Strategies for engaging and retaining customers in a social and mobile world

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Social Commerce - People vs.

Let’s get one good proven fact here – people usually never trust advertising, definitely not as much as they would trust recommendations from friends and consumer opinions shared and posted online.

Doing some research while finding reports and data, which is to be said surveying more than 30,000 Internet responders in over 50 countries, more than 90% of consumers say they would rather trust recommendations from family and friends above any other type of advertising – an increase of over 15% since about 2007.

The consumers who share their reviews online rank as the 2nd most trusted source, with 70% of global consumers surveyed online stating they trust the posts on this podium, an increase of over 16% in 5 years.

3rd to 5th ranking is editorial content (60%), trusted websites (55%), and emails (45%), in the perspective range. Regular forms of advertising consisting of media such as TV, radio, and have seen a huge drop, nearly 25% since about 2009.

Stating all this, it’s fair to say that friend-to-friend shared is best for business commerce. For example, you’re not going to out and buy something you are planning on paying for and the using it to find it didn’t suffice your needs. Therefore, these important elements such as ratings, reviews and customer feedback implement on people decisions and final choices.

It’s very simple. People want to be told the truth, and nothing but the truth. They want their communication and interaction with you to be valued through honest general responses. They want the acknowledgement that what they have to say what matters.

Finally, in social business commerce, is not just a matter of exploit some channels, or somewhat maintaining a very high level of engagement, but a service or product that’s worth sharing to other people about. If you do, so will the people. And, if all these reports and stories are accurate and factitious, then Rating System can help you boost your business commerce in certain ways, increase sales and page value through SEO integration, while your product or service is being bought or used.

(Reference: http://socialcommercetoday.com)

The value of post-purchase follow up e-mail!

Take this situation for example;

You and your family purchase a home theatre system in December of last year. Prior to the purchase, the family has done a lot of research into what system would best fit the family’ needs and provide us with the most value. Once the decision was made on a specific brand and model, they then began visiting different stores and dealers in the area in order to find the best possible price and customer support.

After having visited many shops, they have finally found several that offered basically the same price for the right home system we wanted. So, the decision of where to buy came down to which store, and the hard-working salesperson that was felt most appreciative and comfortable. While making these decisions, the family received phone calls and e-mails from the salespeople that the family had met, all trying to win us over and purchase their product.

One you’ve made all your decisions clear with the family, you chose to purchase your home stereo system from the salesperson you loved best, and everybody goes home happy.

As times passes, many companies ‘forget’ who their customer is, and mentioning this, they never heard back from the store again. Post purchases aren’t always necessary, but to the customer, it was a greatly missed opportunity on the store’s part to create further customer loyalty, and possibly feedback.

Recent statistics show that existing customers are 7 times more likely to purchase from you. A short email or even a quick call asking how we are enjoying our theatre set, or if even if the family experienced any difficulties or problems, would have gone a HUGE way towards cementing the loyalty between customer and salesperson. Now, imagine, if the salesperson or someone from the store had just spent five to ten minutes on post purchase follow-up with the family, they would have increased the possibility of turning a one-time purchase into a repeated customer.

Basically, the moral of this home theatre system buying is that customer service and support after the purchase must not be pushed aside as it can lead to future sales. Rating System gives the opportunity for our customers and their businesses to have the option of follow up e-mails. It is a great feature to have, and it is recommended for all users of Rating System, or any business you are committed to.

Also, check out these benefits (posted in the Integration section) that we offer!Benefits:

  • Creates dialogue inside your customer community
  • Generates significant percentage of your posted reviews
  • Additional touch point with your customers
  • Additional revenue from follow-on purchases
  • Fresh SEO content can help boost your website's search engine rankings