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Honest Marketing report - Banner image

Brands that take a stand: Marketers who match consumers’ desire for purpose come out on top 

[Get the report here](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/build-trusted-brand/brands-that-take-a-stand?cta=banner)


Get more out of your customer reviews with our case studies, webinars and videos. Find the latest trends to promote your company in search and manage your online reputation.

Trustpilot Blog - Build Trusted Brand

Reviews - Build a Trusted Brand

Reviews provide direct opinions from your customers. There is benefit in it, no matter if it’s constructive criticism, which would help a business grow, or whether it is a compliment to validate the employee’s hard work.

## Let your business shine with Trustpilot

Trustpilot's reviews inside Hellprint's website

image showing helloprint's website including trustpilot's reviews

One of the most obvious ways to integrate reviews in your marketing strategy is to display your overall ratings. Place them on a sidebar on your e-commerce website, in your TV ads, on your packaging, or just print them out on a sticker or a sign and put it up on your shop window. 

If numbers don’t seem as persuasive as words, quotes from customers can also serve well for such purposes. That is, as long as the sentences selected are short and powerful. 

## The power of reviews in online marketing

### Social media 

According to Forbes, 1 in every 4 consumers uses social media to search for reviews. While that may not seem like a big percentage, it is important to use all opportunities to draw in customers. Unfortunately, Facebook reviews are not enough to convince customers of the quality of a brand. 

For further validation for your brand, third-party review platforms like Trustpilot can be linked to any Facebook page. Trustpilot also offers an [Image Generator tool](https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/trustpilot-labs-putting-customer-reviews-in-the-social-spotlight) to highlight some of your favourite reviews, directly on your feed. To fully capitalize on the reviews on social media, it is a good idea to include numerous links to your e-shop. That way, customers can directly click on the ‘shop now’ CTA after they’ve made their mind up based on reviews leveraged on your profile.

Image of HelloPrint's Facebook profile page, showcasing Trustpilot's reviews

### Emails 

Emails are a powerful tool, which is proven to be very useful for persuading customers to purchase products. 59% of respondents from Experian’s research state that emails influence their decision about purchases. Combining the influence of email marketing with the high impact of reviews as a stamp of social proof results in a highly convincing message for customers. 

Customer reviews are best used in welcome email sequences in order to build trust with your potential new customers. They are particularly useful when customers have signed up, but have not placed an order from your online shop. 


## Do online reviews work offline?

An area of marketing strategy that cannot be overlooked is print advertising. The main advantage of print advertisements is tangibility. They make brand appear real and trustworthy. Especially if banners or posters are interactive, they could be easily connected with an online marketing campaign, providing the best of both worlds. Reviews serve to provide another layer of customer approval on advertisements. 

In their search for original marketing, brands sometimes go back in time, when direct mailing was a popular strategy. However, it is important that direct mailings are updated with a fresh modern look to be really effective. 

To make direct mailing even more impactful, place you reviews on the print materials. A review score or a couple of quotes will assure customers that your brand is trustworthy.


Picture showing some examples of direct mailing including Trustpilot's ratings

## What about negative reviews?

Negative reviews are vital for growth. A surprising way to use them is as an idea box for experiments to improve your business.A lot of ideas can arise, if the reviews are carefully read and analyzed. Trustpilot’s new [Review Insights tool](https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/reviews/learn-from-customers/introducing-trustpilots-new-machine-learning-tool-review-insights) allows businesses to use the power of AI to identify trends and areas of development, and work towards delivering a better customer experience. 

For example, a couple of reviews might state that a website is difficult to use. From this step, it is important to investigate exactly how is that so. Statistical measures, which would provide information about which pages are difficult to understand are the bounce rate, as well as drop out rate in the process of purchase.

However, it is good to point out that all measures are not directly proven to be related to customer confusion, there could be many reasons, that’s why A/B testing is a good way to find out what works. 

What is A/B testing? At its simplest, it is an experiment which includes two sample groups. In practice, this would mean that you show part of your customers the old page, and the other part the updated version. After a period of time, you can analyze the measures, and iterate on how to proceed with the gathered data. 

Here’s an example from Helloprint. They hypothesized that including Trustpilot reviews on the top of their page, next to their main USPs and value propositions, would have an effect on conversion rate. The test was successful and resulted in an increase of conversion rate.


Helloprint's banner without Trustpilot's ratings during the A/B test

Helloprint's banner without Trustpilot's ratings 

Image showing Helloprint's banner without Trustpilot's ratings during the A/B test

Helloprint's banner showcasing Trustpilot's ratings during the A/B test

Helloprint's banner including Trustpilot's ratings 

Image showing Helloprint's banner including Trustpilot's ratings during the A/B test

Reviews provide direct opinions from your customers. There is benefit in it, no matter if it’s constructive criticism, which would help a business grow, or whether it is a compliment to validate the employee’s hard work.

Find out how Trustpilot reviews can help you out today, download a free copy of Trustpilot’s Complete Guide to Reviews below.


Download the complete guide to customer reviews

Picture of a smiling woman inviting to download the guide to customer reviews

__Author:__ This blog post was written by Slavena Varbanova, Content Marketer at HelloPrint.

Using Trustpilot reviews in your marketing strategy

Picture of a woman typing on a laptop's keyboard while visualizing Trustpilot's homepage

How to use Trustpilot reviews in your marketing strategy

5 Best Magento Extensions for Building an Online Store

40% of consumers say that [trust is one of the most important factors](https://www.markmonitor.com/download/report/MarkMonitor_Online_Shopping_Barometer-q4-2018.pdf?cid=pr) when it comes to shopping online, putting it on par with other factors like ease of search, good deals, and product choice.

So if you’re a Magento entrepreneur looking for the best way to create customer confidence — whether it’s by showing that your customer data is protected, your online payments are secure, your CX is seamless, or simply that others have purchased from you before — there are some eCommerce tools you shouldn’t ignore.  

## Here are five must-have Magento extensions to build a trusted online store:

1. [ZeroBase Software Encryption](https://marketplace.magento.com/zerobase-zerobaseencryption.html) 
2. [Stripe Payment Gateway and Subscriptions](https://marketplace.magento.com/magenest-module-stripe.html) 
3. [LiveChat](https://marketplace.magento.com/livechat-module-magento-livechat.html)
4. [Advanced FAQ by FMEextensions](https://marketplace.magento.com/fme-module-advance-faq.html) 
5. [Trustpilot Reviews](https://marketplace.magento.com/trustpilot-module-reviews.html)

Zerobase Encryption

### 1. [ZeroBase Software Encryption](https://marketplace.magento.com/zerobase-zerobaseencryption.html)

If your eCommerce website is ever hacked or your lose customer data, your reputation can be seriously harmed – and it may never recover. The costs of legal liabilities, loss of customer trust, and diminished word of mouth marketing add up quite a bit.

It’s estimated that each customer record lost in a data breach [costs eCommerce companies an average of $172](https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/02/cost-of-a-data-breach.html).

To combat hacks and security breaches, [ZeroBase Software Encryption](https://marketplace.magento.com/zerobase-zerobaseencryption.html) offers a high level of encryption to protect your customer’s personal information.

ZeroBase Software Encryption encrypts all sensitive and sales-related data on your website, including addresses, names and more. In addition, it helps protect against SQL injections and other common vulnerabilities and uses an advanced caching system to enhance security while minimizing its impact on loading times and page performance.

Stripe Payment Gateway and Subscriptions

### 2. [Stripe Payment Gateway and Subscriptions](https://marketplace.magento.com/magenest-module-stripe.html)

While Magento has support for some built-in payment gateways out of the box, like PSiGate and Braintree, you may want to choose your own payment processor — especially if you have access to one that your customers are sure to recognize and trust.

[Stripe](https://marketplace.magento.com/magenest-module-stripe.html) is a great option.

Stripe is one of the world’s largest, most reputable and recognizable payment processing partners. (Not to mention its reasonable fees.) This extension is easy to integrate into any Magento installation, and allows you to accept payment from all major credit and debit cards, including Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Discover, Diner’s Club, Giropay and more. Stripe can also accept Apple and Google Pay, along with dozens of other payment methods.

It’s completely PCI/DSS compliant, which helps you control your liability, and enhances security with CVC/AVS verification on all payments.

And if you’re ready to tap into new markets? Stripe will even help you expand your international customer base, as it supports a total of 25 countries and 130 different currencies for purchases.



LiveChat

### 3. [LiveChat](https://marketplace.magento.com/livechat-module-magento-livechat.html)

Believe it or not, the concept of live chat has been around since 1998.

And although many technologies have come and gone, live chat is still around and continues to thrive. And for good reason: 

- [75% of customers](https://techjury.net/stats-about/live-chat/) prefer to use live chat over other communication options, like email, contact forms, and phone calls.
- [79% of businesses](https://www.kayako.com/live-chat-software/statistics) say that live chat has had a positive effect on revenue, sales, and customer loyalty

It’s very simple.

Consumers are [more likely to trust a business](https://www.oberlo.com/blog/ecommerce-statistics-guide-your-strategy) when it’s easy to contact a live person at the company.

Funny how in our digital age, speaking to a human is still a high priority. So much so, there’s a [website](https://gethuman.com/) dedicated to providing customer service phone numbers where you can speak to a human.

If you want to integrate a live chat function into your website (and you should), the [LiveChat](https://marketplace.magento.com/livechat-module-magento-livechat.html) Magento extension is a great choice. It will instantly make your site appear more legitimate and trustworthy, helping you increase customer satisfaction and conversions.

