How to Collect More Expert Recommendations
How to gather more expert recommendations
By Joel Swenson
Senior Copywriter at ExpertVoice
November 12, 2021
Updated: June 21, 2022
8 Tips to improve your review collection frequency on ExpertVoice
The majority of U.S. consumers — a whopping 89% — read product reviews when considering a product purchase. Of those, 93% say reviews have an impact on their decision to make a buying decision. But nearly half won’t purchase unless they see user-generated content like product reviews on the brand or retailer’s product page. The bottom line is reviews result in buyer confidence. But, to be effective, those reviews must be both authentic and trustworthy. That’s where expert recommendations come in.
Expert recommendations are a critical piece of your customer buying journey — and if you syndicate expert reviews to your e-commerce site, they help consumers learn about your products from an authentic, credentialed expert before purchasing online. However, collecting on-demand expert recommendations with a regular cadence is sometimes easier said than done for some products.
So how can you increase the frequency at which experts leave authentic recommendations for your products on ExpertVoice? Here are eight easy tactics brands can implement to promote more experts leaving more product recommendations on ExpertVoice.
1. Ask for recommendations in your education campaigns.
For brands who work with ExpertVoice Studios to create Education Campaigns, asking experts for recommendations in a lesson is a highly effective way to gather more frequent reviews. Studios lessons already strengthen experts’ on and off-platform recommendations. In addition, the in-module activity provides experts who’ve already experienced your products a convenient and immediate opportunity to share their opinions and insights with your brand.
In-content recommendations are especially helpful for brands without a hosted store or product catalog on ExpertVoice. Because many recommendations are collected organically through the hosted shopping experience, brands that redirect experts to their off-platform e-commerce site miss out on a primary avenue for collecting recommendations.
Example of an education module that captures recommendations in the lesson. See the landing page »
2. Run a product sampling campaign.
Running a product sampling campaign allows you to get your products in the hands of a specific group of experts you identify in exchange for authentic recommendations. This tactic is excellent for both new products that you want to launch with reviews and legacy products that could benefit from fresh reviews.
Whether you’re launching a new product or need to reinvigorate an existing product, ExpertVoice makes product sampling easy and efficient. Create a highly curated audience of product testers and seamlessly deploy their ExpertVoice recommendations to your e-commerce page. All while tracking the campaign’s progress and how many recommendations you’re collecting over time in the Advocacy Platform.
3. Leverage Communities.
Using the Community Manager is a great way to form deeper relationships and longer-lasting partnerships with your most passionate experts. The communities you create are also the perfect place to ask members for recommendations about your products and expert-generated content (EGC) that you can repurpose elsewhere.
Recruit experts to your community with the specific purpose of gathering recommendations in mind. Set the expectation that you’re looking for input across a broad set of your products and that participation in your community means providing authentic recommendations and other EGC.
Ask your expert community to share recommendations about products they've experienced.
4. Create a product-centric education and seeding campaign.
For a product that could benefit from more expert recommendations, consider running an education and seeding campaign that focuses on increasing experts’ knowledge of one specific product. When your campaign goes live, you can also schedule promotional media to reach target experts and strengthen the power and frequency of their recommendations. Brand-dedicated media placements you can leverage include homepage banners, push notifications, premium site placements, and emails. Brands that participate in promotional media often see a 2x lift on average in expert engagements and orders during the promotion.
If an expert purchases your product during or after your promotion, they’ll receive automated messaging to submit their review.¹
5. Include a custom order insert in your product packaging.
Many brands have success with including a personalized printed insert in all of their ExpertVoice orders thanking experts and reminding them to provide recommendations on the products they just received. This tactic is effective because it keeps their recommendation top of mind as experts first start using your product.
While you can and should personalize your insert so it reflects your brand, example language for the insert can be along the lines of:
“We are pleased to provide special access to people like you because we trust you will put the product to good use and provide insightful recommendations to others who would also enjoy it. After you have had time to experience and evaluate the product, please share a detailed review on ExpertVoice using these best practices:
- Be specific about where and how you used the product, how it performed, and what you liked.
- If there is any way the product could be improved, please share that as well.
- Please include a video or photo with your product review.
We value your authentic and honest feedback and look forward to reading your product testimonial."
Ask your expert community to share recommendations about products they've experienced.
6. Send a post-purchase email.
If you have a redirect store, a similar strategy to an order insert is sending a post-purchase email to every expert who purchases your product. The language can be similar to the above example, but it’s important to personalize it for your brand. Since experts make purchases from many different ExpertVoice brands, it’s important to differentiate yourself from other brands that might employ a similar recommendation-collecting tactic.
7. Feature select products on your brand page that could benefit from more recommendations.
Similar to running an education and seeding campaign for specific products, featuring products on your brand page that need a recommendations boost is an effective way to increase their awareness. By working with your Account Executive to curate which products appear front and center on your ExpertVoice brand page, you’re more likely to drive sales towards those products and, in turn, increase their recommendations.
Kyocera featured limited-time products for breast cancer awareness month on their brand page.
8. Upload a video with a recommendation call to action in your Featured Video Library.
Videos uploaded to your Featured Video Library in the Advocacy Platform can be a great way to communicate additional information about your products on your brand page. Consider recording a short, personalized video that explains the benefits of an expert product recommendation and how an expert can publish a video or photo-based recommendation for your products on ExpertVoice. In your video, remind experts to include the following details in their online review: why they purchased the product, how they used it in the field, their favorite features, and helpful tips or suggestions for improvement, if any.
¹If your brand has a hosted store on ExpertVoice.
All of the above strategies effectively increase the number of recommendations that experts leave for your products. To implement any of these strategies or to discuss them further, please contact your Account Executive.