It’s a well known fact that nearly everyone reads online reviews in today's internet-based environment. To be more precise 91% of people read and 84% of readers trust them as much as they would a personal suggestion. Customers prefer to see a large number of reviews and it affects their purchasing decision tremendously. A single positive review forms an opinion, but a few dozen that say the same thing forms a consensus. The more reviews, the better but we all have to start somewhere. According to one study, potential consumers want to see at least 35 - 40 reviews before they completely trust a shop and make a purchasing decision. Quality, Shipping and Customer service are what customers often value the most and what essentially determines their overall experience with your shop.
So according to these three main criteria’s, In order to exceed the expectations of your customers you have to deliver quality products, ship orders on time and communicate with your buyers. In my personal experience, great Customer service is the most important thing that you should definitely focus on in the first place. Even if you accidentally make a mistake with quality or shipping related issues, there is nothing you can’t fix with great communication.
My Etsy shop has gathered thousands of 5 star reviews over the years and I believe this to be one of the main reasons of our success. Here are 11 ways to generate quality, high value reviews from my personal experience managing the customer service department of my business.
1. Answer the Messages ASAP.
According to multiple studies answering messages on time increases a chance of a sale by at least by 30%. It also shows that you take this business seriously and it affects your overall customer service performance. Make sure to give the detailed answers to all the questions asked. The best way to respond to messages quickly is by downloading new Etsy seller app on IOS or Android. That way you’ll get notified whenever customers message you on Etsy. According to the recently enrolled “Star Seller” program you should reply to your customers within 24 hours from when they first reach out to you in order to maintain the Perfect message response rate score of 95% or more. However, I would definitely suggest replying to any questions within the first 2-3 hours.
Star seller program consists of three main factors and in order to receive a star seller badge of the month you should maintain the average score of 95% on all three criteria’s for the last three month, after which the review period resets.
I’ve been nominated as a Star Seller almost every month since this new feature rolled out in 2022 and even though the badge did not significantly affect the performance of my store, I still think it’s an easily obtainable new feature that will have a bigger impact on smaller, relatively newer shops. Star Seller Badge should definitely speed up the process of building trust with potential customers, even if you have just a few reviews.
2. Managing Expectations & Customer Satisfaction:
Set the right expectations regarding your product and sustain the ability to meet them. In order to create a great experience and ultimately earn the loyalty of the customer, the actual product should exceed the expectations of the buyer. As online shoppers ourselves, we often find that what we see on our screens is not always the same as what we get when the actual product arrives. Online shopping can be quite challenging sometimes for that same reason and customers tend to form their own expectations from the pictures and videos of certain products shown online.
Meet Customer Expectations
Meeting customer expectations often includes various factors such as shipping orders on time, ensuring satisfactory quality of goods, and maintaining timely communication with buyers. If you consistently fail to meet their fundamental expectations, you are unlikely to stay in business for long. At this level, customers are either satisfied or neutral towards your business, and they may not form a strong emotional connection with your brand. Operating a business at this level of customer satisfaction means that your business is surviving, but it may not be thriving. Anything below this level of satisfaction will only make your job harder, resulting in customer disappointment, returns, refunds, and negative reviews.
Exceed Customer Expectations
If you are an ambitious business owner and a perfectionist like me, you would want to aim higher and focus on the next level of customer satisfaction, which will play a key role in managing your business growth and forming long-lasting relationships with your target audience. Firstly, at this stage, you provide products and services that exceed your customers' initial expectations. It also involves attention to detail and a personal touch. There are many ways you can customize the shopping experience to exceed the expectations of your buyers and increase the value of your brand in their eyes. Focus on providing excellent customer service, fast shipping, additional gifts, impressive packaging and a great product.
Maintaining this level of customer satisfaction guarantees five-star reviews and loyal, returning customers.
One of the best ways to manage expectations in an ecommerce business model is by providing realistic yet high-quality photos of your product in a natural setting. Your photography should always be top-notch, but make sure to capture your product realistically, including the exact color, size, and other details. To exceed customer expectations, the actual product should be even more impressive in real life than online. Ensure that the listing pictures don't oversell your product too much to avoid any chance of customer disappointment afterwards. What customers see in your product listing should be identical or even better than what they receive.