LiveChat has been designed to be lightweight and easy to use. It integrates natively with third-party apps and CRM databases like Google Analytics, SalesForce, and Hubspot.


Best of all, with its secure, encrypted design, all of your customer’s messages are safe and their private information is protected.



Advanced FAQ by FMEextensions

### 4. [Advanced FAQ by FMEextensions](https://marketplace.magento.com/fme-module-advance-faq.html)

FAQs are an often overlooked but powerful tool for building trust and allows customers to get answers to common questions without having to contact a customer service representative.

When used properly, they can [boost SEO](https://ecommerceguide.com/guides/website-faqs/), sales, and help you demonstrate your expertise.

While you can always build your own FAQ templates, the [Advanced FAQ extension by FMEextensions](https://marketplace.magento.com/fme-module-advance-faq.html) is a powerful tool that allows you to build high-quality FAQ pages quickly and easily.

It comes with 5 different themes, support for multiple topics and sections, searchable FAQs, and SEO tools which help you optimize your FAQs for SEO.

With a simple WYSIWYG editor, you can quickly create sophisticated, attractive FAQ pages, even if you have no web development experience.

Trustpilot Reviews Extension for Magento

### 5. [Trustpilot Reviews Extension for Magento](https://marketplace.magento.com/trustpilot-module-reviews.html)

When it comes to building trust and social proof for eCommerce, the most important tool is to integrate online reviews into your store. [84% of people](https://www.inc.com/craig-bloem/84-percent-of-people-trust-online-reviews-as-much-.html) trust online reviews as much as recommendations from friends and family. [90% of people read online reviews](https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanerskine/2017/09/19/20-online-reputation-statistics-that-every-business-owner-needs-to-know/#519013c4cc5c) before making a purchase, and [97% of customers](https://fanandfuel.com/no-online-customer-reviews-means-big-problems-2017/) say that online reviews are a key factor when shopping online.

We can’t stress this enough: online reviews are critical to the success of your business.

This is one area where you have to nail it. No skimping. No cheapo, no-name solution.

There are many choices, but [Trustpilot is an industry leader](https://www.techradar.com/best/best-online-reputation-management-services) in customer reviews, listed alongside Google My Business, Yelp and Facebook.

The Magento extension is available for any Trustpilot user (including those on the free tier), with tools to automatically invite customers to leave service and product reviews, invite your past customers, and a drag-and-drop feature to showcase reviews on your website with just a few clicks. 

The biggest value is arguably for a business to display a high Trustpilot ranking directly on its website.

[Ace Exhibits](https://www.aceexhibits.com/) capitalizes on the feature big-time directly on their homepage:

Ace Exhibits uses Trustpilot reviews on site

This helps to reassure potential new customers that the business is indeed worthy of their attention, and can deliver when it comes to customer service.

Trustpilot also supports seller ratings extensions with Google, Bing, and Yahoo, which can help boost traffic and conversions, as well as social sharing on websites like Twitter, Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Because customer reviews come from verified purchases, this means that Trustpilot ratings carry a particular weight. This is all the more important as Google may display Trustpilot ratings with a business website listing in Google searches.

If you upgrade to a paid subscription, you can get even more tools like a powerful analytics dashboard, integration with software suites such as Zendesk, as well as Hootsuite and Facebook, SEO tools, and embedded forms which allow you to collect online reviews even more quickly.

## Build a Trusted Magento Store

Thanks to the open-source nature of Magento and the thousands of extensions available, it’s never been easier to build a trusted online store.

With these five extensions, you can gather online reviews, secure customer information, build social proof, and provide better customer service.

That all adds up to more conversions, more sales, and more profits – so if you’re ready to take your eCommerce store to the next level, consider checking out a few of these extensions today.

__And if you want to learn more about *all* of the ways you can use Trustpilot reviews?__ 

We have just the thing. Don't miss our Complete Guide to Reviews below. 

Download our complete guide to reviews

__Author Bio:__ *Dovid Rotshtein, Marketing Manager at 121eCommerce*

[121eCommerce](https://www.121ecommerce.com/) is an eCommerce development agency specializing in both B2B and B2C eCommerce. They are a Magento Certified Professional Partner with a proven track record of Magento 2 launches, project rescues and complex website builds. With a knack for quick communication, detailed reporting, and a friendly staff, they offer a full stack of Magento services to drive your online growth.

5 Must-have Magento extensions to build a trusted online store

A woman sitting on a bed in front of a camera

micro influencer marketing

This is where you leverage related brands that already have followers to promote your products for you. Unlike the old way of promotion that requires you to acquire backlinks for your website, influencer marketing is about getting the trust of your target market so that they buy from you. Because of this, influencer marketing turns out to be more effective because it uses the trust that the influencer has already built for you.

However, when people talk about influencer marketing, they usually talk about big influencers with millions of followers. While getting these people to promote you may seem ideal, it is not the easiest thing to do. In worse cases, you’ll find that these influencers will ask for a hefty amount with just one promotion. This is good if you have a budget for it. But if you are a small ecommerce website owner, you may want to promote to micro influencers instead. 

## Who are micro influencers?

Micro influencers are influencers with about 1,000 to 99,000 followers. They are called ‘micro’ because their follower number is lower than the others. Because of this, some marketers dismiss the idea of promoting to them for it seems that there is not much reach. But actually, it is far more effective. Here’s the thing. While these influencers have a relatively low number of followers, these followers are carefully filtered from the crowd. Usually, it is because the influencer is working in an ultra-targeted niche so the followers that he gets are fewer. In any case, the number may seem small but the response may still be great. 

NOTE: Research is very important in micro influencer marketing. While you may get some good promotion with a few but highly responsive followers. You’ll find that this is quite rare unless you do your research. More than the number of followers and the content, you should also look at content engagements in their website and social media channels. This will give you an idea of their audience response rate.

## Why eCommerce business owners need micro influencers

Ecommerce website owners can benefit from micro influencers because of three things: recommendations, traffic and sales.

__They need recommendations__

Ecommerce website owners are in constant need for recommendations. This can come as a simple product review, a comment on the page or a full product testimonial. They need this to establish trust with their target market. It shows that their product is not only ‘effective’ or ‘legit’. It also shows that people are buying from them and they are delivering. Plus, it can even show that they have [excellent customer support](https://www.osifeedback.com/blog/how-to-deliver-excellent-support/).  

But there is something special about micro influencer recommendations. More than a simple comment or paragraph, influencers usually go out of their way to give an in-depth review of the product. The depth will depend on the product. A skincare product, for example, will require a review of its overall feel and consistency, how it is applied and how it improved the skin after X amount of days. A book, on the other hand, may require some key points learned from the book. As you can see, the type of review depends on the product. But its depth is usually deeper compared to the normal reviews that an ecommerce website owner can get from his customers. 

__They need traffic__

Traffic is the lifeblood of most ecommerce websites. It thrives on traffic, hates [shopping cart abandonment](https://www.osiaffiliate.com/blog/10-ecommerce-tools-to-prevent-shopping-cart-abandonment/) and it needs it in order to make some sales. If the site has a certain conversion rate (say, 20%), it needs a specific amount of visitors to hit a particular sales mark. So if you are targeting a $1000 sale per day with a product that costs $100 and your product page converts at 10%, you’ll need at least 100 highly targeted visitors to reach that mark. 

The keyword here is ‘highly targeted’. Just because your page has a particular conversion rate doesn’t mean that it can hit it with more traffic. Junk traffic is useless and can even drive your conversion rates lower. What you’ll want is highly relevant traffic from your niche and influencers can help you with that.

__They need sales__

An online store can only continue once it gets some sales. In fact, ecommerce website owners are on the constant lookout for ways to improve their sales. Influencer marketing can help you with this because their audience is not only highly relevant to your products and services. They also trust the influencer enough to act on his recommendation. This action is what makes an influencer who he is. He is an attractive product promoter because of his capability to influence decisions and actions of his target market. 


## How to reach micro influencers

Getting micro influencers to promote you is not that hard. It will not be as difficult as getting big time influencers to promote you. In fact, it is incredibly simple and can be done in three simple steps. 

__1. Create a list__

It starts with a list. I am not talking about an email list. What I am talking about is a spreadsheet that has the names of all of your target influencers along with their contact information. Usually, I start with Google. I use it to search for blogs in my topic. This allows me to uncover some influencers in the niche. 

Next, I also look at some social channels. Depending on your niche, you may always to look at Instagram, Pinterest and Youtube. There are some influencers that are solely using those social channels for their content. 

Once I find some names, I put them on a spreadsheet. Beside it, I put the following columns: website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Email. I then try to fill everything up by researching their contact information on Google. For the email, you may need some tools. I like to use FindThatLead to uncover and verify influencer emails before I add them to my spreadsheet. 

__2. Find a way to reach out__

Once you have all the contact information that you need, you need to formulate a strategy on how you can reach out. Many ecommerce website owners make the mistake of simply reaching out without a reason. In worse cases, they even use a template. Don’t do this. Influencers hate this. Instead, look at the influencers content and get a feel of what they want and what their content is all about. If you approach them with that, they will be more likely to reply. 

NOTE: I know that this approach may be more tedious than sending an email template. But I found that there is a greater chance of getting a reply if you do this. Think about it. Will you reply to an email that seemed to be sent automatically? I don’t think so. We live in a world where people are already so used to getting emails from brands they don’t know. Don’t be that brand. Stand out by building your relationship with the influencer first. Yes. This will take time. But it is worth it in the end. 

__3. Offer the micro influencer something in return__

Once you manage to build a relationship with the influencer, it is time to offer him or her something in return. You just can’t ask him or her to promote you. That is like asking for a freebie. If you do this, then influencer will just ignore you. 

