20 Examples of How to Ask for a Customer Review (Plus Templates)

20 Examples of How to Ask for a Customer Review (Plus Templates) Does anyone buy anything these days without reading *at least* a handful of customer reviews first? The answer is no†¦ or very  few. 90%, actually – that’s the percentage of consumers who read online reviews before visiting a business or purchasing a product. It stands to reason†¦. People trust each other more than they trust companies. But how can a company encourage current or former customers to leave reviews? This post covers *a ton* of real-life examples of how companies have encouraged customer reviews for better credibility and conversion rates. Before you dive into all these examples, here are a few free templates to help you along. You’ll find: 5 â€Å"Ask for a Review† Templates to help you communicate with your customers. An Email Marketing Calendar  to plan all your outgoing drip campaigns. A Best Time to Send Email Kit to ensure you’re emailing at optimal times. Email Marketing Bundle  to get your email marketing strategy in order.21 awesome examples of how to ask for customer reviews.Reviews and the Customer Lifecycle You’ve made a sale – which is awesome. BUT, the sales funnel  doesn’t end when someone makes a purchase. The customer lifecycle and funnel extends beyond the sale – where customers are made into loyal advocates. Recommended Reading: The Best Way to Set Up and Troubleshoot Your Sales Funnel Great service makes for happy customers; happy customers leave reviews; customer reviews make for better product pages; better product pages make more sales. It’s one big circle. So just sit back and wait for all those great reviews to come pouring in, right? Well, you could†¦ OR you could take a more proactive approach. Post-purchase emails which encourage customer feedback play an important role in building loyalty and advocacy. You may be wondering... What’s the best way to get someone to leave a review of your product? How can I find some examples of what other companies do? Are there different approaches to this and is one better than the other? I got you. This post contains 20 real-life examples of how to ask customers to leave a review... so you can decide what approach you want to try and how to layout your email for the best results. Reviewing the Product or the Company This first thing you’ll want to consider when asking someone to leave a review is if you want them to review the product they purchased or your company as a whole. You will likely want to choose the individual product  if†¦ You’re selling on an external site like Amazon. Your company sells many different products. The item the customer purchased is a new release. The products you sell aren’t big-ticket items. It’s probably best to ask for a company review  if†¦ Your company only sells a few products. The products you sell are big-ticket items. You’re a new company. Asking for a Product Review s Here are a handful of examples of companies that ask for customers to review their products. J. Crew Here’s a simple example of how to ask customers to leave reviews for products they recently purchased. The company has a dynamic email that auto-populates with the recently purchased products. The customer can easily leave a review by simply clicking on the â€Å"share your thoughts† CTA. What’s good about this? It’s straight forward; no beating around the bush here. As a customer, you know exactly what the purpose of the email is. It’s easy to navigate. The links make it easy to navigate to the review page. It’s short. Review emails don’t have to be lengthy. Do like J. Crew and keep them short and sweet. Barkbox Subscription service, Barkbox, reaches out to customers to rate their most recent box. The email is a good example of how to ask for a product rating when your company only offers one or two services. Since the customer is receiving a curated box of products, Barkbox can use the customer feedback to continually improve its offering. What’s good about this email? Again, this is a very simple email that gets right to the point. The scale rating makes it easy to rate the product without a ton of thought. By allowing the customer to rate the product directly in the email, you can increase the likelihood of someone leaving a review. Crate Barrel Crate Barrel takes it one step further by combining a review email with a plug for a current promotion. This makes sense since the individual has already purchased from the company, but it could also distract from the purpose of the email. If you’re going to insert a promotion into your review emails, make sure it is only one and it is included after the leave a review section. What’s good about this email? The copy is clever and is a play on interior design. Combines a promo to encourage further sales. Takes you directly to the review page. Gap Gap takes a more personal approach by including a personalized intro paragraph. This takes a more indirect approach compared to some of the earlier examples, but it does a good job of making the reader feel like Gap’s customer service cares about their opinion. What’s good about this email? It’s personalized. The headline makes it clear what the company is asking for. Includes the recent order number as a reminder. Etsy Etsy’s product review emails are written in a way to make it seem like there is a necessary task waiting for completion. The emails highlight the need for a review with a large, prominent CTA that stands out from the text. What’s good about this email? The button is prominent. The copy is compelling and makes the reader feel like there is something that still needs to be completed. Includes a short sentence about why it’s important to leave a review. Under Armour Here’s another example that is very straight forward. The reader knows exactly what the company is asking for, but also why reviews are important to the company’s mission. What’s good about this email? The headline stands out in highlighted yellow. The CTA’s are clearly marked with large buttons. The vertical layout makes it easy see each product available for review. L'Occitane French skincare brand, L’Occitane, combines both a personalized intro paragraph and easy to find CTA buttons to make sure the reader can easy navigate to the product review page. What’s good about this email? It has a short personalized intro paragraph. The vertical layout is easy-to-read. There are buttons vs just linked text. Sephora Sephora has a truly unique way of collecting customer reviews. The company offers users a special area of their site called, My Beauty Bag. My Beauty Bag is a personalized area that collects the user’s favorite products and organizes recent purchases as well as product reviews. What’s good about this email? It informs the receiver of what My Beauty Bag is. Has links to go directly to each product review. Michaels Michaels’ leave a review email is a fun play on arts and crafts and fits the company’s brand perfectly. What’s great about this email? The branding is on point for the company’s product offering. The copy offers a fun play on words. The products are clearly laid out with an image and CTA. Society 6 Society 6 offers the ability to do the entire product review directly in the email. They make it easy by including the ability to leave a star rating for the product AND write your text comments without navigating away from the email. They also highlight their Instagram hashtag to help the company curate user content. What’s good about this email? Readers can leave a review without navigating away. Incorporates their social media strategy. Offers two different review styles. Target Target’s customer review email is a good mix of all the best elements listed above. It has a clear title that stands out from the rest of the text; It offers an easy-to-see star rating that can be done directly in the email; and a bold CTA if you want to leave a more in-depth review. What’s good about this email? It’s short and sweet. The star rating makes it easy to rate without navigating out of the email client. The headline and the CTA button stand out.