3. Quality & Price.
Ensure that your product is of high quality and offers great value for its price. As mentioned earlier, quality is something that customers pay close attention to on this platform, and it is one of the most important criteria for receiving the best reviews. It is crucial that the price of your product correlates directly with its quality.
The pricing of a product is typically perceived as an indicator of its quality, and we all know that the best things in life often come at a higher price. Increased quality requires greater attention to detail, which, of course, requires more time and incurs higher costs. Economic research shows that the price of goods influences customer judgments about their quality, thus impacting their purchasing behavior and expectations. Therefore, if you price your products above the average market price, customers will automatically expect higher value and quality.
A customer is satisfied when the perceived quality of a product aligns with its price. If a product's quality exceeds the customer's expectations for a given price, the customer will be duly impressed and certainly satisfied. However, if the quality of a product is inferior to the customer's expectations for a given price, the buyer will be greatly disappointed, potentially leading to negative reviews.
4. Shipping.
Set accurate shipping time frames in your shipping settings. Always ensure that you provide the right expectations for shipping and inform customers if your shipping providers are experiencing any delays. From my experience, this is especially crucial during the holiday season. I make it a point to warn my customers about potential delays directly via messages or in my shop announcement. I also advise them to choose expedited shipping options if I notice that their order is urgent. There have been instances where a customer became frustrated due to a shipping delay. Even though it was not our fault at all, it prevented us from receiving a 5-star review for an otherwise excellent product.
5. Be precise and detail oriented.
Ensure that you provide your customers with detailed information about your product and its features, such as dimensions, material, functionality, color, usage instructions, and care instructions. Including this information in the product listing description gives customers the opportunity to learn more about your product before making a purchase and helps them form accurate expectations.
6. The Follow-up Message.
Sending a personalized follow-up message after buyer receives the order is the ideal time to ask for a review. Simply go to the Shop Manager's "Orders & Shipping" section and click on the order's Message button. Use the message to check in with the customer to see if they're satisfied with their purchase and if so, politely remind them to leave a review. This is also a great opportunity to prevent bad reviews by identifying and managing potential issues that your customers might be experiencing with your product and take necessary measures before they decide to leave a frustrated, negative review. Remember, you can’t directly ask for a five star review because it’s against Etsy policies, but if someone is satisfied with your product there is 99% chance that they are planning on leaving a five star review anyway.
7. Track your packages.
If you are selling physical items, it's a great practice to always keep track of your shipped orders and keep your customers updated every step of the way. Not many sellers do this, but we have been tracking our orders for years and consistently updating our customers, which has had a significant impact on our review score. When you take the initiative to update your customers regarding the whereabouts of their package, it demonstrates great customer service and shows that you care about your customers even after making a sale; they become your main priority.
This also helps establish communication with your buyers on a more personal level, which directly impacts reviews and the overall experience with your company. Personally, I have spoken to thousands of customers over the years and noticed that Etsy customers appreciate communication and attention from shop owners because it is part of the unique shopping experience on Etsy. So, feel free to reach out to your customers regarding an order, satisfaction level, or shipping-related updates. Remember, your job is only done when the customer has received your package and is fully satisfied with it.
8. Offer Discounts and Freebies.
If you can afford to offer discount coupons, it's a great way to provide them to customers who have reached out to you, are planning on purchasing multiple items, or are returning customers who will surely appreciate it. Additionally, offering free shipping or including a freebie item with the package is a wonderful practice. Customers truly appreciate unexpected and thoughtful gifts that come with their order, and it often encourages them to express gratitude to the seller in the form of a stellar review.
In order to create a discount coupon go to your “Shop Manager” -> “Marketing” -> “Sales and discounts” and choose create a promo code option.
9. Offer Free customization or Personalization.
Etsy is all about customized and personalized items and that’s one of the main things how this platform is so different from all the other marketplaces out there. Etsy encourages sellers to create customized products and meet the needs of the potential customers by offering tailored products and unique experiences, which they can’t find in a regular store. For example, when customers message us regarding slight adjustments in order to have a custom product made just for them, we often gladly do it for free. That way customer sees that our priority is not just making a profit, but it’s establishing real, long lasting connection between customer and a brand.
Etsy has a personalization feature which you can activate from the listing settings and include an option for your customers to write initials or other personalization instructions for the product.
You can set the character limit for the customers and choose the personalization to be optional. If you don’t select “Personalization is optional” customers won’t be able to check out without writing something in the personalization box.
