Following up with customers and asking them to leave a review via an email is becoming more and more common. Familiarity, as the saying goes, however, breeds contempt, or in this case, a quick deletion unless the email stands out, captures attention and is appealing.
The best way to do that is to make your review request subject lines as irresistible, or at least as interesting, as possible.
Here is some advice on how to do that.
In its simplest terms, the review request subject line is the email attention grabber (or not) that shows up in virtually every email preview, whether it is on a PC, laptop or smart device. It asks the customer to leave a review or take a survey regarding their experience with the organization in question, its products or services.
On a more complex level, the subject line is the first thing a reader notices about an email, and in most cases, it serves as the deciding factor regarding how that reader responds to the underlying email. It is often the first contact a customer has with an organization after a transaction, so it can serve as an outlet for praise, complaint or constructive critique.
Almost no one opens emails without at least having an idea of what is inside. Because of that, the subject line is a key that either unlocks or protects the reader's interests and associated actions.
If a subject line interests a reader, they open the email and read it. If it does not, they ignore the email or delete it.
This is a particularly important concept because of four things:
Most importantly, if a customer does not open the email, there was no point in sending it in the first place. If an email is ignored or deleted, the customer never gets to the contents inside and never takes the action the email sender is requesting.
A KPI is a Key Performance Indicator. KPIs help you gauge the type of subject lines that work and which do not. When analyzed, they can also indicate how to improve your subject lines to get a higher response rate.
Here are the top three KPIs to keep track of whenever you are sending emails to customers asking for a review of their experience:
The subject line is the key to getting a customer to open an email. Here are some general tips to help make your subject lines irresistible:
There are specific types of subject lines that work across industries and types of appeals. Here are a few proven strategies:
People respond well to mystique, especially if the curiosity builder seems to indicate they will get something or learn something new.
Speak directly to a customer by asking them to do something for you. People generally want to help if it does not require too much heavy lifting.
Putting a deadline or limit on something will usually get people to at least open the email.
Creating a bond with a customer goes a long way towards holding their loyalty and getting them to respond to you.
Use your customer relationship to your advantage.
Humor almost always gets a positive response.
Used correctly, data can convince someone to open an email.
Everyone likes to think their opinion matters.
Triggering an emotional response almost always pushes a customer to want to help you.
Staying positive is generally a good disposition for most of life. Email subject lines are no exception.
Your customers receive dozens of emails each day; most are spam and end up being ignored or deleted. The only way you can get them to respond to your review request is to have a subject line they cannot ignore, but also one that makes them want to open the email.
These tips and tricks will go a long way to helping you connect with your customers and prompt them to respond to your request for a review of your products or services. Stamped.io enables you to easily collect and showcase customer reviews so that you can increase your eCommerce store sales.