Post-interaction email drives 79% of customer review volume
Thu, 2011-12-15
British pottery manufacturer Emma Bridgewater Ltd has never lacked for enthusiastic customers. The company sought to capture that enthusiasm and use it to spark excitement in consumers and generate more sales. In December 2010, the company launched reviews to give customers a way to share their passion and enthusiasm with others in the company’s online store.
The following month, they launched a robust post-interaction email (PIE) programme to keep review volume high and maximize the value of reviews. PIE is an email sent to customers a few weeks after purchase, inviting them to review products or services received.
“Reviews allow us to do two things,” explains Jamie De Cesare, Web Manager for Emma Bridgewater. “First, they provide a way to make sure that customers are happy with their purchases, that their shipments arrived safely and on time, or to let us know if there’s a problem so that we can do something about it. But beyond that, they give us a way to generate powerful content for our website by capturing customers’ positive, enthusiastic comments and featuring them prominently online.”
Trusted customer opinions drive a 39% conversion increase
Emma Bridgewater products enjoy consistently high ratings from customers – an average of 4.9 stars out of 5, according to De Cesare. In De Cesare’s experience, customers on EmmaBridgewater.co.uk often make purchase decisions based on other customers’ recommendations and descriptions of how and why they use a product. The company credits customer reviews with a 39% increase in the site’s conversion rate on their product page.
“Before Ratings & Reviews, we were seeing customers’ comments about our products on Facebook, for example – but we had no way to capture that content for our website,” says De Cesare. “Now, we have a vehicle for generating valuable content on our site, and with PIE, we have a tool for generating as much of it as possible.”
PIE drives 79% of all customer reviews
PIE drives 79% of all customer reviews Through the PIE program, Emma Bridgewater follow up with customers two weeks after purchase, inviting them to review the product online. In the first eight months of the programme, the company collected 4,000 reviews. They attribute 79% of total review volume to PIE.
“We have amazing customers who are passionate about the products they purchase from us, and we want to be certain we’re capturing that and making sure it’s shared.”
