How to Ask Customers for Reviews (with Examples)

Amanda Calderon, Head of Onboarding and Support

Review request emails are a powerful way to connect with customers and encourage them to share their experiences.

Research shows that online reviews have a significant impact on purchase decisions. In fact, the likelihood of a customer buying a product increases by 270% when it gets five reviews.

But gathering reviews is easier said than done. With customers going about their everyday lives, it can be hard to capture their attention when asking for feedback on their most recent purchase. This is why nailing your review request emails is so important.

By proactively and successfully collecting customer reviews, you’ll be able to receive important product feedback, improve the customer experience, and increase conversions.

1. Get creative with your copy

The way you ask for a review is everything — too pushy, and customers might be put off. But too vague, and they won’t know what you want them to do.

The copy you use is your persuasive key to reviews. Not only does it create a deeper connection with your customers and show off your personality, it nudges them in the right direction so they don’t leave without having their say.

Make like Culprit Underwear and inject your review request emails with personality.

How to ask customers for reviews:

• Avoid dull copy and instead let your brand’s personality fuel how you ask for reviews
• Use emojis and emoticons to give emails a personal, friendly feel
• Incorporate memes or pop culture pictures to tap into your customers’ interests
• Write like you’re speaking to a friend

2. Personalize for your people

Calling customers by their name creates a better experience for them. It builds a personal relationship and feels like you’re speaking directly to them. You’ll be able to quickly build trust and drive more engagement as a result.

How to personalize review request emails:

• Use the customer’s name where possible
• Mention the product they have bought when asking for reviews
• Make customers feel special with the words you use

3. Offer rewards in exchange for reviews

Who doesn’t love a good deal?

Rewarding customers with a discount code or limited time offer can give them the push they need to leave a review. It also nurtures long-term buyer relationships and increases customer retention.

Beginning Boutique has seen great success with its review request emails by offering rewards to customers that leave a review. By implementing a tiered reward strategy, the brand saw a 37% increase in click-throughs on review request emails and a 109% increase in reviews.

How to offer rewards in exchange for reviews:

• Offer a percentage discount on a shopper’s next visit
• Include a limited time offer on an upsell product
• Increase the rewards a customer gets when submitting a higher quality review or when leaving multiple reviews
• Integrate your reviews program with a loyalty program like LoyaltyLion, Smile.io, or Rise.ai

4. Be on-brand

When a customer opens your review request email, you want them to know immediately who it’s from.

This is why brand identity is so important — it drives how your customers see your brand and how they feel when they interact with you. In return, developing a strong recognition of your brand amongst customers helps build trust and credibility.

SKIMS does a great job of this in its review request emails. Customers will immediately recognize their neutral brand colors and unique logo.

How to be on-brand in your review request emails:

• Incorporate your brand colors into emails
• Include brand graphics that customers will recognize
• Use styling that’s similar to your website so there’s no disconnect
• Use your brand voice in the copy
• Integrate with Klaviyo to enhance the branding of your review request emails using Klaviyo’s template builder

5. Send emails at the right time

To get the best results, it’s crucial that you find the sweet spot for sending your request emails. Too soon, and the customer might not have had a chance to try out your product yet. Too late, and they might have forgotten all about it.

Skinmart waits 31 days before sending its first review request template, which is enough time for the customer to receive and try the product.

The brand then waits another seven days to send an email to customers who failed to leave a review after the first ask. This gives the customer another opportunity to leave a review at a new time that might be more convenient for them.

How to ask for a review at the right time:

• Give customers enough time to receive and try your product
• Take into consideration shipping times
• Send follow up emails to those that don’t review at first for a second opportunity
• Experiment with time frames to find one that works with your customers

6. Tie in customer support

Not every customer will be ready to give 5-stars. They might not have received the product, it might be damaged by delivery, or it might not be what they were expecting.

Use this opportunity to get feedback and give customers a chance to improve their experience. This will avoid those dreaded low-star reviews because you’ll have a chance to rectify things first.

Gorjana achieves this by including customer support contact details in its review emails.

How to weave customer support into your review request emails:

• Allow customers to give less-than-stellar feedback
• Follow up with a customer support ticket
• Include support details in your review request emails to catch unhappy customers early
• Integrate with Gorgias to route customers who have expressed issues with their product or order within their reviews through to Support

Send successful review request emails

Don’t make collecting customer reviews harder than it has to be. Follow these simple tips using Okendo’s Sequences feature to secure great customer feedback, build deeper relationships with shoppers, and increase sales.

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