## Common way to ask for promotion - ask them for product feedback

One of the most common ways to get an influencer to promote you is to ask for their feedback. In here, all you need to do is ask for the influencer’s address or PO box and send your item to them. From there, the influencer is free to try your products and comment on it. 

NOTE: This doesn’t work by simply sending items to all influencers that you have researched. The product must be relevant to the niche and ideals of the influencer for this to work. For example, an organic product would be a good match to a vegan influencer. As mentioned, you should read or watch their content before sending them anything.

## Creative ways to get micro influencers to promote you

Fortunately, there are several ways to get micro influencers to promote you. Below are some of the methods that worked for me. 

__Host a contest__

Influencers love to be noticed. And if that recognition comes with prizes, they will be happy to oblige. This is the reason why promotion contests are quite common in joint venture launches. It is the thrill of being noticed along with winning a prize. 

__Feature them__

As I have told you, micro influencers love to be noticed. Most of them are still in the process of building their brand. They need all the help they can get to spread the news about their names and what they do. If your ecommerce website already have a list of visitors or buyers, you can offer to feature them in your newsletter, email or other forms of content in exchange for their promotion. 

PRO TIP: Here’s a secret technique. You can always feature an influencer without asking for their permission. If his content is relevant to your niche, you can go ahead and feature him and just email him about it afterwards. He will be thrilled. 

__Include them in your experts list__

A creative way to feature influencers is to create an experts list. This is where you tackle a topic by taking quotes from various micro influencers. With this type of list, more is always better. In fact, I would recommend having at least 20 micro influencers in the list. 

Once you have your content up, all you need to do is contact each one and tell them about what you have done. This will give them the go signal to promote you in their social channels. 

NOTE: This works because it plays with the human nature of returning favors. Since you featured them without asking for anything in return, they are more than happy to promote you afterwards.

__Collaborate on a product or service__

Influencers love having their names on everything. And it is not so much for the ego boost. It is more for the brand promotion. The more people that sees their brand, the more people they can help. Most influencers have an advocacy to change the world in their own little way. They can only do that with enough promotion. 

In creative niches, you can collaborate with an influencer to create a brand new product. I have seen celebrities create cosmetics and models create their own clothing collection. It is a way to work with the influencer directly and let them influence the products that you are selling.

This works because the promotion is automatic. If the influencer took the time to create a new product, he or she would be excited to share it with his or her followers. So the sharing is automatic. You don’t even have to ask them to promote you. 

## Contact a Micro Influencer Now

Are you using [influencer marketing](https://www.omnistartell.com/blog/best-influencer-software/) to promote your ecommerce business? If not, you are clearly missing out on the truckloads of traffic and sales that comes with this method. The best part is that you don’t have to pay expensive fees just to get a promotion. Micro influencers allow you to tap influencers that have a lower number of followers but have almost the same influencer. In [micro influencer marketing](https://www.ecommercemarketingpodcast.com/best-shopify-marketing-apps/), it is all a numbers game. Your goal should be to get as many micro influencers to promote your business. Companies such as [Hunting Bow Lab](https://www.huntingbowlab.com/) have reported a 30% increase in sales after starting in influencer marketing program.

However, promoting to micro influencers requires some strategy and tact. You can’t just go out and give product samples for the fun of it. You should learn to build relationships before promoting anything. You need to show them that you are not merely asking them to promote your products. Instead, you are working towards changing the world like he does and you would really appreciate his help. With that, it makes promotion less of a chore and more of an advocacy. This is what micro influencers love. 


Find out more about Trustpilot and review management strategies. Download our complete guide to reviews below.







__Author Bio:__
Arlen Robinson is the co-founder and VP of Business Development at OSI Affiliate Software.
He is also the host of The Ecommerce Marketing Podcast where he discusses marketing strategies with experts from all over the world.

Why any eCommerce business can take advantage of micro-influencer marketing

User-generated content can help you through testimonials, reviews, videos, social media photos, discussions, blogs and more - all created by existing customers, and publicly available to other consumers. Here are four amazing examples.

User-generated content helps consumers buy a product or subscribe to a service they will most likely enjoy based on the “wisdom of the crowd”.

The degree to which user-generated content affects customers can be a result of the number of people promoting the business or product. The more, the merrier. 

User-generated content describes marketing through any of the following forms of content: testimonials, reviews, videos, photos, discussions, blogs and more - all created by existing customers, and publicly available to other consumers.

Recent research shows that UGC is considered to be [50%](https://www.adweek.com/digital/millennials-trust-user-generated-content-50-traditional-media-infographic/) more trustworthy than traditional marketing. No wonder savvy companies such as Daniel Wellington, Lululemon or GoPro have already started encouraging the creation and promotion of social proof through user-generated content on their marketing channels.

If you’re not leveraging UGC as much as you'd like, keep on reading…

## Let your customers tell the story with user-generated content

### 1. GoPro’s Instagram campaign

With 65% of consumers admitting that they evaluate information that is shared on social media before buying, you wouldn’t want to miss out, would you?

Your customers are your best marketers. Encourage them to share more by creating hashtags on social media...you might be surprised at just how much people like to share!

GoPro’s social channels are a great example of user-generated content marketing. Their [brand advocates](https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/your-guide-to-customer-advocacy-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important) are being encouraged to share “cool” content using #GoPro to be featured on the famous brand’s Instagram feed. GoPro then picks a new customer photo every day. 

Here’s an example:


GoPro user-generated content example

### 2. Apple’s “Shot on iPhone” campaign
 
Apple’s #ShotOnIphone campaign is one of the most successful [user-generated content](https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/reviews/how-to-use-user-generated-content-marketing-to-reach-and-convert-millennials) campaigns out there. The technology giant encouraged existing customers to showcase their amazing photography skills using nothing but their iPhones.

This campaign was launched after Apple noticed a lot of iPhone users were disappointed in the camera’s quality. To tackle this, Apple leveraged user-generated content to prove people wrong, give real-life proof to potential customers out there, and make existing customers feel part of a brand community.

Here’s a billboard from Apple’s ‘Shot on iPhone’ campaign:


shot-on-iphone user generated content example

### 3. MZ Wallace’s #CarryYourDay campaign

MZ Wallace prides itself on creating comfortable, lightweight, spacious and organised every-day bags for commuters, parents, travelers and everyone else. 

Their social media strategy completely relies on user-generated content. The brand asks its customers to post photos of their bags on social media, using the hashtag #CarryYourday. MZ Wallace then shares the best shots with their audience, both on their feed and Instagram Stories. By turning regular customers into brand advocates through their Instagram community, MZ Wallace is reducing consumer doubt and increasing the "want" factor.


mz wallace user generated content campaign

mz wallace user generated content example

### 4. Smarty’s review campaign

Smarty is a mobile network that offers a discount on data that hasn’t been used. They let their amazing 3,000+ reviews on Trustpilot (and 8.8/10 score!) speak for themselves by leveraging their customers’ reviews on all channels.

Today, 54% of respondents will visit a website after reading positive reviews, and [92%](https://www.vendasta.com/blog/50-stats-you-need-to-know-about-online-reviews) of consumers read online reviews. This statement alone should be enough for companies to start putting more effort into leveraging online reviews as user-generated content. 

That’s why Smarty uses the Trustpilot integration to share UGC on Facebook, and retweets customer testimonials on Twitter too. Leveraging reviews as user-generated content allows them to [build trust throughout the customer journey](https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/a-beginner-guide-to-building-brand-loyalty-with-user-generated-content).


Smarty community of customer advocates and user-generated content

smarty community of customer advocates user generated content

Third-party review platforms like Trustpilot are more recognised and trusted by consumers because other customers’ feedback can not be edited or deleted by companies, which makes every single review on there completely authentic, and therefore more reliable and credible. Sharing existing customers’ feedback also creates a community of brand advocates, which is a great way to start putting more effort into your user-generated content strategy.


Smarty customer reviews user generated content

## Getting started with user-generated content

Leveraging user-generated content will allow you to engage with existing customers, and turn them into brand advocates in order to build new, trusted relationships with future customers.

Allowing customers to tell your brand story will also improve loyalty, and create a great brand community. Remember - your customers’ stamp of approval means a lot more than your self-proclaimed excellence from a consumer's point of view!

*Are you ready to apply UGC to your business?*

Download Trustpilot's free report below, and find out what impact leveraging reviews as UGC could have on your marketing results.

May 2019 - Sirkin x Trustpilot report

user generated content examples wisdom of crowd

4 Great examples of user-generated content

3 Reasons Why You Really Need to Get More Reviews

Unlike some other digital marketing tactics, you won’t face diminishing returns when it comes to social proof like customer reviews. You can never have too many — and in fact, the more customer reviews you have, the better.

And the reality is that when your customers have 24/7 internet access in their pockets, online reviews can make or break your brand reputation. 

If your business is just entering the world of online reviews, it’s a great time to take stock of your company’s online reputation — because everyday, someone searches for your business online. What’s the first thing a potential customer sees when they type the name of your business into Google? 

If you don’t have any customer reviews yet, consider how the absence of reviews might come off to those searching for your business online. 

And if you already have some reviews, you might want to ask yourself, *what is my business known for?* 

*And how many customer reviews have been published about my business or products altogether?*

## Why every business benefits from collecting more reviews

Simply put, collecting reviews is mutually beneficial to both businesses and consumers. Today, customers all but require some form of [social proof](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/what-is-social-proof-and-why-is-it-important-for-marketing) to help them make a confident purchasing decision. And for businesses, creating a feedback loop with customer reviews is like stepping on the fast track to getting better in the key areas your customers care about. 