You can also activate “Custom Order Requests” option so that the customers can contact you directly if they feel that you can create something special for them. In order to activate this feature visit your shop Shop Manager -> Settings -> Options and under Custom Order Requests section select “Enabled - Request Custom Order button will appear on your shop.”
Now customers can message you regarding a custom order by clicking “Request Custom Order” button directly from your Etsy shop landing page and you can create private listings for specific buyers.
At the beginning of your Etsy journey, I would definitely suggest taking advantage of the custom order feature and accepting as many custom orders as possible, as it offers numerous benefits.
The first benefit is the opportunity to communicate with your customers regarding their needs and wishes. By accepting custom requests, you essentially collaborate with your customers to create the perfect product for them. As mentioned earlier, customers love custom-made products, and this often leads to five-star reviews for your shop. Additionally, accepting custom orders provides a great opportunity to understand and learn what customers may find lacking in your products or what other preferences they have in a specific niche. It helps with product diversification, which involves introducing new products to the market, adding new features, or expanding an existing product line.
10. Accept Returns and Exchanges.
Always strive to accept returns and refund the customer when you receive an item back. By doing so, you can avoid an upset customer and a negative review. Focusing on the quality of reviews is particularly crucial when you are starting out as a new Etsy seller and have only a few reviews. It is best to fulfill the reasonable requests of unsatisfied customers rather than risk receiving a 1-star review early on in your journey. Negative reviews can impact the purchasing decisions of future customers and potentially have a short-term negative effect on the ranking of your listings. They may also result in the loss of a Star Seller badge. The review score for the Star Seller badge is based on the average of all the star ratings received during a review period, which is currently three months. To maintain the badge, your average shop review score should be 4.8 or higher.
Returns, refunds, and exchanges are a natural part of any ecommerce business and often have nothing to do with the actual product itself. However, it is always polite to ask customers the reason behind their return in order to take it into consideration for the future. Selling on Etsy involves continuous learning, and you must seek out opportunities to learn more about your customers, your product, competitor products, and collect feedback in order to improve and grow. Remember to clearly state that you accept returns in your shop policies, especially if you are selling expensive products. Often, when customers plan to purchase an expensive item, they need reassurance that there is an option to return it if it does not meet their expectations. If your shop policies do not mention accepting returns, cautious customers may be discouraged from making a purchase in the first place.
11. Packaging.
Package your product with care and attention to detail. It's a great practice to include a postcard, small gift, or coupon with your orders. As a responsible seller, it is essential to ensure safe packaging for your product, considering how it will be handled during transportation. If the package arrives damaged, the customer will likely request a refund or replacement, so it's best to prevent any possible complications in advance. For delicate products, consider shipping them in a padded box.
Branded packaging, tags, or brochures as part of your marketing strategy can have a significant impact on reviews. Etsy customers appreciate interesting and original packaging, as it demonstrates that the product was packaged with care and attention to detail. This adds to the unique experience of buying a handmade product. You don't have to spend a fortune to achieve this kind of packaging; simply include a well-designed, aesthetically pleasing postcard or a handwritten thank-you note created on Canva. In the note, thank your customers for supporting your small business and encourage them to leave a review. Even a small gesture like this can work wonders and adds a personal touch. Here is an example:
Avoid spamming or pressuring customers to leave or change their reviews to five stars at all costs. This goes against Etsy policies and is considered review manipulation. Additionally, remember that customers have 90 days to leave or change their reviews. If you respond publicly to any review, whether it's 1 star or 5 stars, it cannot be changed afterwards.
In summary, these practices are designed to create a memorable customer experience, which encourages customers to go above and beyond to thank you for your time, effort, and attention by leaving a wonderful, heartfelt review. Since Etsy is an online platform, customer satisfaction relies solely on online communication since there is no face-to-face interaction. It is crucial to be absolutely clear in expressing yourself, avoid any possible misunderstandings, and be straightforward in going above and beyond to satisfy your customers and meet their needs. Ensuring a happy customer should always be your top priority. Satisfied buyers become loyal, returning customers and statistically spread the word about your business to at least 10 other people.
There is a lot more to learn about Etsy, the New Etsy algorithm, and Search Engine Optimization, and you can read all about it in my New Book - "ETSY SEO MASTERCLASS 2023: Kick Start Your Etsy Shop" available on Amazon.
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