How to create a customer review feedback loop that drives loyalty and acquisition

“Reviews occur at a unique moment in the brand/customer relationship,” says Mat Bingham, former head of technology partnerships at Okendo. “They offer the customer an opportunity to give feedback directly to the brand, and brands have the opportunity to collect data directly from the customer. It’s a win-win.”

Here are 4 reasons ecommerce reviews are a win-win for every online business:

As a marketer, you can make all sorts of promises or claims about what you’re trying to sell. But marketing images and positioning can only get you so far. Most shoppers trust a customer who is reviewing a product over a marketer who’s trying to sell it.

In fact, Klaviyo’s future of consumer marketing report found that Gen Zers and millennials consider reviews the most important aspect of the shopping experience.

“Asking for customer reviews,” then, “is an essential part of building a positive online reputation for your business,” says Lindsey Arellano, former director of email and SMS at CURIO.

Unlike marketers, real people typically wouldn’t benefit substantially from praising a product or service. Their opinions are simply a reflection of their actual experience—which, for other consumers, is a whole lot more relatable than a pretty, polished ad campaign.

With customer reviews, “you get to leverage a customer’s voice rather than your own,” says Alexander Melone, co-founder of CodeCrew. “As trustworthy as your brand might be, it isn’t as trustworthy as someone who doesn’t have a clear agenda to promote your product.”

“As trustworthy as your brand might be, it isn’t as trustworthy as someone who doesn’t have a clear agenda to promote your product.” — Alexander Melone, Co-founder, CodeCrew

When shoppers search for products online, listings with high ratings jump out immediately. That’s because high ratings are at-a-glance social proof that can make a purchase decision a lot easier to make.

People are naturally skeptical of unfamiliar brands and products. They need reassurance before they make a purchase for the first time. But seeing that thousands of others already took the plunge can make them feel more secure in their decision.

There’s a reason why many ecommerce brands feature their 5-star reviews prominently in their social media ads, email subject lines, product listings, and shopping feeds.

Reviews don’t just attract new potential customers—they can also help close the sale.

Product reviews work because they can address specific concerns that might be holding someone back from buying. A review might confirm that a sweater is truly soft enough for sensitive skin, that a toy is durable enough for active toddlers, or that a gadget is simple enough for non-tech-savvy users.

Even the occasional negative review can play a valuable role in the purchase decision. A thoughtful negative review that mentions specific issues helps other shoppers make informed decisions about whether a product can still meet their needs. And your response to that negative review shows potential customers how you handle problems when they arise.

Without reviews on your product pages, you’re asking customers to take a leap of faith with their money. Most won’t. Instead, they’ll go where other shoppers can guide their decision.

You might be able to dismiss one bad review as an outlier opinion. But several bad reviews? Those constitute something a little closer to an objective fact.

As Melanie Balke, CEO of The Email Marketers, puts it, “Reviews aren’t just about good reviews that you can display on your website. They’re also about getting customer feedback that you can use to enhance your product or customer experience.”

“Reviews aren’t just about good reviews that you can display on your website. They’re also about getting customer feedback that you can use to enhance your product or customer experience.” — Melanie Balke, CEO, The Email Marketers

Perception is everything in ecommerce. Negative reviews, while disappointing, can help you identify opportunities for improvement in your customer service and product offerings.

Arellano recommends using reviews as a source of “customer insights and feedback.” Brands can “analyze the feedback from reviews to identify areas of improvement and make changes to their products or services accordingly,” she says.

And that brings us full circle back to trust. Arellano adds: “By responding to all reviews, whether positive or negative, brands can show that they value customer feedback and are willing to address any issues or concerns. This can help build trust and loyalty with customers.”

“By responding to all reviews, whether positive or negative, brands can show that they value customer feedback and are willing to address any issues or concerns. This can help build trust and loyalty with customers.” — Lindsey Arellano, former director of email and SMS, CURIO

According to BrightLocal, the number one reason customers don’t leave reviews is that they don’t find the overall customer experience noteworthy enough to write about.

In other words, happy, satisfied customers are more likely to leave you a positive review—and vice versa—but an average experience won’t cut it. That means the best review collection strategy is to provide a memorable experience in the first place.

But happy, satisfied customers still won’t always leave you a positive review. Correlation is not necessarily causation. Sometimes, people need a little push.

