Consumers don’t trust you.

Sorry, but that’s a harsh truth every business must face.  Today’s shoppers are jaded, cynical, and highly suspicious of advertisements.  If they feel someone is trying to “sell” them, they lock their wallets.

But that doesn’t mean they don’t want to buy products that are a solution to their problem.  They just want unbiased proof that the business keeps its promises – before they break out their plastic.

Enter marketing content de jour, the online review.  If your prospective buyers tend to be skeptical, reviews are the balm to soothe their fear of buyer’s remorse.  Social proof impacts opinion.  If it worked for these people, it should work for me.

Reviews are make or break.  Here’s what a strong review profile looks like, with tips on how you can take your reputation from stinky to sterling – fast.

A Strong Review Profile = Trust

A Marketing 360® client had a problem.  Many of the people who needed their product thought it was a drug.  Others were simply skeptical that it worked.

The product is hemp oil capsules for pain relief.  Not a drug, and not illegal.  But very effective for chronic pain suffers.

The Marketing 360® team realized they could create all types of marketing campaigns to convince people of the efficacy of the products, but the home run would be customer reviews.

They needed to turn happy, loyal customers into advocates.

So the reputation management team went to work.

The team applied what is becoming a proven strategy, which is using email to elicit positive reviews on targeted platforms.

It starts with sending an email to the customer list:

They sent out a series of emails for Google, Top Rated Local, and Facebook.  The business went from two reviews to thirty in a week.

In addition, they followed up new purchases with requests to put product reviews on their website.  This brought in dozens of high rated reviews on the product pages which – as Amazon knows – is very effective at building trust.

For added social proof, they use a pop-up that shows recent purchases:

Sales are now booming, with little change in the rest of their marketing material.

For this type of product, the main thing prospective buyers want to hear is that people like them, with similar problems, benefited from using it.  That the service was excellent, and that they got their money’s worth.

We could work all day on a catchy, benefits-filled slogan for this company.  But in the end, it doesn’t get any better than the honest words of a real person.

*Results are based on past client performance. Individual account performance may vary. Results are not guaranteed.