Real-time ratings and reviews are just better. Here’s why!

Ratings and reviews are becoming increasingly important. Virtually every consumer will search for reviews online before they buy. If you aren’t using ratings and reviews in your marketing, you’re probably missing out on converting customers. 

The data proves this out. Look at some of these stats from this study:

• 95% of consumers will read at least one review online before they buy something.
• A product with five reviews is 270% more likely to be purchased than one with zero reviews.
• Reviews on higher-priced products have a higher conversion rate compared to lower-priced product reviews.
• Review from ‘verified buyers’ increases the chance it an item will be bought by 15%.

It’s hard to argue with these numbers. Including ratings and reviews in your marketing should be a priority — and that goes for your emails too. 

Now that you know that ratings and reviews are important, learn how to take it one step further and make them stand out. How? By featuring real-time ratings and reviews in your email.

Here’s why it’s better.

Give your customers the most up-to-date information out there

Reviews are reviews, right? Does having the dates on reviews really move the needed?

It turns out the answer is yes. 

The data out there shows that customers greatly prefer recent reviews over older ones. In fact, if you can harvest and share the reviews you’ve gotten within the last 90 days, you’re in an even better position. 

So, it makes sense that you’d want to highlight those recent ratings, reviews, and testimonials. Showcasing them in your emails, in real-time, means your customers are always seeing what other customers feel about your products or services right now, not six months or two years ago. 

For many customers, that information matters. It might be just what they need to get off the fence and decide to make a purchase. 

Highlight verified reviews and ratings

Remember that stat we shared above that verified reviews and ratings increase the chance your product will convert? 

Use that to your advantage by sharing the most recent verified ratings and reviews in your emails. 

This is super easy to do on the Zembula platform. All you have to do to start is connect your reviews account. Then, using live content blocks in your emails, every time a new verified user leaves a review, it’s automatically pulled into your customer’s emails. No coding or time-consuming back-end work is needed.

Plus, since the platform uses moment-of-open technology, every time your customer opens their email, they get the latest verified review. 

Get the benefits of user-generated content

Customers respond well to ratings and reviews, something else they also love is user-generated content (UGC). UGC is content that people (usually customers) outside your brand make and share. 

Sometimes you’ll see them in the form of positive Tweets or TikTok memes or, yes, ratings and reviews on your website. Encouraging your current customers to leave more ratings and reviews is a great first step. Set up an email series to ask them to leave their thoughts on the products they’ve bought.

Once you’ve got your reviews, ratings, and testimonials in hand, it’s time to start showcasing them. Use your customer’s names and comments, including screenshots, and promote them through every step of your sales funnel, including your emails. 

Keep an eye out for UGC and continuously add them to your emails as much as possible. Remember, customers love real-time, up-to-date ratings and reviews. 

Why not give your products the best chance of conversion?

You can do all the right things; you have a fantastic product, an easy-to-navigate website, and top-notch customer service, but without ratings and reviews, you might be missing the final piece of the puzzle. 

That missing piece could be costing you new customers and conversions to the tune of thousands of dollars each month. That can add up and put a dent in your business. 

Including real-time ratings and reviews in your email can make a difference. They can help convert customers who are on the fence into long-term repeat loyal shoppers. 

What’s better than that?

Interested in learning more? Set up a time to chat with one of our email experts. We’ll help you achieve whatever marketing goals you have in mind!