Customer feedback conversion rates

At Review Tui, we know online reviews are an incredibly powerful tool for attracting customers to your business, but you don’t have to take our word for it. Studies across all industries show that if a website has user reviews, 63% of customers are more likely to buy from them. That’s because customer reviews are reflections of a brand and provide the social proof buyers look for before making a decision. 

However, building up your reviews can be challenging, especially now that customers are inundated with digital messaging around the clock. While customers are more likely to make a purchase after seeing online reviews, it doesn’t always mean they’ll leave reviews themselves. In fact, most customers will only leave reviews when prompted, and even then not every time. So you might be wondering, what are the conversion rates for customer feedback? How many customers will leave reviews, and what can I do to increase feedback submissions? 

That’s why we’re going to outline what conversion rates you can track and give examples from two of our valued customers. Of course, every business is unique, and conversion rates will differ for various industries but for the most part, these rates are a good example of what you can expect. 

Open rates for a post-purchase email

In eCommerce, it’s good practice to send a confirmation email after a customer makes a purchase. These automated emails have much higher open rates than any other type of email which is why they’re a great opportunity to ask for feedback. Once you’ve confirmed their purchase or subscription, you can include links to review platforms or surveys to capture the customer’s experience. To measure the success of these emails, you can track the open rate to see what percentage of customers find this communication helpful. It’s a good idea to tailor your email, especially the subject line, to maximise click-through rates and be more compelling to customers. Your customers are doing this as an added step, so make sure it's clear, personable and won’t feel like a chore. 

In the case of our example businesses, these post-transaction emails saw an open rate of 45.9% and 42.4% which means nearly half of the customers were receptive to taking further action. But each has a key difference. Business A is a fast-moving goods e-commerce site while business B is a luxury offline purchase. What’s quite impressive is that both have very similar open rates even though the nature of the transaction, and purchase amounts, are very different.

Click-through rates for an email link

Once the customer opens an email, you’ll need to have a clear action for them to take next. In the case of asking for a review, the best approach is to provide a link for them to click to visit a survey. It’s also important to frame your email in a meaningful way that guides them towards clicking the link so you’ll need to consider tone, length and formatting carefully. Using engaging graphics and GIFs can help grab people’s attention too.

In 2022, our case study businesses have demonstrated high click-through rates at this stage of the customer journey. Of the 45.9% who opened the email from Company A, 24.6% proceeded to click the link. An even higher rate was reported for Company B which had 37.1% of customers click through to leave their feedback. 

What’s worth noting about both of these emails is they’re specifically asking for feedback. These aren’t emails where an aspect of the email asks the recipient to complete a survey, the entire email is about getting feedback.

Conversion rates for surveys completed

Now we’re getting to the heart of the matter and converting email clicks to tangible results in the form of survey completions. Feedback from customers is a crucial resource for business success because it means you gain all the information you need, directly from the people who matter. By sending a customer feedback survey, you can gauge how their experience was with your brand, including anything you could do better going forward. The thing is, not every customer completes a survey when prompted, so how many can you expect to receive? 

Fortunately, for the most part, if customers have clicked a link to a survey, chances are they know what they’re getting themselves into. That’s why our case studies show over half of the customers who clicked a link then proceeded to complete the survey. Company A received reviews from 56.81% of the individuals that clicked to take the survey, while Company B received responses from 62.8% of clicks. This goes to show that customers are willing to go the extra mile for a brand if they have something to share, even though it isn’t a requirement. It is essential to set your survey up in a way that is user-friendly, engaging and rewarding. If you’re not sure where to start, there are some guidelines to follow for survey building, and a specialised feedback software can be helpful.

Conversion rates for customers leaving public reviews 

Another tangible result of these feedback requests is a public review, and one of the most important. Each of these Review Tui users has the ability to prompt the respondent to leave a Google Review upon completion of the internal survey and both companies have this feature turned on. 

For Company A, the conversion rate for reviews left was 12%, and for Company B it was 9.2%. What that means is that customers were willing to share their experiences and become voluntary promoters of the brand, even though they’d already provided direct feedback to the business in the form of a survey. Once these reviews are submitted, a compounding effect is triggered as more customers are willing to purchase, and then potentially leave reviews themselves. With consumer reviews being nearly 12 times as trustworthy as a manufacturer's description of a product, it’s a no-brainer to capitalise on what your customers have to say. 

Public reviews are gold. But even if you’re struggling to get those then internal feedback is still very beneficial. You can even turn some of this feedback into a website review or testimonial. In fact, Review Tui contains a feature that enables the respondent to confirm that they’re happy for you to use their comments in your marketing. The marketing team will never need to hassle other departments for permissions again! 

Of the number of customers a company has in total, it’s unlikely to be a high number leaving a review afterwards. However, no matter how few reviews a company gets, it can dramatically increase the business’s profits going forward. In fact, a shopper is 52.2% more likely to purchase if there are 1 or more reviews on a company’s website. And to take it a step further, pages with 11-30 reviews had sales conversion rates twice as high as those with none. So even if only one customer leaves a review, it’s essential for profitability and growth. 

Should I incentivise customer reviews? 

Giving your customers a reason to leave reviews could be worthwhile, especially if you don’t currently have any reviews to build from. Since sales rates are higher with more reviews on your website, it could be worth sweetening the deal for existing customers to contribute to your review page. But what’s the best way to give incentives? 

Consumers are often generous with their time, and in fact, many leave reviews for emotional or altruistic reasons. For example, some people leave reviews to inform other customers or simply to support a business, not necessarily for any monetary benefit. It is possible to give some kind of financial reward for customer reviews, but it will depend on the review platform. And even then, it might be better to offer a chance to enter a giveaway instead because it adds value to the customer, without detracting from the feel-good factor they get from giving a review. 

Both Company A and B from Review Tui chose to incentivise reviews from their customers, which undoubtedly played a part in their successful conversion rates. That’s not to say that incentives are essential, but they are worth considering if you are looking to boost your reviews. What’s worth noting, however, is that both used different incentive methods. Company A offers loyalty points that can be traded for discounts and prizes while company B offers entry into a monthly prize draw.

To get the most out of your customer reviews, we recommend taking the time to develop a plan and set yourself up with the best tools for success. For advice on how to get started, download our Guide to implementing a customer feedback strategy.