Many sellers have realized the importance of good customer feedback. Unquestionably, the number of positive reviews has a direct impact on Improving product rankings and sales.
This might make you wonder how to get reviews on a marketplace like Walmart?
Well, the fact is that most sellers are clueless about how to get this right. Considering this, here is a detailed article that unveils different ways to help you acquire more reviews.
But before diving into it, there are a few things you need to know.
Why Do You Need Walmart Customer Reviews?
When it comes to e-commerce platforms, reviews from different buyers play the word-of-mouth strategy. This has an immensely strong impact on your business directly or indirectly.
According to a study performed by Search Engine Land:
When you desire to have those five stars, it doesn’t matter who you are. As long as your product is great and is helping your customers, your dreams can come true.
But yes, the reality is that it takes a lot more to acquire good ratings.
Online Reviews: Facts & Statistics
What Walmart Reviews Can Do For You?
Where Does Customer Review Appear On Walmart?
At Walmart, the customer reviews appear below the product name or title followed by the price and other details. Once the customers submit their reviews, Walmart.com stores them in their database and can be viewed at any time.
While there is no evidence if Walmart takes customer reviews into account for a search, it is vital to note that there are some shoppers who might search for products by filtering the average reviews. In such cases, product reviews can impact the overall sales immensely.
Reviews & Ratings By Walmart Customers
Here is a detailed explanation:
1. About Customer Product Reviews
Product Reviews are written by customers who desire to share their opinions about the products they have bought from Walmart. Besides customers, even the employees of Walmart can write their opinions. However, the reviews posted by them will be identified as a Walmart Associate label.
Now, the main purpose of it is to help potential buyers make better purchasing decisions. Walmart welcomes both positive and negative reviews.
Customers’ opinions help other buyers to be informed about the product even better. Honest opinions allow all the Walmart customers to benefit in some way or the other by reading about the bad and good experiences other customers have had with the products.
2. About Seller Reviews On Walmart Marketplace
Like Customer Product Reviews, there is something called Walmart Seller Reviews too, which are written by customers who bought products from sellers. The reviews aren’t about the items. Instead, they are about the service quality sellers have provided to the customers.
They can share if the items were delivered in good condition and on time. Once a customer places an order from any Marketplace Seller, Walmart sends him or her emails to review the seller as well as the product after a few weeks of delivery.
How To Get Reviews On Walmart?
When it comes to pushing the prospects to make a purchase, reviews certainly play a key role. Hence, it is always a great idea to encourage customers to share their shopping experiences. But the question is how to get more reviews?
Well, the answer is through “Review Marketing.”
Now, let’s understand its key strategies.
1. Use Bazaar Voice To Generate More Reviews
Most major online marketplaces or e-commerce retailers use the same platform to enable buyers or customers to write their authentic reviews. This review platform is none other than BazaarVoice. (However, Amazon doesn’t use this platform. They have their own).
Bazaarvoice is one of the world’s leading digital marketing companies based in Austin, Texas. It offers software or a platform to allow retailers to add reviews from different customers to their websites. (Source: Wikipedia)
With the help of the Bazaarvoice review platform, even suppliers can also utilize it to gather reviews from the customers. Then, Walmart.com accepts and displays them on the detailed product pages.
In short, it is a Commercial Service Provider (CSP) and a customer-generated content sharing program used by Walmart to syndicate the reviews accumulated from other websites.
Here is an example of how the customer reviews are displayed on Walmart’s product page:
Every customer review is displayed on the product page to provide complete transparency to buyers and let them know where, when, and by whom was the reviews exactly posted.
2. Build A Good Email List
Indeed, this is one of the best ways to get more reviews on Walmart. Though it requires commitment, dedication, and patience, when done right, it is very useful for business growth.
Yes, it is going to be difficult initially, but after you have created a list of email addresses, it paves the way further. You can send emails to all the people on your list through ads that redirect to the landing page you want to focus on or any independent website.
You can even convince them to subscribe to your service in exchange for offers or discounts. Now, for this to be successful, you will definitely have to invest to get a beautiful landing page or an independent website done.
You can also tweak this method a little to attract more fans via Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram by hosting some promotional campaigns. This, in turn, will help you collect some more email addresses. Again, this will require time. So, be patient enough to execute the tasks, but the results are going to be fruitful.
3. Do The Email Follow-up Sequences Correctly
Email follow-up sequences or more popularly known as “drip campaigns.” They work the best if set and done right. They include a series of messages (maybe combined with attractive images) that are sent to the customers periodically if they had taken some actions in the past.