Because of this symbiotic relationship within the purchasing ecosystem, the power of reviews is only picking up speed. 

And unlike some other business tactics, you won’t face diminishing returns when it comes to customer reviews. The beauty of them is that you can never have too many — and in fact, [the more customer reviews you have, the better](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/more-is-better-why-review-quantity-matters). 

Although there are many, let’s unpack three key reasons why collecting more reviews results in a positive ripple effect for your business. 

## 1. Social proof: showing off your reviews is the best way to build credibility with new and existing customers

Customers today are more knowledgeable than ever, and that means it can be more challenging for businesses to win them over. In fact, skepticism around businesses is on the rise, with [54% of consumers](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/5-online-reputation-management-strategies-for-driving-brand-trust) stating that they feel little trust towards brands. 

Enter social proof, a phenomenon as old as marketing itself — and if you’ve ever uttered the phrase “safety in numbers”, you already get it. Defined by [BigCommerce](https://www.bigcommerce.co.uk/ecommerce-answers/what-is-social-proof/) as any form of proof (such as verified customer reviews) that other people have made a choice to partake in a product or service, social proof encourages other consumers to follow suit with the knowledge that they’re not alone in their decision. 

Showcasing social proof like positive reviews (along with any [negative reviews](https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/reviews/how-to-respond-to-negative-reviews) that you promptly and graciously responded to) quickly builds confidence in any new customer who lands on your site. Whether or not every single review of your business is glowing, simply knowing that other consumers have tried out your business can be enough to turn an online browser into a repeat customer.

So, what should this look like in practice? For best results, we recommend displaying customer reviews [across the entire customer journey](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/how-flinders-use-reviews-to-build-trust-throughout-the-customer-journey), because...

## 2. Growing your bottom line: online reviews boost conversions throughout the entire marketing funnel

As far as most consumers are concerned, companies’ [advertising claims aren’t as compelling as they once were](https://business.trustpilot.com/guides-reports/build-trusted-brand/can-online-reviews-revive-consumer-trust-in-advertising). This makes it challenging to get through to your customers at the early stages of their journey towards checkout, when they might still be considering other brands.

Fortunately, your business’ star rating can cut through the noise as [a highly trusted advertising claim](https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/reviews/why-87-of-consumers-find-ads-more-trustworthy-with-trustpilot), and print and digital media are the perfect vehicle for showing off that trust symbol. The more reviews you have, the stronger the effect of the social proof at play, so focus on collecting reviews as creative fodder for your next campaign.

Here are a few great ways you can lead with trust at different stages of the marketing funnel:

Whether it’s on organic social, using the Trustpilot [image generator](https://support.trustpilot.com/hc/en-us/articles/115010415047-Style-review-content-with-images-and-share-it-on-social-media) to highlight a positive review like [Luxaflex](https://www.luxaflex.com.au/), an online retailer of blinds and window coverings.


Luxaflex example of Trustpilot use on social media

Luxaflex Uses Social Proof on Organic Social

Or showing off a Trustscore at the end of a TV spot like [Smarty](https://smarty.co.uk/), a super simple mobile phone service provider in the UK. 


Smarty uses social proof in a TV ad

Or as the hero image in a promotional email, like [Mindful Chef](https://www.mindfulchef.com/), a healthy meal subscription service.


Mindful chef Marketing Email

But it doesn’t stop there. We’ve seen companies like [Dashlane](https://www.dashlane.com/), an online password management service, use customer testimonials to instill trust on targeted landing pages. 


Dashlane customer testimonials on landing page

And [Canvas Factory](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/how-canvas-factory-builds-trust-with-customers), a custom photo printing site, works reviews right into the design of their homepage, product pages, and checkout pages.


Trustpilot social proof on the website of CanvasFactory

Canvas Factory customer reviews on home page

Canvas Factory customer reviews on product pages

Customer reviews front and center on Canvas Factory's checkout page 

trustpilot cart canvas factory

Adding reviews and testimonials to the final step in the customer journey is perhaps the most critical for overall conversion rate optimization, because third party trust indicators are the last line of defense for removing any shadow of a doubt about your customers' purchase.

## 3. Standing out in search with user generated content

[User generated content is a great way to stand out from the competition](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-ugc/248221/#close), because it organically creates fresh and relevant content about your brand, products, or services. Imagine that you’ve signed up on a third party review platform and can passively gather 20 reviews per week. Then consider how difficult it would be to update your site with fresh content 20 times each week to get an equally positive effect.

Sharing what your customers are saying on site is a scalable way to keep your online presence fresh without draining your internal resources. 

Better yet, customer reviews provide a window into the exact language your customers are actively using to describe your products or services, and these words also reflect how they search for your business online. Including user generated content on your site helps your business naturally rank for these kinds of [long tail keywords](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-long-tail-keywords/204482/), capturing warm search intent for customers seeking out the exact characteristics of your products or services. 

## The growing importance of customer reviews

The reasons why businesses should prioritize getting more reviews [go on and on](https://theweek.com/articles/770712/enormous-influence-online-reviews), but perhaps most importantly, reviews give customers a direct line of communication with businesses, and businesses a chance to get better where it matters. 

If you’re ready to get closer to your customers, download Trustpilot's free Complete Guide to reviews below, and learn how review marketing can help you grow your business.



3 Reasons why you really need to get more reviews

Trustpilot x Kooomo the rise of belief-driven buying

As brands fight to keep up with customer expectations, a movement has been building momentum: belief-driven buying. Here's how to use your online reputation to show what your business stands for and help conscious consumers choose principle over product. 

And as retailers and brands fight to keep up with customer demand and protect their online reputation, a movement has been rapidly building momentum, and it’s one that brands can’t afford to turn a blind eye to. That is, belief-driven buying. 

### Why standing for something is essential to protect your brand’s online reputation

65% of global consumers are making belief-driven purchases - that’s a 50% increase on 2017 figures, as found by Edelman in its [2018 Earned Brand report](https://www.edelman.com/sites/g/files/aatuss191/files/2018-10/2018_Edelman_Earned_Brand_Global_Report.pdf). In fact, there wasn’t a single market surveyed by the world’s largest PR firm, where they found that consumers weren’t making purchasing decisions based on a brand’s mission.

### So what exactly is belief-driven buying?

And why is it so important for brands to start taking a stand in order to protect their reputation?

Quite simply, more and more consumers are effectively voting with their wallets. Choosing principle over product. Being loyal to the brands that align with their own beliefs and values and shunning the ones that don’t. 

Take Nike, for example. When the brand’s now infamous Colin Kaepernick’ campaign launched in September 2018, with the tagline “*Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything*” (referencing the football player’s kneeling protest during the US National Anthem), [sales increased by over 30%](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/sep/08/colin-kaepernick-nike-ad-sales-up).

Now, you might be thinking ‘great - but that’s Nike, a brand with a multi-million-dollar marketing budget, not to mention PR and crisis management teams at the ready. Nike can withstand controversy.’ But what about smaller businesses? By making a bold statement, you risk alienating the customer base that you’ve spent so much time (not to mention, money) building up, right?

Well, you’d be forgiven for wanting to take the ‘*never talk about politics, religion, or money in mixed company*’ stance when it comes to your business, but on the other hand, [60% of consumers](https://www.edelman.com/sites/g/files/aatuss191/files/2018-10/2018_Edelman_Earned_Brand_Global_Report.pdf) want brands to make it easier for them to see its values and position on important issues at the point of sale. Oh, and belief-driven buying isn’t something that you can chalk down to being a trend amongst millennials either. The [35-54 consumer age bracket](https://www.edelman.com/earned-brand) are just as interested in buying based on principle as their 18-34 counterparts. And those aged 55 and up are moving swiftly in that direction too, with a reported 18% increase in belief-focused buying from 2017. 

Clearly, playing it safe is no longer an option. But how exactly can brands start to weave their beliefs into everything they do? 

Not an easy feat, by any stretch of the imagination! However, there are ultimately three vital things to keep in mind when protecting your online reputation:

1. Being a purpose-driven brand does not have to mean being a controversial brand 
2. Authenticity is key
3. If you’re going to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk

So, why does your brand exist (aka why did you go into business in the first place)? Was it to solve a problem? Was it to make a difference in people’s lives? What is your company’s mission - what constitutes ‘moving the dial’ for your business? (Besides profit, obviously.) 

These are the things that you should be talking to your audience about. While it’s always useful to know who your existing customer base is, this is really all about looking inward. Not looking for a cause that might resonate with your audience and shouting about it from the rooftops. Quite the opposite, in fact. Look at what actually makes your brand tick, and your customers will undoubtedly fall into place from there. 

Protecting your online reputation through purpose-driven branding doesn’t necessarily have to be about making a bold statement against a corrupt politician, either. It could be about making a commitment to [reduce your packaging waste](https://blog.kooomo.com/3-ways-to-reduce-packaging-waste-and-the-eco-friendly-brands-to-learn-from/) by X% over a specific time period. Or maybe it’s through supporting local community initiatives, such as sport, education, etc.

Smoothie and juice company Innocent is a great example of this. The brand launched their ‘[big knit](http://www.thebigknit.ie/about)’ campaign in 2008, whereby novice and seasoned knitters around would create tiny wool hats to sit atop their juice bottles, and for each one sold, Innocent would donate 30 cents to Age Action. To date, they have raised over €150,000 in support of elderly communities in Ireland.