Here are a few reliable ways to nudge your customers toward leaving you an online review:

On that note: your owned marketing channels are a great way to collect consumer reviews. When BrightLocal asked consumers which review request methods would make them more likely to leave a review, they identified the following:

• In an email: 40%

• In person, during the sale: 27%

• Through social media: 27%

• In a text message: 27%

• On a receipt or invoice: 20%

That means email is still the most effective method for prompting customers to leave a review. Here are a few ways to go about it.

A review request email is a type of post-purchase email that asks recent customers to write a review about their experience with your brand or a product they just bought.

The good news: you can—and should—automate it.

Klaviyo recommends using “fulfilled order” as the trigger for the post-purchase review request email, and incorporating a time delay to ensure the customer receives the email not only after their product has been delivered, but also after they’ve had a chance to actually use it.

You can also set up additional filters to target specific audience segments, such as:

• Big spenders: Send review requests only to customers who recently bought a high-value item.

• VIPs: Send review requests only to customers who have achieved a specific lifetime value with your company.

• Second-time purchasers: Melanie Balke, CEO of The Email Marketers, recommends sending review requests “after the second purchase, because at this point you know they are a satisfied customer.”

Regardless of who you’re asking to leave you a review, timing is absolutely critical here. “Nothing is more frustrating as a customer than getting a review request for a product that you haven’t even received yet,” says Brandon Amoroso, founder and president of Electriq (acquired by DRINKS.com).

“Nothing is more frustrating as a customer than getting a review request for a product that you haven’t even received yet.” — Brandon Amoroso, Founder and president, Electriq

The “correct” range can vary dramatically depending on the industry and product. Food and beverage products, for example, “are fairly easy for customers to taste right away and determine whether or not they like it, so asking for a review a few days after the product is received would be a good strategy,” says Lindsay Kolinsky, director of marketing at Okendo.

On the other end of the spectrum, “skincare may take up to 4–6 weeks before a customer can truly notice the impact of the product,” Kolinsky points out. In that case, “it may be best to ask for a review after a more extended timeframe.”

But you generally want to schedule a post-purchase review request “after a normal number of days post-delivery for the customer to have used the item at least once, but not so long that they’ve forgotten about the purchase altogether,” says Bailey Sigmon, customer journey manager at CommentSold.

“Work backwards based on your typical customer journey to find the ideal timing to ask for reviews,” says Dylan Kelley, founder and CEO of Wavebreak. “It’s different for every brand.”

“A/B test shorter and longer windows. See a difference? Just keep testing to find that sweet spot.” — Peyton Fox, Agency owner and email strategist, Spark Bridge Digital

Finding your ideal timing might require a bit of trial and error. “Use your data to your advantage,” says Peyton Fox, agency owner and email strategist at Spark Bridge Digital. “I recommend testing a standard window of 14 days post-arrival and seeing what your submission rate is. From there, A/B test shorter and longer windows. See a difference? Just keep testing to find that sweet spot.”

The goal of the customer feedback survey is to simplify the feedback process for your customers. Instead of emailing them a request to write you a review from scratch, ease the burden of creativity by emailing them a survey request instead.

Customer feedback surveys require a bit more planning and development on your end, because they require you to understand what kind of feedback, specifically, would be most useful for your brand. Less is more, here. You might ask customers to:

• Rate their overall experience with your brand, either on a numbered scale or using visual icons (emojis or thumbs ups/downs)

• Rate the product they just bought on a few specific attributes, like fit, color, and quality

• Rate their customer support experience

• Select from a variety of multiple choice options to describe their experience with your brand or product

• Confirm whether or not they would buy from your brand again in the future

• Confirm whether or not they would recommend your brand to a friend or loved one

Customer surveys are also a prime opportunity to collect zero-party customer data. With skincare brands, for example, Amoroso’s agency asks the customer “for their gender, skin type, and age, so that we can use it for segmentation in our remarketing strategy moving forward.”

“Reviews are a great source of product feedback and social proof, but they’re also an invaluable way to collect zero-party data about your customers.” — Lindsay Kolinsky, Director of Marketing, Okendo

“Reviews are a great source of product feedback and social proof, but they’re also an invaluable way to collect zero-party data about your customers,” Kolinsky says. “Many brands are collecting customer attributes in their reviews but don’t realize the full power of that data for building personalized experiences.”

