How to Get Positive Reviews on Your Online Store

One of the biggest challenges in selling online especially for beginners is establishing trust with the online shopping community. And one of the easiest ways to establish trust is by accumulating as many positive reviews as you can.

These positive reviews act as social proof and a signal to prospective customers that your online store is reputable and that you as a seller are trustworthy.

I have been selling online for a few years now and this is one of the things that I always keep in mind in every single transaction that I make.

Customer feedback is crucial not only in generating sales but also in helping you as an entrepreneur to grow and stay ahead of the competition.

If you are thinking of starting an online selling business, read on.

Photo by Shaurya Sagar on Unsplash

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Why You Should Have Tons of Positive Reviews

There are so many reasons why your online store should have tons of positive reviews and some of these reasons are:

Attract New Customers

As I have mentioned above, online shopping is about trust. People are getting tired of fearing fraudulent transactions and one of the things that they looked for to avoid getting scammed is the number of positive reviews a store has.

It doesn’t matter if you use eBay, Carousell, Instagram, or whatever online selling platforms, it’ll all be the same. If your store has a lot of positive feedback, customers will gravitate towards your store.

Attract Collaboration/Cooperation

Aside from being an online seller, I’m also an online buyer and I buy a lot of stuff online. Some of the things that I buy are for personal use, but the majority of the things that I buy are for reselling.

Sometimes, I have customers who look for complimentary items which, unfortunately, I don’t sell in my store. I do sell leather bags and an item that my customers often look for is leather conditioner. Since I don’t sell one, I usually refer them to sellers that have a lot of positive reviews online. Even if I don’t know these sellers personally, I feel confident enough to recommend them to my customers after reading their reviews.

Enjoy Additional Benefits from Online Selling Platform

Some online selling websites such as eBay incentivized their sellers who are consistently generating sales and positive reviews. They have this thing called Top-Rated Seller Program wherein they give the qualified sellers enhanced visibility in their platform, a seal of approval in the form of the Top Rated Seller seal, and many more.

Photo by Álvaro Serrano on Unsplash

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How to Consistently Get Positive Reviews on Your Online Store

Consistently getting positive reviews is not really rocket science. Here are some tips that could help you consistently get positive reviews on your online store.

Always Set the Right Expectation

Most of the complaints that all businesses have are due to unmet customer expectations. It doesn’t matter if you’re a solopreneur or a huge corporation, if you’re not meeting your customer’s expectation, you will receive tons of negative feedback. And sooner or later, you will lose your sales and business.

In online selling, setting the right expectation can be as simple as:

Providing a complete and honest description of the item that you are selling
Posting clear photos of the merchandise
Responding to customers queries in a timely and honest manner
Not over-promising, especially with things that are beyond your control (such as shipping/delivery timeline)

Provide All the Information that Your Customers Need

Although I have mentioned this above already, I’m including this here as a sub-heading to put more emphasis on it.

What are the things that you think your customers need in order to make an informed decision?

I sell preloved goods online and let’s use my online selling business as an example. The information that I provide on my posts include:

An honest description of the item including flaws if there are any
Actual measurements – Preloved clothes are not always true to the size of their tags because they have been worn and washed already and may have shrunk or expanded in the process.
Payment options
Shipping options
Shipping day – I do mention my shipping day but I don’t promise a delivery day because this is beyond my control. Shipping day is basically the day when I bring sold items to the courier.
Response time – Even though online selling is my full-time gig, I’m a one-man team and I also have other important things in life other than my online selling business. I set the expectation on my online selling profile so customers will know what to expect when it comes to response time.
Materials Info – I base this on the label. I also mention on the post if the fabric is stretchable or not.
A lot of pictures – I take pictures of the front, back, sides, details such as hardware, etc. If it’s a designer piece, I take pictures of all the tags and also, all the hardware markings that I can find, including the marking on the underside of the zipper pull.

It sounds tedious, right?

Actually, it is!

Then, why do I go through all this?

Simple!

I want to help my prospective customers decide for themselves even before they contact me.

Sure, this actually eats a lot of time during the posting process but it saves me A LOT of time in the long run because I don’t get to answer the same questions over and over again.

It also saves my prospective customers’ time!

Once they read my post, they’ll know if it fits them or not. If not, then they can go ahead and look for other similar items in my shop or buy from another seller.

Imagine if you’re the customer and you’ve gone back and forth and you’ve spent some time waiting for the seller to respond only to find out that the garment really won’t fit you. Or that, there’s something on the item that is not acceptable for you. It sucks, right! You could’ve spent that time doing something else!

And also, I do this to ensure that the prospective buyers know what they’re buying. This shields me from potential negative feedback because, at the end of the day, I and the buyers know that I disclosed all the things that they need to know about the item.

Give Them an Awesome Overall Experience

Here are some things that I do with my online selling business and I hope that it gives you an idea or two on how you can provide an awesome overall experience to your own customers.

My transaction starts at the moment they see my listing, not at the time they contact me.

I made sure that as soon as prospective buyers see my listing, they’ll know that they’re dealing with a professional seller.

Once the item is sold, I usually ship the items ahead of time (if I am free). I do not ship beyond the shipping day that I promised on my listing. This is one of the surest ways to receive negative feedback – to not deliver on what you promised.

I also make sure that the items are all packed neatly and there’s always a freebie included in the pouch. It doesn’t matter if they bought a $2 or a $200 item, they will always get a freebie as long as it will all fit in the pouch.

After shipping, I inform them of the tracking number and I monitor all shipments.

If there’s any delay, I contact the courier right away so I will be aware of the situation even before the customer contacts me.

Once the item is received, I always ask the customer to leave my store feedback if they have some free time.

I don’t solicit positive feedback.

I just ask them for feedback.

It always makes me nervous because I don’t know if I’m going to get positive or negative feedback.

Luckily, I have received positive feedback in most transactions, but sometimes, I don’t get any feedback at all.

Regarding the customers that didn’t leave any feedback, I’m guessing that perhaps, they weren’t happy with the item that they received. But, since the overall experience was pleasant, they just opted not to leave any feedback.

I’m sure that I can’t please everyone. No one can!

But by making sure that I give my best on every transaction, I feel that somehow, I’m increasing my chances of achieving customer satisfaction and succeeding in the online selling business.

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