Another great instance of a brand taking a stand is US underwear and swimsuit brand: Aerie, who in 2014, vowed to stop retouching the models used in their campaigns, as well as feature women with all body types, from various religious backgrounds, and with different disabilities. The body-positivity movement has gone from strength to strength, with Aerie launching [#AerieREAL role models](http://blog.ae.com/2019/01/31/introducing-your-new-aeriereal-role-models/) in January 2019, recruiting 8 public figures from completely different walks of life to champion the brand and promote diversity and inclusion.

These brands clearly illustrate the three key essential elements of showcasing a purpose-driven brand. They aren’t controversial for the sake of it. They are authentic. And, most importantly...they talk the talk.

Because there’s no doubt about it - there is an immense opportunity for retailers to capitalise on belief-driven buying in order to protect their online reputation. This means it’s inevitable that many brands will try to cut corners and hop on the trendiest, or seemingly most-lucrative bandwagon to convert as many new customers as possible. But as with most things in this life, the cream rises to the top, and while retention is something that can often be bought, loyalty, on the other hand is something that must be earned.

Simply put, your brand must live its beliefs. Imagine if Innocent didn’t have any employees over the age of 30, or Aerie only hired 5’8’’ models to work in their bricks and mortar stores? Remember, talk is cheap, so if your company is going to lean into a more purpose-driven approach, your brand beliefs have to ooze from every nook and cranny of your entire organisation - from operations, to customer services, to marketing, and everything in between.

While there are undoubtedly challenges that come with adopting a purpose-first strategy for your business, it really isn’t a question of weighing up the pros and cons. By tapping into the ‘why’ of your brand, you have a real opportunity to not only strengthen your existing customer base, but also to resonate with a brand new one.

__So, are you ready to stand for something? __

Find out more about review strategies, download Trustpilot's free Complete Guide to Reviews below.

__Author:__
Michelle McSweeney, Content Marketing Manager at [Kooomo](https://www.kooomo.com/en). Kooomo works with clients to maximise all digital sales channels globally by combining their expertise and a next-generation platform in a proven and affordable digital commerce cloud solution. 


The rise of belief-driven buying: 3 Ways to protect your online reputation

5 online reputation management strategies for driving brand trust

How can we as marketers establish a trustworthy brand? The answer is through better, more trustworthy content. Here are 5 online reputation management strategies to drive brand trust through content marketing.

In fact, [54% of customers say they don’t trust brands.](https://www.bopdesign.com/bop-blog/2015/10/15-crazy-branding-stats/)

So, how can we as marketers establish a trustworthy brand? The answer is surprisingly simple: create better, more trustworthy content.

Think about it this way ― establishing a trusted brand begins with how you communicate as a business. And, in many cases, companies communicate via marketing content. If that content sends the wrong message, misses the mark, or leaves a prospect or customer with a bad impression of your business, it can be extremely difficult to get back in their good graces.

For this reason, it’s a great idea to start off on the right foot. Today we teach you five subtle yet creative reputation management strategies to help you win over customers with each piece of content you create. Let’s get into it!

## 1. Prioritize storytelling.

Put yourself in the consumer’s position and consider what type of online marketing content resonates with you. What was the last marketing campaign you bought into? No matter what advertisement, brand, or campaign comes to mind, there’s a good chance it features several basic elements of storytelling.

When it comes to marketing content, storytelling is the most effective tactic to evoke an emotional response. A narrative complete with real human perspectives and relatable scenarios will facilitate trust much quicker than traditional boilerplate content. In fact, neuro-imagery shows that when evaluating brands, [consumers primarily rely on emotions](https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/inside-the-consumer-mind/201302/how-emotions-influence-what-we-buy) rather than factual information to make a decision.

Any brand, regardless of the products and services they offer, can tell compelling stories in their content. Here are a few brand storytelling methods that are guaranteed to drive more trust in your brand:

- __Tell your customers’ stories:__ Showing off your customers’ positive experience with your business is one of the best ways to improve your online reputation. Create in-depth testimonials and success stories where specific customers are the subjects of the narrative. Allow your audience to see firsthand what they can achieve by working with you.

- __Tell the story of your employees:__ Showcase your employees and company culture to humanize your brand. And don’t just limit their stories to the careers page of your website. Leverage social media, your blog, and other channels to show off your employees. For example, you could run an “Employee of the Month” video series that highlights a specific employee, their accomplishments, personal hobbies and more.

- __Tell your company’s story:__ Although it’s a great idea to always make the customer the hero of your story, don’t be afraid to share a little about yourself. How and why was your company started? What values does your company hold as most important? Create content that gives your audience a peek behind the curtain and tracks the evolution of your company, all the way from an idea to a successful business.

Storytelling doesn’t require a major change to your online reputation management strategy, as it can exist in any form of marketing content. The next time you approach a piece of content, ask yourself: “How can I tell a story with this topic?” This small change in your approach can result in more engaging, emotionally resonant, and trustworthy content.

## 2. Create interactive content.

Modern technology has changed content marketing in a number of ways — the most exciting of which is the introduction of [interactive content](https://blog.zoominfo.com/types-of-interactive-content/?utm_source=guestpost&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=trustpilot). For those who aren’t familiar, interactive content is designed to facilitate audience participation. The most obvious benefit of interactive content is increased engagement, as [81% of marketers](https://www.klick.com/health/news/blog/insights/81-of-marketers-say-that-interactive-content-grabs-attention/) agree that interactive content grabs attention more effectively than static content. It’s also super shareable, and when content heads your way from a [trusted friend in your personal network](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/build-trusted-brand/your-guide-to-customer-advocacy-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important), the content itself feels more trustworthy.

But, interactive content itself can also drive brand trust. Think of it this way: a traditional piece of content requires a passive audience. Readers might scroll through a blog post or press play on a video, but there’s no telling how engaged and invested they are. On the other hand, interactive content empowers your audience. By making them active participants, you facilitate a stronger connection between your audience and your brand.

While many brands achieve success with interactive infographics and “choose-your-own-adventure” style videos, interactive content doesn’t require fancy AI and complex technology. Quizzes, pricing calculators, and online contests are all great ways to involve your audience in the content you offer.

In order to successfully facilitate trust through interactive content, remember to always offer value. The success of this tactic hinges how well you’re able to personalize the end result or experience-- thus leaving no doubt in your customer’s mind that this particular piece of content is trustworthy because it was built specifically for them.

## 3. Encourage user generated content.

As much as it hurts to admit, we can see why modern customers don’t trust marketers. After all, marketers have a clear motive. For this reason, one of the best online reputation management strategies is leveraging the words, photos, and content of others — through [user-generated content](https://blog.zoominfo.com/user-generated-content/?utm_source=guestpost&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=trustpilot).

User-generated content (UGC) is content related to your brand and products created by users or customers who have no professional affiliation with your company. Because UGC is created by your audience, for your audience, it’s a more effective trust-builder than traditional content. Consider these statistics:

- User-generated product [reviews are trusted 12 times more](http://www.cio.com/article/2914780/e-commerce/12-ways-to-improve-the-customer-experience-for-online-shoppers.html) than promotional marketing content.
- [51% of consumers](http://resources.bazaarvoice.com/rs/bazaarvoice/images/201202_Millennials_whitepaper.pdf) trust user-generated content over information on your brand’s website.
- [92% of consumers](https://resources.crowdriff.com/blog/21-user-generated-content-stats-you-need-to-know) trust word-of-mouth more than any type of advertising.

Despite the benefits of user-generated content, only [16% of brands have a UGC strategy](http://www.adweek.com/digital/why-consumers-share-user-generated-content-infographic/) in place. Here are some tips to encourage your audience to create and share content related to your brand.

- __Leverage social listening:__ Good news — there’s plenty of user-generated content that already exists. Practice [social listening](https://blog.zoominfo.com/the-b2b-marketers-guide-to-social-listening/?utm_source=guestpost&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=trustpilot) tactics such as tracking mentions, branded hashtags, and tagged photos to uncover the opinions people express about your company on social media. You’ll likely find a number of photos, reviews and positive comments you can immediately share with the rest of your audience.

- __Repurpose survey results:__ [Customer feedback](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/how-to-turn-reviews-into-referrals-and-ultimately-more-sales) is not only essential to improve and grow your business, but it can also provide the framework for valuable content. Incorporate product feedback or customer surveys into your marketing content in the form of testimonials, quotes, promotional images, and more.

- __Host a contest or giveaway:__ You’ll receive more user-generated content if you provide an incentive. Create a contest or giveaway in which users receive prizes for posting content related to your brand or products.

The best part about user-generated content is that it doesn’t demand a lot of time and resources from your team. And, given its unique ability to drive brand trust, there’s no excuse not to prioritize UGC in both your online reputation management and content marketing strategies.



Learn how Trustpilot can help with user-generated content 

## 4. Leverage negative customer feedback.

Believe it or not, [negative customer feedback](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/how-to-respond-to-negative-reviews) can be just as valuable to your online reputation management strategy as glowing praise. Think about it — what’s the most trustworthy quality a brand can have? If you ask us, it’s transparency.

Customers want brands to admit when they make mistakes, fall short of expectations, or fail to execute an idea. Those are the qualities that make us human, and hiding your flaws is a quick way to lose trust and raise suspicion. Instead, learn to embrace your [negative reviews](https://blog.zoominfo.com/negative-business-review/?utm_source=guestpost&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=trustpilot) and harsh feedback by turning them into content.

Here’s an example: let’s say you recently rolled out an updated version of your product, and this update got rid of a few features you deemed unnecessary. You receive negative feedback from customers who wish they’d been made more aware of these changes before installing the update.

