Crush it with customer reviews

14 replies
I recently came across a site / offer page for a $x,000 priced product with literally over 300 hundred VIDEO reviews (before I stopped counting).

I immediately put myself in the position of his competitors thinking; "how can you compete with that?"

Then I wondered how on earth can you get that many people to agree to do that many reviews where:
  1. The lighting was great.
  2. The length was optimal.
  3. The tone / pitch was natural.

It was EXTREMELY obvious to me that some "reviews" were made by friends or acquaintances as they were too polished to have been done by just a "happy newbie." He used those reviews first, then the "regular joe" reviews down the list.

But... how? How do you get hundreds of people to EAGERLY review a product? During my last product promotion I literally had to wait for the social media mentions and shout outs to occur as asking for reviews got me no where.

So here's what I will be doing for my next launch.
  1. Pushing them through the funnel to the main offer.
  2. X% of traffic will be made an offer. Y% will be made a KILLER offer; g'et this killer product for free here!"
  3. Those who receive the free offer will have 24 hours to consume the material, after 24 hours, they're at liberty to pay... Or...
  4. They can receive lifetime access if they submit a review that I actually want to use. If I don't want to use it, they won't get it free. Thus, they may be inclined to go back to the drawing board and re-submit something useful.

Now, all of this relies on the material actually being valuable enough for people to want to earn it with their "sweat" (reviews).

However, it's the most sensible approach to me and while I have no clue how this gentleman got that many reviews I surmise he had some sort of leverage as humans are self interested. If you make an amazing product that helps me become more successful and you beg me for a review, I'm not motivated in anyway shape or form to offer one up... I've already paid you. I thanked you. See ya later!

Anyway, what do you guys think? How important are VIDEO reviews to your business or offers?
#crush #customer #reviews
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    Originally Posted by TheBigBee View Post

    But... how? How do you get hundreds of people to EAGERLY review a product?

    I'm sure you have heard the saying ... "there are many of ways to skin a cat."


    Some are honest and legitimate, some are not as they appear to be (deceptive).


    How do you personally feel about "incentivezed" endorsement? If someone gives you an endorsement because they receive remuneration for it - is that an honest review?


    Every marketer has to decide the ethics and principles he/she will set as their personal standard for their own behavior.


    What do you think?


    Fake reviews are wrong in my book. As to your case in point - it seems questionable, given the surrounding circumstances, but maybe there are other facts or omissions that we don't know about.


    Steve
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    • Profile picture of the author OptedIn
      Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

      Fake reviews are wrong in my book. As to your case in point - it seems questionable, given the surrounding circumstances, but maybe there are other facts or omissions that we don't know about.
      You can have 1000 legitimate reviews on your site. Or, they could all be phony. There is no way of ever knowing.

      A perfect of example of when, "Less is more." I'm more likely to believe 10 reviews or testimonials than I am 100. Then, again - I believe nothing I read on the Internet. Not saying some of it may not be true, but I'm from the 'better safe than sorry' school of trust. :-)
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      • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
        Originally Posted by OptedIn View Post

        You can have 1000 legitimate reviews on your site. Or, they could all be phony. There is no way of ever knowing.
        True enough. But if someone were to publicise his method of garnering reviews prior to launch, that might provide a clue.
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        • Profile picture of the author TheBigBee
          I'm actually going to be making this into a video for my YouTube Channel that has a bit more than 15,000 subs.

          I'll be explaining to people how I will be allowing folks access to a $997 product for 100% free, no strings for 24 hours.

          Those who come back in a panic "I've lost access" will have a decision to make:
          1. Pay the $997
          2. Allow me to leverage their story.
          3. Rely on the notes they took in 24 hours.

          I have no problem attaching my name, image, likeness, etc. to this line. At all.

          Originally Posted by Frank Donovan View Post

          True enough. But if someone were to publicise his method of garnering reviews prior to launch, that might provide a clue.
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          • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
            Originally Posted by TheBigBee View Post

            I have no problem attaching my name, image, likeness, etc. to this line. At all.
            Good for you. I'm sure you'll do whatever you believe is best for your business - but in my opinion, you're making two fundamental errors regarding reviews.