Be careful with this one. Rewarding customers for providing feedback is generally considered acceptable, as long as you don’t require them to leave a positive review in exchange for the incentive. Common incentives for leaving reviews include:

• Discounts or coupon codes

• Free gifts

• Early access to products

• Access to gated content

• Loyalty or rewards points

But again, testing is your friend here. “Brand operators should always be conscious of not over-discounting, and this can be solved with simple conditional splits contained within a Klaviyo flow,” says Ben Zettler, founder of Zettler Digital.

“Brand operators should always be conscious of not over-discounting, and this can be solved with simple conditional splits contained within a Klaviyo flow.” — Ben Zettler, Founder, Zettler Digital

In other words, it may not be necessary to offer a review incentive to every customer, every time. You might, for example, experiment with escalating incentives based on the quality of the review:

• Text-only review: gated podcast episode or video

• Review with image: free gift with purchase company.

• Review with video: 15% off next purchase

Or you might “incentivize users to leave a review only if they haven’t left a review previously,” Zettler says. “For users that have left previous reviews, send a letter from the founder or give a chance to enter a giveaway. Transactional dollars are not always the way to go.”

“Transactional dollars are not always the way to go.” — Ben Zettler, Founder, Zettler Digital

According to Klaviyo’s future of consumer marketing report, the primary way consumers purchase from ecommerce and retail brands is on mobile websites. When we break down purchase behavior by channel, 53% of consumers purchase from mobile sites, as opposed to 43% who buy in-store, 40% who buy on a desktop website, and 33% who buy from marketplaces.

So your website is still important—but it must cater to mobile shoppers.

You can highlight customer reviews directly on your product pages, like Compass Coffee. But you can also distribute them elsewhere on your website. Women’s apparel brand Pink Lily, for example, dedicates a whole landing page of their ecommerce store to recent customer reviews:

Your social media followers are interested in understanding how your products benefit real people. Incorporating customer reviews into your social media and overall CRM strategy helps them see just that. This might look like:

• Re-posting a customer’s video testimonial on Instagram or TikTok

• Quoting comments your customers have made about your brand or products on your social media accounts

• Collaborating with influencers who can review your products on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube

Similarly, paid advertising can be an incredibly powerful vehicle for leveraging customer reviews in your marketing efforts.

According to Kolinsky, “Incorporating UGC into your paid marketing creative can drive qualified traffic to your site channels and increase return on ad spend (ROAS).”

“Incorporating UGC into your paid marketing creative can drive qualified traffic to your site channels and increase return on ad spend.” — Lindsay Kolinsky, Director of Marketing, Okendo

Finally, UGC like customer reviews “can also increase the impact of your email and SMS marketing strategy at critical conversion points in your customer journey,” Kolinsky says. Think welcome series emails, abandoned cart emails, and cross- or up-sell emails featuring product recommendations.

“Look for reviews that stand out from the crowd—in the language, in what they are about—and then use those in your cart abandonment promotions.” — Kathryn Browning, Marketing director, Justuno

“Look for reviews that stand out from the crowd—in the language, in what they are about—and then use those in your cart abandonment promotions,” says Kathryn Browning, marketing director at Justuno. “Double points if you segment it down to the items in the cart corresponding to the specific review.”

How you go about collecting reviews from customers, and what you end up doing with them in the long run, may evolve over time based on your shifting business goals.

“Are you looking to leverage reviews to further promote specific products? Are you truly looking for honest feedback? The answer can change at any stage of any company’s lifecycle, too, of course,” Melone says.

“Gathering real, hard, not-always-happy insights from your customers will always be valuable.” — Alexander Melone, Co-founder, CodeCrew

“At one point in your company’s life, gaining reviews that you can disperse through marketing channels will far and away be the most valuable use of time,” Melone continues. “But gathering real, hard, not-always-happy insights from your customers will always be valuable.”

“By implementing these advanced review strategies,” Arellano says, “brands can not only improve their online reputation, but also gain valuable customer insights—and build stronger relationships with their customers.”

Reviews are powerful, but they’re most effective when integrated into your overall marketing and customer loyalty strategy.

As the only B2C CRM on the market, Klaviyo can help you connect reviews with email, SMS, and other touchpoints throughout the customer journey. With unified customer data, you can segment customers based on their review sentiment, send personalized follow-ups to reviewers, and use their feedback to inform your product development and marketing messages.