You remember what it was like back in school, when the teacher always had a handful of favorite students?
These students weren’t always the smartest, or most popular, or even best behaved.
Sometimes the teacher doted on the ditzy cheerleader who always got the class off task but also always showed up in a cheery mood with positive energy. Or sometimes the teacher loved the quiet student who no one talked to in the back who had never missed a single question on every test.
There wasn’t always rhyme or reason to who became a teacher’s pet, but it was clear they got special treatment.
Maybe the teacher overlooked when they came in late to first period, or when they were texting under the table. Whatever it was, these students were clear favorites.
You know you’ve got some products that customers love. They buy it, season after season, and write raving reviews about it.
But what about all your other products? How do you get them the attention they deserve?
The data proves it’s not enough to just have reviews – you need to be getting fresh reviews spread across many products in order to drive the most benefits. And this means making sure certain products don’t hog all the attention.
Not paying attention to this can be costly – our data shows reviews have an enormous influence on how customers spend money.
So how do you increase even review distribution and make sure all products are treated equally?
Increase the exposure of less-reviewed products
People can’t review products they don’t know about. In order to get even product coverage, you need to make sure your customers are seeing the less-reviewed items.
There’s a few ways to do this, you can promote specific products in post-purchase upsell emails to encourage customers to purchase products that need more reviews.
You can also highlight these products in your store.
When it comes to asking for reviews, you need to make sure you’re asking for reviews on the right product.
Maybe everyone loves to review your ballpoint pen, but no one says a word about your Sharpies. So how do you spread the love?
If customers buy multiple products, only ask for reviews on the least reviewed products. This way, the ones with less attention have a better chance at getting reviews.
Otherwise, try ideas from our local SEO tips guide – we suggest numerous creative ways to get more reviews.
Rephrase how you ask for reviews
Sometimes, a little change in wording can make a huge difference.
Instead of just asking “What did you think of this product?” come up with varying strategies on how to ask customers for reviews and A/B test to see what works.
Showing you value customers’ opinions is important – a review request phrase “We just got this in stock – we value hearing what you think,” can be more effective than “Did you like your product?”
Understand why these products aren’t getting reviews
If all else fails and you realize some products just really aren’t highly reviewed, look into why.
Maybe the product is pretty standard – it’s just another white t-shirt, and no one has much special to say about it – in this case, you need to know how to work with what you’ve got.
Try to use the product in other ways that show how customers feel about it. Run a UGC campaign asking users to show how they use your product.
You can display this on your site to build trust by showing how real customers use your product.
While nothing replaces great customer reviews, other forms of UGC can be effective if you can’t get enough quality reviews.
Make sure to also get site reviews
Last but not least, make sure to get site reviews. Site reviews trust in your overall brand, not just a specific product.
Even if some of your products aren’t consistently getting great reviews, you can still earn trust by displaying site reviews across your product pages, so on-the-fence customers can hear from happy customers about your awesome service.
Conclusion
Even review coverage is very important, but too many stores overlook it.
Use these strategies to increase the amount of reviews you’re getting on every product.