They are one of the fastest, efficient, and easiest ways to acquire more reviews on Walmart. Much like product inserts, one of the main objectives of a good email follow-up sequence is to give value to the customers.
Now, this “value” is none other than relevant info about the products they have purchased, useful guides associated with the product, customer support, or any kind of content, which can make their lives better.
To obtain more reviews on Walmart using emails, ensure that you adhere to the guidelines listed below:
4. Contact Customers Directly
Contacting them directly is reported to be fruitful most of the time. It is probably one of the most effective and safest ways to acquire positive reviews for your product because the risk is low and your target audience is precise.
This usually involves finding the product pages first and targeting users who once purchased items and left their reviews. Collect their respective email addresses and start emailing them.
Say, for example, if your target user is a group of perfume-loving women, try visiting the product pages of some brands that sell perfumes or anything similar to the fragrance. Get their email addresses. However, this requires a good amount of time since you will be carrying out the tasks manually.
5. Reach Out To Shoppers Who Reviewed Similar Items
Every product page will have a section at the bottom with a list of other related products that users might have searched through. This is another great way to get them on board. They can be potential buyers, who might have reviewed items that are much similar to yours.
The other related products that customers see are also your competitors. Now, you can utilize this to benefit your business. You can take notes of them and read their reviews (pay attention to where they are performing well and which part they are failing at). If possible, check their official website.
Click on the “customer reviews” and filter the MOST RELEVANT section by clicking the option NEWEST TO OLDEST. This will sort the list and display the newest reviews first, followed by the old ones. The latest comments will help you know what customers are talking about the product and where the particular seller is failing at. Is it the customer service? Timely shipping? Cost? Product quality? Or Shipping charges?
Unlike Amazon, the profile names aren’t clickable on Walmart. However, if the username looks genuine, you can try contacting them on Social Media like Facebook or Twitter.
6. Provide A Great Customer Experience
A majority of bad reviews involve customers feeling misinformed about a particular product. Hence, as a seller, it is important, to be honest, and straightforward about what you are selling. You should provide precise and accurate information to avoid false expectations or confusion.
7. Ask The Customers For A Review After The Issue Is Resolved
This is another great way to acquire more reviews. In your problem-solving final follow-up email, request the customer for a product review. But make sure to give the link to your Walmart product page.
Keep in mind, these people are your crucial customers. Hence, be selective or very particular while sending emails to them. Figure out if a customer will be interested in giving you a good positive review. You can judge this by their responses. Sense their tone at the time of resolving their issues, and you will have the answer. If they seem iffy, never ask for a review because you know how it will end up. It’s that simple.
Remember that the product reviews from these customers might be low but are worth it, as they will leave comments appreciating your efforts to fix their issues. Hence, they can add great value to your business and can be very influential.
Overall, they paint the real picture and help other customers to build trust in your brand. At times, having near-perfect reviews alone can look fake and suspicious. In such situations, reviews from these customers leave a strong impact.
8. Answer Customer Queries
If you haven’t paid attention to those Customer Questions on product pages yet, it isn’t too late. You will understand how important “customer engagement” is for your business.
Like most review platforms, even Bazaarvoice offers the feature of question-and-answer and this is already integrated on Walmart.
This is the section where customers ask questions about the product and the sellers answer them. However, this isn’t limited to sellers alone. They can even be answered by any previous purchaser or any random person who has a better understanding of the item.
According to a study done by Bazaarvoice, a product sees an average conversion boost of 98% when potential buyers engage in the Q&A section. Customers truly value the knowledge shared by other customers and sellers.
9. Prioritize “Quality” To Make Your Product “Worth A Review”
This is possibly one of the most important steps you can take to get more reviews on Walmart. Yes, we’re implying the “quality of your product” here.
If you sell a high-quality product, you are automatically going to generate some great reviews. Obviously, how will you ever positive feedbacks that don’t even exceed your customer expectations? If your product offers a good experience, your customers will be interested in sharing their experiences with others. This actually works as a “word of mouth.”
To provide a good experience to customers, keep these tips in mind:
Say, for example, you are selling lip balms made of natural ingredients. You could convey how their lips will look great using it. Go one step further by saying how your product will boost self-confidence or improve their love lives. Customers tend to pick up emotional feelings much faster and later, bring them in their reviews. So, this is a great way to evoke them to share their emotions.
10. Respond To Negative Feedbacks And Fix Them Early
Many online businesses and retailers are scared of negative reviews. Of course, they will be afraid because it will hurt their brand value, reputation, and conversion rates. For this reason, they never respond to them and leave them. However, this does more harm than good.