            The first is attaching too much importance to the sheer number of reviews posted by your competitors. If you can see that some of those reviews are false, so can potential customers.

            The second mistake is looking at reviews as merely a tool for promotion. Reviews that are less than gushing can often tell you more important things about your product. You might just pick up some useful lessons to help you improve your existing or future offers. Why discourage that feedback?

            And it's not like you have to change your incentive - just make it available for any review, then publish only those you want. Problem solved.
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            • Profile picture of the author TheBigBee
              Frank,

              I appreciate your taking the time to tell me how you feel I should be running my business. I do apologize if I came across as seeking and / or needing advice in creating this thread. Too many of us are guilty of allowing too much of the wrong info into our heads. When we do this, we find ourselves ignoring data. Data never lies.

              That said, I do not enter markets where there is too much competition. I like to look at a market and trend and enter only if / when I know my offer can serve as a counterweight or compliment to what is already out there. I also make sure my story is interwoven throughout the product marketing process so as to make for as little competition as possible as I cannot be carbon copied.

              I've destroyed it here in the WSO section because I launched products to which I had zero competition.

              I destroyed it outside of here because well, I created a lane for myself and there was... no competition. However, I am inclined to study those who are on the top of their game. So few of us study those who are at the top of their game... shame on us.

              I landed on the simplest landing page I could land on. Then, I used SimilarWeb (which is not perfect but pretty good) to learn that:
              1. The site was generating 1.2M visits per month.
              2. The bounce rate was 59%
              3. The time on site was 2 minutes and 51 seconds.

              The time on site jumped out a me because reviews made up 95% of the content on the site.

              Keep in mind, we are not even anywhere near being close to an offer page at this point. In fact, you "must" go to the webinar before you're presented with the offer.

              There were at least 300 reviews.

              The guy went bat crap crazy on doing all he could to get those visits into that webinar because he knew it would be in his best interest to squeeze as much as he could out of those 1.2M visits per month. At just a 1% net conversion with a $2k product, he has nearly a $25M offer at the moment.

              That's before one of the most annoying guys in IM that you've seen all over YouTube began promoting him.

              So, I guess this my long winded way of saying this I disagree that reviews are a tool for promotion. They're a tool for conversion. I'm not going to waste time, and money for some ephemeral "promotion" tool. If I am buying your eyeballs, I want to deploy every aggressive conversion tactic I can. Like this guy.

              People sat and watched those reviews before they decided the webinar was worth it. This is where we are trending online. Be prepared to start competing harder to give away free stuff.... I'll be using this deadly conversion tool at every step in my funnel.

              On the "promotion" side, if your'e soliciting real stories, and you're creative, sky is the limit. I'm a pretty creative guy, I've made short films, promo vids, etc. Hell, I may show up to students' door and take them to dinner and have them tell me their story, then put $50,000 in ads behind it...

              Hell you can just run those stories and a "Learn More" button to a landing page where there are 300 more stories so you can get a good chunk of 1 million visits into webinar attendees. Except in my case, the data suggests that the webinar is not as killer as it was before. Turns out, drip feeding dope content + well timed offer still works (Jeff Walkers stuff is timeless).

              And no, I'm not going to make my offer available for "any" review because that's silly. I'm paying good money for your attention. So I am not giving you something you deem valuable and life changing for free on your terms. I need to create leverage in everything I do as such is the point of being in business, so you want the best of me for free? We'll do it on my terms.

              There are not that many IM'ers who can say they have grossed $1M on a single product in the space of 12 months and those who do, use leverage like it's going out of style. So, I plan to leverage my bowel movements if they help at stage X in my funnel.

              Lastly, keep in mind that all of this is made possible through the creation of a superior product.

              If you've got an inferior product good luck getting one review.





              Originally Posted by Frank Donovan View Post

              Good for you. I'm sure you'll do whatever you believe is best for your business - but in my opinion, you're making two fundamental errors regarding reviews.