Rather than ignore these criticisms, you include them in a newsletter you distribute to your entire customer base. You begin the email, “We missed the mark with your recent product update,” and proceed to explain what you’ll do differently moving forward.

This tactic may seem simple, but such gestures go a long way toward establishing your brand as transparent and trustworthy.

## 5. Map content to the buyer’s journey.

Our last tip to promote brand trust is more of a long term reputation management strategy than a one-off tactic, but it’s worth the effort. If you want your audience to trust your brand as a source of consistently valuable content, you should map your content to the individual stages of the buyer’s journey.

The needs of your prospects vary greatly throughout the course of the sales cycle. Meaning, they’ll respond to very different styles of content depending on where they are in their journey. For example, a prospect in the early stages of the buyer’s journey will be most interested in vendor-neutral content like blog posts and infographics. Conversely, someone towards the end of the buyer’s journey will respond better to more in-depth, product-specific content.

Align your content strategy to your buyer’s journey and you’ll ensure that you always deliver the right content to the right people at the right time. This consistency will show your audience that you genuinely understand their needs and interests and that you want to guide them through the buyer’s journey by providing valuable content.

For more information on creating a comprehensive content mapping strategy by reading the following post: [Content Mapping for Marketing Success](https://blog.zoominfo.com/content-mapping-marketing/?utm_source=guestpost&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=trustpilot).

## Final Thoughts

Marketing professionals are often driven by results — constantly under pressure to prove that the content they create is contributing to the growth of their business. This pressure is often the root cause of the overly-promotional, deceptive marketing content we see online every day.

But remember, building trust is more important than achieving quick results. Clickbait might perform well in the short-term but it will ultimately diminish your brand’s authenticity and reliability. Earn the trust of your customers by offering valuable, authentic content — and the trust you earn will be the foundation for the long-term success of your business.

Find out more about online reputation management strategies, download Trustpilot's free Complete Guide to Reviews below.

## About the author

Sam Holzman is a Content Marketing Specialist at ZoomInfo where he writes for their B2B blog. ZoomInfo is a [leading contact database](https://www.zoominfo.com/?utm_source=guestpost&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=trustpilot) that helps organizations accelerate growth and profitability. Sam regularly covers topics related to sales, marketing and recruiting, and likes to write about sports and travel in his free time.

5 Online reputation strategies for driving brand trust 

Customers are more empowered than ever before, and choice isn’t really an issue for anyone looking to buy online. That’s why having a competitive advantage is huge, and customer experience is the perfect tool to help you stand out from your competitors.

Customer service shouldn't be just a department - customer service should be the entire company. Today, your consumers no longer compare products and prices only, but also service and [user experience](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/learn-from-customers/how-to-improve-customer-experience-on-your-website), which is why customer feedback has become an invaluable tool. 

Indeed, today, 92% of consumers read reviews to determine the quality of a business’s customer experience.

It’s important for businesses to embrace a customer-centric strategy, and stand out from the competition by making sure today’s customers become tomorrow’s brand advocates.

In this article, we’ll give you tips to start collecting customer feedback, and to make sure your customers are satisfied and happy, and leaving good customer service reviews.

## Here are 4 ways you can get good customer service reviews

### 1. Start by creating a great customer journey

We know what you’re thinking… easier said than done.

Creating a great experience can be challenging, but it is also extremely rewarding. Great experiences ensure customers will buy from you, and come back wanting more. Today, a superior experience is a valued and unique asset for any business. 

As Mike Sims, Founder of [ThinkLions](https://www.thinklions.com/), says: “People will forget what you said, they will forget what you did too. But they will never forget how you made them feel.”

The less time shoppers spend searching for what they need, the better. A great customer experience means your customers are less likely to come across a problem during their customer buying journey, which means you’re more likely to receive positive feedback and good customer service reviews.

Here are some ways you can create a great customer journey:

- Stay consistent: your customers should be presented with the same branding, information and tone of voice on all channels.
- Understand the different stages of the journey, put yourself in your customers’ shoes and make sure you answer every question customers could have.
- Be transparent, accessible and approachable: offer support along the way, and showcase trust marks to build credibility.

### 2. Don’t be afraid to ask for reviews

Collecting customer feedback is one of the best ways to improve your customer service and experience. Direct feedback from existing customers will help you understand what your customers like and don’t like, what works, what should change, and how to do it. But we understand asking for feedback can be challenging. 

However, it’s important to keep in mind that asking for a review of your service will be perceived positively by customers. Indeed, you’re showing customers that you care about their satisfaction, and that you are constantly working towards ensuring potential customers are having a fantastic experience. 

Asking for reviews is necessary in developing your business in the first place, and therefore in getting good customer service reviews too.

Here are some different ways you can ask for customer feedback:

- Through an open and transparent third-party review platform like [Trustpilot](https://www.trustpilot.com/)
- By building review collection directly into your customer journey with an [embedded Trustpilot review form](https://business.trustpilot.com/features) right on your website 
- By setting up [automatic review invitations](https://business.trustpilot.com/features) so you can score a verified Trustpilot review each time a customer makes a purchase
- Starting a dialogue with your customers on conversational social platforms like Twitter and Facebook
- With customer satisfaction surveys using platforms like [SurveyMonkey](https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/customer-satisfaction-survey-template/) or [TypeForm](https://www.typeform.com/templates/t/customer-satisfaction/)

### 3. Don’t forget to put customers at the heart of your business

Customers are now being touched by hundreds of brands and adverts every day, so how can businesses build strong relationships with their consumers?

Making each one of your customers feel special and unique is key. Being customer-centric will send a positive message to shoppers: they are cared for and important to you.

Today, over 84% of consumers do not trust advertisements anymore - but [87% of people trust adverts more when they include a Trustpilot rating or logo](https://uk.business.trustpilot.com/reviews/why-87-of-consumers-find-ads-more-trustworthy-with-trustpilot). 

Creating a community of customers can play an important role in your business’ success and growth strategy. By leveraging reviews, you’re showing visitors that you do care about your customers and their experience.

Encouraging user-generated content is also a great way to build communities of customers, and to create brand advocates. Existing, loyal customers who are put at the heart of the business and are part of a brand community are more willing to leave good customer service reviews.

### 4. Finally, use reviews as customer insights to learn and improve

If you think you’re delivering the best customer service and experience possible, but your customer service reviews do not reflect that - do not give up just yet! 

Yes, every business would rather have exclusively positive feedback, but unfortunately, that’s a pretty unrealistic goal. Instead, using your own customers’ feedback (both good and bad) to collect insights can help you improve your customer experience and increase your customers’ satisfaction. 

Identifying what works, what doesn’t, and which areas of the business require more development and efforts will help you collect more good customer service reviews in the long run.

*These 4 steps should help you get more good customer service reviews. We hope you found this article insightful, and we’d love to know what else helped your business get better service reviews. 

Tell us what worked for you! Tweet us at @Trustpilot using #onTheBlog, or download our newest report 'Bad reviews: Why people write them' and find out how you could improve your overall review strategy and use negative feedback to improve your customer service, innovate, and get more good customer service reviews in the long run.*


Banner Trustpilot report - All you need to know about bad reviews

May 2019 - Bad reviews report 

trustpilot getting good customer service reviews

A beginner’s guide to getting good customer service reviews

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### A new way to gather reviews

Email has traditionally been the preferred method of getting feedback from customers, including reviews. However, over the last five years, email CTRs have experienced a 45% [decline](https://youtu.be/g9P4sYt8Ubg?t=430). __Conversely, there has been a 54% increase in the amount of time American consumers have spent using Facebook Messenger. __

Couple that increase with reports that 9 out of 10 consumers want to communicate with brands via messaging and a clear picture emerges: Messenger is an excellent platform through which brands can connect with customers and collect reviews.

People routinely filter out emails to spam folders or forget to mark their favorite brands as approved senders. __Connecting via Messenger reaches customers in a space they spend significant amounts of time__ and allows them to easily engage with your social media pages without navigating out of the Messenger window.

### Using Facebook Messenger to collect customer reviews

As with email, the most effective way to gather reviews with Messenger is through a follow-up message after product delivery. Depending on the product, it may make sense to send this message at different time intervals. For something that will be used immediately, like pet supplies or home goods, it could be sent a day after delivery. For something that a customer may not be able to make a snap judgment about, like shoes, it may pay to wait a week or two.

Reaching customers in their Messenger feeds allows them to very quickly type out an off-the-cuff review without being sent through multiple pages or being asked for an email. 

Yes, off-the-cuff is good! 

[Research at Northwestern](https://spiegel.medill.northwestern.edu/online-reviews/) revealed that customers are more likely to buy something that has a 4.2-4.5 rating rather than a 5-star rating. 

Customers want to read reviews that sound honest and real; perfect scores make customers suspicious. __Capturing honest, authentic reviews is easy through Messenger, a platform where people tend to be their honest, authentic selves.__

Once you’ve received reviews, you can send automated messages curated to the rating a customer has given. For great reviews, you can say thanks and invite happy customers to sign up for a newsletter. 

Not so great or even bad reviews present you with the opportunity to send a discount code or other special offer to make amends and retain a customer. These triggers are all familiar to email marketing but sending them through Messenger reaches customers in a platform they’re more actively using.

In a crowded market, ecommerce businesses need to take advantage of every opportunity to build credibility. Customer reviews are one of the best ways to achieve that goal. Traditional methods like email outreach and asking for reviews on your site itself are fine, but they’re falling behind more dynamic platforms like Facebook Messenger. 

