Multi-channel customer review solutions that generate trust in 2022

According to e-marketing.fr, 87% of French consumers look at customer reviews before making a purchase decision. It is crucial today for brands to provide an online space where customers can leave their reviews. Reviews are considerable aids for prospects who are still hesitating to make a purchase. However, one should not seek to acquire customer reviews at any cost… Indeed, internet users know how to discern the true from the false and identify a fake review when they see one. In a situation where a consumer realizes the use of fake reviews, they will lose all trust in the brand. Trust is a key notion in the brand-customer relationship.

Consumers are looking for transparent, comprehensive reviews in different forms for more authenticity and transparency. Several solutions on the market offer to collect customer reviews on different channels to generate trust: let’s discover them together!

What is a multi-channel customer review solution?

A multi-channel customer review solution allows a company to collect reviews from its consumers after the purchase of a product or service. These reviews can be collected on different channels of the customer journey: the brand’s website, a partner’s website, or on social media.

Trust, a key element in customer relationships

Trust plays a major role in the relationship between a brand and a customer. To sell, you must first create a bond of trust with your consumers. Companies must prove to their customers that they can trust the products and services offered.

The greater the trust, the more loyal the customers will be. Brands must gain the trust of their consumers, but above all maintain it so as not to lose them.

Customers are looking for more transparency and now need proof before making a purchase. Several actions can be implemented to build and maintain this relationship of trust, such as the use of customer reviews. Indeed, feedback from other consumers is a golden reassurance element for your prospects, and allows them to validate their purchase intention. However, it is not enough to collect simple reviews, the challenge lies in gathering real qualitative and enriched information about your customers’ purchasing experiences.

Customer reviews: the solution to gain consumer trust

Indeed, studies prove that “84% of French people indicate that the authenticity of online reviews is important to them”.

To succeed in gaining consumer trust, your company must collect authentic and enriched reviews, but also nuanced ones.

For this, Trustt recommends a minimum size of 50 characters for a quality review before it is published online. Consumer feedback can also take different forms: video, written text, story, Instagram, blog article, comment on social media, etc.

Moreover, by encouraging consumers to leave their opinions about your product or service on different platforms, you increase your brand awareness. Your chances of converting later are greater because brand awareness influences consumers’ purchasing decisions.

To collect feedback from your community, there are several strategies. You can do it manually, online or by email, by asking your recent buyers to leave their reviews on your website, for example. This is often the most engaging, however, this task can be very time-consuming and the results are not immediate. To simplify your task and maximize your conversions, there are online platforms that offer, for different rates, support in collecting multi-channel customer reviews.

The use of a multi-channel customer review solution

To establish a relationship of trust with their customers from the beginning, brands must highlight reassuring elements at key moments of the customer journey. Customer reviews are a reliable source of reassuring elements that businesses can use when they are transparent, enriched, and of high quality. They can be implemented across various communication channels that the brand uses, such as social media or the website.

To display the best verified reviews about your company and products, you can use a review collection and management system. This system offers you the possibility to collect data that will reassure your future customers before they make a purchase.

Multichannel Customer Review Solutions in the Market

Gamification Tools

The gamification tools have been designed to motivate consumers to leave their reviews on a brand’s products and services in exchange for a reward. By generally encouraging consumers to leave their reviews on different platforms, this approach allows companies to diversify their presence on websites, forums, social networks, and even blogs. However, gamification tools are often perceived as artificial by participants. Indeed, the reviews left by customers are mostly short and lacking in detail. They do not generate solid trust, either among users or prospects.

Moreover, a gamification tool offers the possibility for your community to leave their comments online on different channels, which contributes to your online reputation.

Sampling Solutions

In the context of sampling solutions, consumers receive a brand’s products in small formats to test them before leaving their reviews. The products are often sent in bulk as they are usually samples. This practice is not optimal as it does not allow your brand to select consumers based on their profiles. When the right profile is not selected, the customer’s satisfaction or dissatisfaction can be skewed because the product does not match what the consumer is looking for. For example, if a brand sends a moisturizer for oily skin to a woman or man with dry skin, the product will not meet the customer’s expectations. Logically, the reviews left on the brand’s website will not be glowing, as they simply do not correspond to the customers’ needs. Subsequently, it will be difficult to create a relationship of trust between the brand and consumers.

Moreover, the products sent are samples. Consumers don’t have enough time to test the product and form a genuine opinion on their purchase. The reviews left afterwards are not realistic, and the quality is not up to par.

Finally, with this kind of practice, consumers do not have a direct connection with the brand, as they often go through a platform. They are less engaged, not being in direct contact with the brand.

However, sampling platforms are very good tools for omnichannel strategies as consumers are invited to leave their feedback on different media.

The All-in-One Tool

The best solution for generating multichannel customer reviews to create a bond of trust with consumers is to use a comprehensive tool. In the market, there are solutions, such as Trustt, that allow companies to select the right panel of consumers thanks to a Smart Matching algorithm, before sending the right products in their original format.

Subsequently, consumers are invited to test a product or service, and leave detailed reviews on different aspects: sensory experience, packaging, or effectiveness, and in different formats: text or video. The Trustt review module also provides information about the ambassador who left a comment: socio-demographic data or even physical characteristics, to guide your prospects towards the product or service that meets their expectations.

Later, the collected reviews can be published online on your company’s website, but that’s not all! The platform encourages consumers to become real ambassadors for your brand and create online content to talk about your brand. You can then use the UGC (user generated content) from your community on your own social networks to improve your visibility and online reputation. This SaaS solution that equips brands to obtain, among other things, the most enriched reviews in the market, helps to gain consumer trust and develop brand awareness.