User-generated content and reviews play a key role in influencing other customers in making their decisions and bad reviews can take a heavy toll if not fixed on time.
Know that every negative feedback can be turned into positive if you know how to. Don’t be scared of negative reviews or low product ratings. Be it a product page on a marketplace or your own e-commerce website, only perfect reviews on it are never going to look authentic.
Apart from multiple positive reviews, a few negative ones make it “normal” and “balance” the idea behind selling. In fact, it proves that you believe in transparency and this can also create trust.
Related: Amazon Transparency Program
But this doesn’t mean you can leave those negative feedbacks as such. You need to take some efforts to fix them and learn to turn them positive. This is also a sign of good customer service and shows how you as a seller, believe in keeping your customers happy.
According to research conducted by Yotpo, the most common words used in negative reviews were “disappointment” or “disappointed.” This shows that the problems with a product are more often about sellers not meeting their consumer expectations and not that they are bad products.
Negative reviews influence other customers in making their buying decisions. However, they don’t necessarily have to be about the product. Perhaps, the bad reviews could be about the high shipping charges, price, or customer service, which might not be an issue for other customers viewing your product.
So, monitor the reviews and respond wherever necessary.
While some reviews are short & sweet, others are informative and in-depth. Also, some can be unreasonable and aggressive. Whatever it is, always monitor your customer reviews and answer wherever necessary.
If the issues are clear and require being addressed, respond to them quickly. This will turn them positive and make other customers trust your brand.
Other than this, it is always a good idea to create a Q&A section and list all the common questions, and answer them clearly.
11. Send Some Product Samples
If you have ever gone through Walmart Marketplace and seen the customer reviews properly, you will notice that a few user accounts will be tagged with SPARK REVIEWER.
Walmart has something called the “Spark Reviewer program,” which is run by none other than Bazaarvoice. It allows sellers to offer free product samples to some customers. This group of customers is picked based on their past reviews.
Reviewers can participate in the Spark Reviewer program only if they receive an invitation from the seller. These are people who have earned Walmart’s trust with their insightful and precise reviews.
Utilizing this Spark Reviewer program could do a great deed in getting reviews on Walmart, especially if you are new in the business, launching a new product, or selling seasonal items.
12. Utilize Social Media Platforms
If you are an established brand, you will be using social media platforms to improve your sales and image. It is a great way to promote your product and there are even chances that customers might be dropping a few comments on your Facebook page.
So, why not use those messages on your Walmart product page instead? If you come across something that has been well written about your product or brand on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest, try adding them as user-generated images or testimonials to your product page.
13. Ask For A Review In Your Product Package
Unless you don’t ask, you are not going to get it. It is a great idea to ask for reviews from your customers after they receive your product. This increases your review count.
Pack your product in a way that also includes a CTA (Call-to-Action) so that your customers can leave their reviews on Walmart (make sure to give brief instructions on how to do it).
For some reason, if this request strategy doesn’t work, try incentivizing your product reviews. For instance, offer some discounts on their next purchases or think of something else.
Recommended read: Amazon Review Software Tools to Increase Sales.
3 Factors Walmart Considers From Product Reviews
While Walmart doesn’t ask reviewers to add particular information, reviews with these three elements add more value than others:
1. Videos or Images Posted By The Customer In Reviews
Walmart allows customers to upload videos and images within their review screens. These reviews tend to add more importance than customers giving plain stars with a little text.
2. Text Length Matters
Like photos and videos, even the length of the text matters in a review. Lengthy and detailed reviews help make more conversions. Typically, reviews that are at least 5-6 lines long have more value than just simple star reviews or reviews with only 1-2 lines of text.
3. Verified Purchase Reviews
Walmart tags a few reviews as Verified Purchaser. These add more value to the page and stand out from the rest. Such reviews also tell buyers that it is written by a genuine purchaser. Moreover, Walmart considers Verified reviews better than the ones originating from different sources like email campaigns. That’s why it is vital to keep your buyers satisfied and happy. Their opinions matter the most when compared to the ones that are gained through other ways.
Conclusion
Undeniably, reviews and ratings are one of the most crucial elements that pave the path for purchase. Since every product page on Walmart includes a “customers reviews” section, shoppers find them convenient in making their buying decisions.
You will be surprised to read the fact that out of three, one won’t even consider seeing a product if it doesn’t have any review. Customer reviews and ratings only influence online sales but increase credibility for a brand. A majority of shoppers read reviews and ratings before making a purchase in-store.
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