__Consumers hold word-of-mouth as the most credible form of advertising.__ In the digital marketplace, Facebook Messenger is the best place to gather that honest word-of-mouth testimony. While you can start using Facebook Messenger to collect Trustpilot reviews manually, __keep in mind that manually collected reviews are considered unverified and don't count towards your Google Seller Ratings.__ 

And if automatic invitations via Facebook Messenger are what you're after,  __you can  use Trustpilot's API available on Enterprise accounts to get set up.__

Download Trustpilot's Complete Guide to Reviews below, and find out how customer reviews can help you grow your marketing efforts.



__About the Author__

__Ben Parr__ is the President and Co-founder of [Octane AI](https://www.octaneai.com/), the Messenger and bot platform for ecommerce. He is also the author of the best-selling book "Captivology: The Science of Capturing People's Attention". He sits on the board of directors of Samasource and the Lufthansa Airlines' advisory board, and is a columnist for Inc. Magazine. Previously, Ben was the Co-Editor and Editor-at-Large of Mashable. He is a member of the Forbes 30 Under 30.

An untapped channel for customer communication: Facebook Messenger

Today, the quantity of social proof like online reviews can have a significant impact on conversions and consumer behavior. Retailers benefiting from consumer feedback could see even better results by increasing their review volume.

In a world filled with decisions to make, reviews [help shoppers make the right decision](https://business.trustpilot.com/reviews/how-planet-of-the-vapes-uses-customer-reviews-in-their-ecommerce-strategy). Customer feedback can help people make smarter choices, and helps online retailers stand out from the rest of the competition.

In 2017, Moz attributed 13% of traffic value to online reviews (review quantity, review diversity, etc.), making customer feedback the 5th most important ranking factor.

Today, we’re seeing indications that the quantity of online reviews can have a significant impact on conversions and consumer behavior. Retailers benefiting from consumer feedback could see even better results by increasing their review volume.

Trustpilot encourages retailers to collect more reviews. While many businesses understand that the quality of their reviews is important, a lot of companies don’t realise that the number of reviews they get is just as powerful.

### Review quantity affects social proof, and your business’s reputation

When shopping online, consumers look for reviews in order to get an idea of a business’s reputation and customer service.


Shoppers tend to look for new, updated reviews that will indicate whether or not old issues have been resolved. Old, outdated reviews will continue to be shown when you don’t have new customer feedback coming in regularly. These old reviews won’t reflect the business’s current reputation and the customer service experienced by recent shoppers.


A study published in Psychological Science using phone cases on Amazon.com found that customers are more likely to favour a product based on the quantity of reviews, rather than what they say. The findings indicate that most people tend to favour a product that has more reviews, even if it has a lower rating than another product.

More is better: Why review quantity matters | inline

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amazon reviews

In terms of exposure and search engine optimisation, small and medium businesses can also benefit greatly from having as many reviews as possible.

Search engines generally notice when customers are talking about your business a lot. That’s why the number of reviews is an indication of your business’s credibility and reputation.

> To learn more about how reviews impact your SEO - check out our webinar here.

Review quantity matters, yes, but let’s not forget to aim for quality too! It’s a good thing to collect as many online reviews as possible, but it’s important to understand that numerous poor-quality reviews may not help you grow your business.

Ultimately, more reviews are important, as long as you collect honest, authentic reviews. It’s important that your customer feedback reflects your company’s reputation, that’s why combining review quality and quantity is essential in order to boost your business’s reputation.

## Review quantity converts more consumers

A BrightLocal study revealed that when judging a business on customer feedback, 44% of people looked for the quantity of reviews.

When shoppers visit a website, they expect to read current reviews, and if there aren’t any, they might assume that this company isn’t good enough or hasn’t served enough customers, nullifying the effect of customer feedback.

According to a recent Trustpilot study, 16% of consumers think reviews are too old after 3 months, 36% after 6 months, and 65% after a year. If you want your business to stand out on search engines, collecting a lot of reviews, consistently, will help you show up more often.

And with 92% of consumers now reading online reviews before purchasing online, it’s only natural that many small businesses would work hard to convince potential customers by telling them about the shopping experience they can expect. With reviews, business can maximise their online visibility and reputation, and therefore convert more new visitors into customers.

High volumes of reviews seem to make the score you have more trustworthy, and reduce the impact of negative reviews on consumers. As most businesses are starting to understand that review volume can help boost conversion rates, one question remains. How many reviews are we talking about? 500? 1,000?

I think it’s safe to say that there is no specific number a business needs to hit in order to benefit from review volume; but the more, the better. The only threshold we’d recommend aiming for is 150, as that would qualify you for Google Seller Ratings, an automatic ad extension that can increase click-through rate on paid search.

Your business needs as many reviews as it can get to overcome from customer hesitation. To achieve this, you’ll need to collect as many positive reviews as possible, so that the handful of negative reviews you might receive won’t affect new visitors as much.

## Improving your review collection

Collecting customer feedback isn’t easy. In order to receive as many reviews as possible, it’s important to consider sending review invitations to every customer who’s purchased from your company and optimise your review invitations to increase the likelihood of getting a review.

But what are review invitations?

Review platforms like Trustpilot help you ask your existing customers for feedback shortly after purchasing from your eCommerce site via a form or an email invite.

Your invitations to review your service or product should be sent close to the time of the initial purchase, so that the experience is still top of mind. However, if you shipped your customer’s product across the planet, it might be more appropriate to send a review invitation a bit later, to make sure the customer received it safely.

However long you decide to wait to send the review invitation, you’ve made the decision to start collecting customer feedback in the form of reviews. You’re on the path to success, but the work isn’t all over.

Choosing how to collect feedback is important to ensure you receive as many reviews as possible, so here are four ways you can keep receiving reviews: 

Optimise your invitations: it’s important to learn the best time to send invitations, and the best way to request invitations. To do so, we recommend A/B testing both your timing and content.
Use reminders: don’t be scared of asking again. Sending reminders to customers is important when trying to collect as many reviews as possible.
Embed review forms on-site: place a review form right on your site to ensure a wide audience is exposed to the review form.
Incorporate reviews into your marketing strategy: add review calls-to-action to all your emails, newsletters, social accounts...  This can help you collect feedback, faster.
By keeping a constant flow of customer feedback, you’re ensuring that your conversion rate continues to increase.

### Wrapping up

Review quantity matters.

Businesses need to put review volume at the core of their customer-centric strategy if they’re going to commit to reviews. Improving your customer experience is one place to start. Delivering great service, sharing your reviews on different marketing channels, and sending review invitations is likely to help push shoppers to leave online reviews.

Investing in a strong review marketing strategy by using a third-party review tool is another way to make sure you’ll collect as many reviews as possible and be able to use them accordingly.

Softwares like Trustpilot can help you kickstart your review strategy. In addition to increasing review volume, Trustpilot customers report a strong rating increase from collecting customer feedback by inviting customers to review their service or product regularly.

Without a healthy volume of reviews, your business might be missing out on the full benefits of customer feedback, such as, higher conversion rates and traffic, new business insights, trusted relationships, customer loyalty and great reputation.

Find out more about reviews today, read our 'Bad reviews' report for free, and discover how Trustpilot can help you collect as many authentic reviews as possible, whilst using negative feedback to learn from your customers. 

More is better: Why review quantity matters | header

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More is better: Why review quantity matters for social proof

Today, retail exists in a major digital shift - mobile ecommerce sales in the UK, Germany and France alone will reach [€85bn](https://ecommercenews.eu/mcommerce-uk-germany-france-e85-billion-2018/) this year alone. In 2017, smartphone purchases accounted for [half](https://ecommercenews.eu/smartphone-represents-half-mcommerce-sales-uk/) of all ecommerce sales. 

As we deck the halls in the run up to Christmas, it’s pretty certain customers are reaching you in new, digital ways. Yet that can bring the unwanted present of fragmentation across different platforms and devices. 

And that is why adopting an omni-channel approach is vital to your success this Christmas, and beyond. In this blog, you’ll learn:

- What omni-channel means
- Why it matters
- What you can do today to see the benefits
- How other companies do it well

### What omni-channel means

An omni-channel experience approaches customer service, marketing and customer experience in a cohesive, connected manner, wherever and whenever a customer reaches out.

This means connecting multiple communication channels, tools and platforms to create a __seamless shopping experience__.

What differs omni-channel to multi-channel is that everything is connected. Multi-channel experiences are what most businesses offer today. There will be a website, a Facebook page, perhaps Twitter and more, but all of these channels are separate with differing strategies, aims, and even brading.

With omni-channel, visiting any of these platforms feels no different from another. It recognises each platform and device a customer could use to interact with a company. From there, the company designs a slick omni-channel customer experience, which means a customer is always in touch with the brand - rather than different teams in different channels.

Perhaps the leaders in this are Starbucks who, thanks to a seamless app-website-store relationship, boast almost [30%](https://iterable.com/blog/7-best-in-class-examples-omni-channel-marketing/) of sales through their app. 

Customers use the app to see their nearest Starbucks, to order their beverage, and even to join the membership programme. And when they come to collect their drink, all of this information is synced. 


starbucks-omni-channel-strategy-trustpilot

### Why omni-channel matters

Let’s put it simply: customers spend more with omni-channel retailers. According to [Deloitte](https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/consumer-business/us-consumer-business-2016-holiday-survey-results.pdf), they spend 208% more. 

And as we established earlier, there are a bunch of ways to reach out to you today. An Internet Retailing [study](https://internetretailing.net/themes/themes/mobile-and-social-shopping-lead-the-way-as-uk-consumers-continue-to-embrace-ecommerce--18330) found almost half (45%) of UK shoppers browse online in their free time, and 22% of UK shoppers bought an item after seeing something on social media. 

