion clothes would want its customers to feel nostalgic, whereas, a store that sells electric mountain bikes would want to associate itself with emotions like ‘excited’, ‘energetic’, and ‘adventurous’.
If you are not sure which kind of emotions would best suit your brand’s image, your customer reviews are there for your rescue. Most customers mention their emotional connection with the product and express their feelings. Here is an example.
The photos that your customers have shared in their reviews can also help you get an idea of the emotional connection your customers have with your brand. Here is an example of that:
The statement “Padego Electric Bikes make you feel like a kid” was inspired by the customer review photo that the Padego brand received.
3. DISCOVER WAYS TO ENHANCE OUR CUSTOMERS’ EXPERIENCE#
A brand grows only when its customers keep coming back and doing repeat business with it. And the key to winning this type of long-term loyalty requires you to provide an excellent customer experience (i.e. focus on and address all the pain points of your customers.)
Customer reviews can be a great source of insights to identify your customers’ problems and issues. For example, through reviews, you may find out that:
- the new packaging of your product does not adequately protect it,
- there is a difference between product description and actual product
- The checkout page of your store is slow and glitchy etc.
These details might seem insignificant, but they play a huge role in customers’ overall experience and willingness to maintain long-term relationships with your brand.
4. DETERMINE YOUR PRICING SWEET SPOT#
Pricing is the only factor of your business that directly affects your revenue and profitability. But profitability is not the only criterion you should apply when viewing pricing; other factors like customer relationships and customers’ price perception are equally important. You should make sure that your products are not overpriced — even if you are getting many orders. This is because some buyers may be purchasing just because they don’t have any alternative. A competitor may steal them from you simply by offering a lower price.
If you are a new store, a don’t want to pour money into hiring a consultant, the insights in your customers’ reviews can be beneficial for you. All you need to do is to look for keywords like ‘pricing’ and ‘overpriced’ and see if there are a significant number of people complaining about your pricing. You will have an idea of how where should the prices adjust to.
5. EXTRACT EFFECTIVE CONTENT CREATION IDEAS#
On-page content creation is not only the most effective search engine optimization tactic but also a way to engage your customers and enhance your brand’s image. And a fundamental part of a successful content strategy is coming up with unique content ideas that are actually valuable for users — not just search engines.
So if you want to expand your content sources, look no further than reviews. You can create blog content to answer the questions or address the complaints that your customers have in their reviews. Moreover, product reviews can also help you write unique product descriptions because customers describe your products in ways you may not have considered.
You can use Zeno Page Builder (Shopify app) to create delightful and optimized blog posts and product pages
6. ANALYZE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TREND#
As a business metric, customer satisfaction has no upper limit. Therefore, you should always measure and keep track of your customers’ satisfaction to ensure continuous improvement. Customer review analysis can help you do just that. You can compare your current positive to negative review ratio to see how much have you improved. For example, if your current ratio is 6:3, and the ratio two months ago was 5:2 — you are on the right track.
Some Shopify review apps come with built-in features that allow you to easily monitor and manage the review collection process. For example, the LAI Product Reviews app gives you insightful reports to keep track of the reviews that you collect from request emails (along with many other exciting features.)
Now that you know the value of a customer review for a brand to better understand and serve its customers, let us do the same — please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section! We would love to hear from you!
And keep visiting the LAI Reviews blog for more exciting content about making your Shopify store more powerful.
Thanks for reading!
