Fashion is a unique, but very competitive industry. In an industry overflowing with deep discounts, fashion brands and stores need to use every tool at their disposal to stay on top of the game.
Most successful brands already have loyal customers and great brand recognition. However, even the biggest fashion brands make one very common mistake—they ignore the power of online customer reviews.
User-generated content is the holy grail of digital marketing. Moreover, according to Moz, “67% of consumers are influenced by online reviews.” If you want to your fashion business to succeed, you must understand the importance of online reviews and their impact on your brand.
Online Reviews Expand the Conversation About Your Brand
One of the best ways to expand your fashion brand’s reach is by encouraging customers to review your business. Great reviews spread quickly. When you leave a really good impression, your customers are more likely to share their reviews on websites like Facebook, Amazon, Yelp, and even Google.
It all goes way beyond establishing a good reputation among consumers. Reviews are one of the key factors Google uses to rank a website. The more positive online reviews your brand has, the better your organic website traffic will be.
Increased Conversions
One of the key factors that make fashion different from other industries is the fact that apparel is a very personal purchase. When we buy shoes or clothing, we consider many factors, including quality, style, fit, and size.
When shopping online, it’s harder for us to assess these qualities. For instance, a shopper knows M-size dresses fit her the best. But, how can she be sure the one she’d like to order will fit her body type? She’ll read what other women have to say about the dress. She’ll skim through online reviews to see whether someone has complained about the fit.
Often, shoppers who leave reviews like to include photos of them wearing their new apparel. It can be useful to other shoppers, and, let’s face it, we all like to hear how good we look in a new dress. So, another pro tip to increase sales: allow images in reviews on your website.
Thanks to the advent of smartphones and super-fast internet, many consumers want to check out product reviews and ratings while shopping in-store. You can boost in-store conversions by harnessing the power of online reviews.
Trustworthiness
Fashion isn’t just about lifestyle and appearance. It’s about trust as well. What do the most successful fashion brands have in common? Their customers trust them.
It takes a lot of time, energy, and effort for a fashion brand to establish credibility among consumers. Gaining the trust of the consumer is even more difficult for fledgling fashion brands. But, when it comes to trustworthiness and reviews, fashion businesses can learn a lot from the casino world.
In the world of games of chance, people put a lot at stake in order to participate—not in a financial sense. Risking losing a few dollars isn’t the problem here. The problem is, players have to provide sensitive information like ID scans to the casino in order to be able to open an account and start playing.
No one is willing to give up such private and sensitive data to a random casino. For serious players, flashy advertisements, free bankrolls, and other perks don’t cut it. To see whether they want to play at an online casino they’ve come across, they read online reviews written by experts. They don’t trust random reviews written by casual players.
There are few takeaways here. You can indeed leverage online reviews to earn a loyal brand following. But, you can’t “fake it ‘til you make it”. People don’t just check reviews, they also check who is writing them.
The most important takeaway: great customer service breeds great online reviews. When customers write reviews, they don’t just review your products. What happens after the purchase is also a key factor.
To get great reviews, you need to offer exceptional customer service. The best shoppers to leave reviews are your returning customers.
Improved Products and Customer Experience
Online reviews can provide you with a wealth of information you can use to grow your fashion brand. Most importantly, they can tell you how to improve your apparel and overall customer experience.
When customers tell you how you can improve the design of a certain product, and you take their advice and make it better, you can rest assured that your bottom line will improve.
Soft Surroundings, an established bedding retailer and women’s clothing brand, is a great example of how it should be done. The company tries to resolve issues as soon as they get customer feedback. According to their eCommerce Manager, they forward the feedback they get directly to their technical team.
Conclusion
Online reviews have many benefits for all businesses, big and small, but this especially goes for fashion brands. The way you perceive your own brand is very important. But, one of the best ways to enhance the values of your brand is by encouraging people to talk about it.
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