So you’ve got:

- a captive audience searching for you
- and not just through the traditional means of your website or a search engine

Imagine then that a prospective customer sees a cool product on your Facebook page. But when they click it, it takes them to your general webshop. 

If you’re adapted to omni-channel, this wouldn’t happen. The customer would go directly to the product on offer. 

Similarly with customer feedback: let’s say a customer reaches out to you through Facebook to complain about your service. You might have a dedicated customer service tool to deal with this, and in an omni-channel world the feedback is linked across your software and Facebook. It is answerable in either tool, but the same team, with the same expertise. 

It’s all about creating as few barriers as possible across channels and devices, so a customer never notices a difference in their experience with you whether they hop from their phone to the computer, or from your social media to your website. 

Do it right, and [Aberdeen Group](https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/internet-retailer/) reckon you’ll retain 89% of your customers, opposed to a dismal 33% retention rate for companies with a weak omni-channel focus. 

### What you can do today to see the benefits

A true in-depth omni-channel strategy takes some work, but there are small things you can start doing today definitely in time for Christmas.

__1. Align your branding__

Make sure your channels are fed into one another. No more edgy Facebook branding but then dull webshop marketing. 

Walk in your customers’ shoes and take a tour of your own brand. See where things perhaps don’t make sense any more, and iron out those imperfections to create something coherent and strong.

__2. Bring digital in-store__

With iPads or similar technology, being digital in your brick-and-mortar store has never been cheaper or easier. 

Take a look at UK fashion retailer Oasis. Staff in their stores are available to check stock levels and pricing at any time, all thanks to their trusty iPads.

Customers simply approach staff, ask about a product, and all the information is there. And if it’s out of stock, the staff member can order the missing product then and there. 

Oh - and once the product is ordered, it’s easily trackable in the Oasis app. Pretty slick customer service, right?



oasis-omni-channel-strategy-trustpilot

__3. Develop content that really speaks to customer behaviour__

This is especially important on the run up to Christmas where you might be retargeting old customers, or pushing promotions to new ones. 

Refer back to previous buying behaviour. Entice new customers with offers unique to them. Reward loyal customers with incentives to buy from you again, but perhaps through a different channel this time.

And, most importantly, make sure this curated content functions well across all devices. It’s all part of making sure your marketing is aligned. 

__4. Adapt for most-used devices__

Customers increasingly use a range of devices to research and make a purchase. Make sure you are catering for the devices people reach you on.

For example, if a customer adds an item to their cart on their mobile, but then later switches to their cart on a laptop, the cart status should still remain the same. 

Brands like Topshop are especially good at this. Also at Topshop, their [Topshop On the Go app](http://www.topshop.com/en/tsuk/category/topshop-on-the-go-landing-page-4183580/home?geoip=noredirect) goes one step further - equipped with a barcode scanner, customers can look at stock levels and alternative items. Anything that’s interesting can then be saved for a later date, or bought on the spot.

Topshop on the go app trustpilot omnichannel strategy

__5. Gather customer feedback wherever you can__

Online reviews increase customer confidence in you. But how can you collect reviews in the omni-channel space?

Email and social media are a given, but try an iPad in store next time. Or a link on the receipt of a purchased product which asks for feedback. Wherever you can be open to feedback, do it. And when you get the feedback, sprinkle it across your multiple channels to keep customers trusting you no matter how they find you. 


### Ready to make the change?

Sure, rethinking yourself for an audience that’s also rethinking itself is not easy. What’s key though is being attentive to your customers and their behaviour. Start making small changes today to become more intuitive and agile, and I guarantee you’ll reap big rewards in 2019. 


sirkin research

trustpilot omnichannel strategy best christmas gift

Why an omni-channel experience is your best Christmas present

### 7 trust-building tips based on copywriting psychology

__1. Hook them in__

Building trust can only begin once you’ve caught their attention. That’s why your headlines have to resonate with the right people in a way that compels them to click through. 

Browsers will quickly forget your brand if headlines are too generic or vague. Great headlines can make or break every piece of content you publish. 

Consider the case of Upworthy who’ve witnessed tangible results from simply changing a headline. “[When we test headlines](https://www.wired.com/2013/02/tabloid-chic-the-rise-of-racy-headlines/) we see 20% difference, 50% difference, 500% difference. A really excellent headline can make something go viral,” says Co-Founder Peter Koechley.

Great headlines:

- Convey a clear sense of what someone can obtain from taking action
- Speak from a position of authority, a.k.a. you know what you’re talking about 
- Includes a natural use of your primary keyword 

Tools such as the [Emotional Marketing Value Headline Analyser](https://www.aminstitute.com/headline/) help to weigh up whether your headlines are going to work. 


best headlines

Your headline receives a % score — we recommend aiming for a score of 50+. However, the key is to test and run with what works best. 

__2. Drop the jargon__

While sounding technical, jargon too often makes your content harder to digest. People are left processing unfamiliar words, rather than focusing on the key message: you know how to make their lives easier and can be their trusted partner. 

Overall, people are wary of anything that seems like smoke and mirrors. [Research shows](http://psp.sagepub.com/content/36/11/1576) individuals using buzzwords, rather than factual terms, were more likely to be perceived as liars. 

Therefore, the key is to:

- Make your message so simple it sticks. Stay outcome-focussed and straightforward 
- Tailor your message to your audience. Speak in the terms they understand

__3. Bucket brigade __

So, now that you’ve captured the eyes of an audience, your next task is to keep them reading with content that convinces and converts. Bucket brigade is an old school copywriting technique that still works just as well today. The aim is to keep readers engaged, even in the longest content pieces. 

In many ways, bucket brigades make it easier for visitors to keep reading because:

- They act as the conversational transitions between key ideas. Some copywriting examples include, “here’s the deal”, “the truth is”, “you might be wondering”, “want to know the best part?”. 
- They visually break up the text, so readers can easily skim content and pick out the most important messages (without having to digest a textbook-style wall of text). 

Best of all, bucket brigade is simple to start incorporating into your copy. It may look something like this: 



making your copy more credible

writing more trustworthy copy

improving credibility with copywriting

__4. Repetition, repetition, repetition__

What you say is only part of becoming more believable and trustworthy. It’s also about how often you say it. [Research shows](http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/v33/v33_10345.pdf), as repetition increases, the perceived validity of claim increases. Consistently, studies reveal “people rate repeated statements as more true than non-repeated statements”, regardless of how factual those statements are. 

That’s why repetition is such a useful trick in copywriting psychology. However, it shouldn’t translate to monotony. Repetition simply makes sure your core message is communicated effectively, in particular, at the start and end of any piece of content. 

__5. Show the why__

People resonate with reason, even if it doesn’t always make sense. Researchers proved this in 1978 when they ran an experiment involving the reasons that people gave for pushing in the queue for the printer. People who tried to cut the line said one of the following phrases: 

1. “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”
2. “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?
3. “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I have to make copies?”

For the phrases that received the most number of people agreeing to let the person in, phrases 1 and 3 performed similarly. Phrase 2 elicited a more negative response. 

The reason? It’s all thanks to a simple “because”. Statements that appeal through reason are more likely to be trusted. 

That’s why showing “the why” is so important in your copywriting. 

Some ways you can demonstrate reason is through using words and phrases such as “because”, “since”, “seeing that/as”, “owing to the fact”, and “due to the”.

__6. Proof is in the pudding__

Social proof is quite simply your most powerful copywriting tool. Want people to trust you? You need to first show why you’re already trusted by countless others. This is where reviews come into the picture. 

[Research shows](https://digest.bps.org.uk/2012/12/17/the-psychology-of-online-reviews/) that people are often “impressed after reading early positive reviews, even if negative reviews come later”. 

Since reviews are so powerful, it makes sense to use them as much as possible. Place testimonials on your homepage, alongside your products and services, and even in email drips. If someone has blogged about your business, share it across your social media channels and email list. 

You can even weave in social proof throughout your key website pages by including phrases such as:

- Trusted by 200 customers across Sydney 
- Hear it from our 100+ happy customers!
- 400 businesses can’t be wrong
- Partnering with 74 local businesses and counting! 
- Rated 4+/5 by 500 happy customers
- As seen in / As featured in 

Responding to all reviews is also a great way to take social proof to the next level. Say thanks to everyone who took time out of their day to leave a positive review. In contrast, leave genuine and constructive responses to negative reviews. It all goes a long way to demonstrate you’re a trustworthy, approachable and helpful business. 

__7. Paint a picture__
 
Effective copywriting is storytelling tailored to your business and supported by the facts no one can deny. 

Making the transition from window shopping to pulling out your wallet is a big step. Often people are grappling with a problem and looking for a solution. Your business comes into the picture by providing the best solution around. 

Your content needs to connect the dots by painting a picture. You want people to focus on the ideal and imagine what life *could* be like with you in the picture. 

Starting a sentence with the word “imagine” is the simplest way to invite readers to picture themselves in the narrative you build. 

### Over to you

There are so many ways for wordsmiths to attract new audiences and create brand advocates. What proves effective depends on so many factors, including what your audience cares about. That’s why trying and testing what works is most important. 

What copywriting tips do you use? 








__Author: Andrew Raso__

Andrew is the CEO and Co-Founder of [Online Marketing Gurus](http://onlinemarketinggurus.com.au/). He has a long illustrious career in the SEO and SEM industry and has written for many prestigious websites, including entrepreneur.com, jeffbullas.com, searchenginejournal.com, kissmetrics.com and contentmarketinginstitute.com. He was also featured on Sky News Business and awarded the 30under30 award by Anthill.


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