The online marketplace is one of the most competitive industries in the world, and it can seem extremely overwhelming to try and make your products stand out from the crowd, especially when it comes to selling products in your WordPress eCommerce store.

However, there’s one key way that can help you and your business stand out above all the rest; customers reviews. These are key statements and testimonials from your customers that can help customers believe in the quality of your products. But you need to source these reviews in the first place.

Today, we’re going to explore several ways you can gather reviews from your past customers, allowing you to take your business to the top.

Asking at the right time

Waiting for the right moment is the key to receiving the best review. Of course, you’ll need to ask them after they have made the purchase, but you don’t want to seem too quick to ask that you seem pushy or they haven’t had a proper amount of time with the product.

You’ll want to send the email the same day, or several days, after the purchase so you can be sure it’s fresh in their mind. Don’t forget to check the grammar you’ve written in your emails to ensure that it’s accurate since this can harm the credibility and reputation of the business. You can check this easily using tools like Grammarix or State of Writing for help and advice.

This applies to every single email you write, not just the ones in which you ask for reviews. Don’t forget to edit your emails several times before proofreading them for accuracy and to ensure they’re the highest quality possible. Only then will they be ready to send out to your customers and leads.

Secure reviews from influencers

One of the best ways to market and promote your products is by using an influencer in your marketing campaign. These are individuals who have large social media followings that can put their credibility on the line for your products. 

In most cases, you can simply send an influencer in your niche a free version of your product for them to try themselves. Then, they can leave a review while asking your customers to do the same. For this, you can use incentives (see below) to make this even more successful. Not only can this influencer help you get reviews on your products, they can also promote your product, increasing the online visibility of your products and store.

Reward your customers for reviews

So many eCommerce WordPress stores are turning to the route of sending an email to ask for a review and them simply sending a confirmation reward once the review has been left. For example, you could send them a discount code for money off their next purchase, or credit to use in your online store.

"Be sure that you’re not ‘paying’ somebody for a review, but rather leaving an incentive for people to leave honest reviews because fake reviews will simply backfire for your business over time" – explains Duane Brown, a Sales Manager at UK Top Writers.

Asking customers for help

This doesn’t mean you need to get on your knees in front of your customers and beg for them to leave reviews, but you can ask for help in a more dignified way.

If you’re running content through your social media channels, or run an email newsletter, there’s no harm in asking for reviews from your customers in these promotional channels.

Become mobile-friendly

One way to get customers to leave reviews of your product is via customer surveys that you produce. You may even just keep links for the WordPress review page on your website, or sending it to them via email, as we’ve mentioned above.

Debra Dake, a Digital Marketer at Huffingtonpost and Resumention, comments: "However, you need to remember that the majority of customers will be accessing all of these platforms via their mobile devices, so you’ll need to make sure that your surveys and messages are mobile-friendly. Otherwise, they simply won’t bother to leave a review."

More than 62% of internet traffic comes through mobile devices, so the chances are that your users are using a mobile device to read your review request. If you’re struggling with ideas when it comes to writing mobile-friendly content, you can always seek the assistance of copywriting services like Boomessays.

These kinds of services are ideal if you want a new creative perspective, assistance with formatting your mobile-friendly content or simply need a service to complete the task on your behalf if you have no time of your own.

Test your website views for mobile devices.

Asking face to face

Just because you’re selling your products through your WordPress eCommerce store, that doesn’t mean that you can’t ask people face to face for reviews on your products. In fact, there’s simply no better way to ask for a review that during a face to face conversation. This is also the ideal way if you have loyal customers that you see on a regular basis.

Although if you’re selling in a physical shop, leaving a review on your WordPress site won’t come up with the ‘Verified Purchase’ tag if you’re using a plugin that offers this feature, they can still leave a review, or you can simply leave their review on your website or social media pages.

The same rules can be applied to any other ecommerce templates.

Reaching out to new customers

Not everybody is going to have brought your products, and some customers will have decided to take their business to your competitors. After all, the chances are that the products you’re selling have a counterpart elsewhere.

However, it can be extremely beneficial to visit the pages of these other similar products where you’ll find customers that are interested in products like the ones that you’re selling. "Reach out to these customers, give them a discounted purchase or simply ask them to leave a review if the product is the same as what you’ve got!" – says Herbert Amaya, a Marketing Manager at Best Australian Writers.

Remember to remain professional when reaching out to these customers and not to seem desperate. You can do this by practicing what you’re going to write using business writing tools and services like Essayroo and Ukwritings. Master the way you approach these customers, and you’ll maximize your business’s opportunities for reviews and feedback.

As you can see, there are many ways you can source reviews from your WordPress eCommerce store customers. When starting out, remember that securing that first review is one of the hardest things to do, but once you’ve done so, the sales, revenue and customer traffic will start to evolve to new heights of success.