              The first is attaching too much importance to the sheer number of reviews posted by your competitors. If you can see that some of those reviews are false, so can potential customers.

              The second mistake is looking at reviews as merely a tool for promotion. Reviews that are less than gushing can often tell you more important things about your product. You might just pick up some useful lessons to help you improve your existing or future offers. Why discourage that feedback?

              And it's not like you have to change your incentive - just make it available for any review, then publish only those you want. Problem solved.
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    • Profile picture of the author TheBigBee
      Originally Posted by Steve B View Post


      How do you personally feel about "incentivezed" endorsement? If someone gives you an endorsement because they receive remuneration for it - is that an honest review?


      Steve
      I honestly feel that if I have given you a product to which I am charging $997 for free, and you come back to me and say "hey, I LOVED it and I want it forever!"

      AND, I give you these 3 options...
      1. Pay the $997.
      2. Agree to let me leverage your story.
      3. Rely on the amazing notes you took in that 24 hour span.

      THEN, I can sleep like a baby at night.

      I'm "buffered" by the fact that when the product is garbage, you'll never come back in a panic saying "I need it forever" and that obviates the need for your review.

      That said, this is the line I'm taking. I'm not here to seek approval or disapproval. Just sharing the most elegant way I can think of to create leverage, so as to generate massive amounts of reviews.

      Let's face it... most of us (not all) have factored in video reviews into our buying decision process. Additionally, most of us (not all) have never bothered to leave a review for products WE LOVE, but, may be willing to do so if we can get it / them for free.
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  • Profile picture of the author Frank Donovan
    I agree with Steve. Offering an incentive for a review is one thing, but only rewarding the positive reviews is bribery, plain and simple.

    In most markets, a handful of honest testimonials would carry more weight than a stream of false endorsements.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    I'm "buffered" by the fact that when the product is garbage, you'll never come back in a panic saying "I need it forever" and that obviates the need for your review.

    I think the 'buffer' is that you've decided this - for you - is an acceptable method of getting reviews. What you are doing is saying "you can have this for free in exchange for a GOOD review"...just wording it differently.


    You could offer time limited access - and full access in exchange for 'a review'. It's the requirement of 'good review' that galls - and with a good product you don't need to lower yourself to that level in my opinion.


    But - your product - your choice.
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    • Profile picture of the author TheBigBee
      We're arguing semantics it seems. This approach is so polarizing I know it's an integral part to an 8 figure product launch now... jeez.

      If I am paying to give you something life changing for free. Like, I literally even built out a whole funnel so I could change your life for free, then I bought ads, and you LOVE what I have given you, you're going to pay me in one of two ways or rely on notes and / or memory.

      That simple.

      Notice I never said "good review."

      I wanna leverage the best stories. Tell me your story. Put it on tape. If I decide I wanna use your story, I'll hook you up. That simple.


      Originally Posted by Kay King View Post

      I think the 'buffer' is that you've decided this - for you - is an acceptable method of getting reviews. What you are doing is saying "you can have this for free in exchange for a GOOD review"...just wording it differently.


      You could offer time limited access - and full access in exchange for 'a review'. It's the requirement of 'good review' that galls - and with a good product you don't need to lower yourself to that level in my opinion.


      But - your product - your choice.
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  • Profile picture of the author duckgogo
    I always take customer reviews with a pinch of sale. I like to test out a product.
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  • Profile picture of the author Obermair
    300 video reviews with perfect lighting and tone... suddenly the positive customer reviews begin to sound fake. Reviews have to feel real.
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  • Profile picture of the author Janice Sperry
    I am not an attorney.

    You should hire an attorney. (One skilled in FTC matters.)

    The first charges from the FTC for paid reviews were against Reverb Communications in 2009. They had paid for reviews on iTunes. There have been many charges since then.

    You might be compliant if the person used the product and you include a conspicuous disclaimer on each video that it is a paid endorsement. I say might because there are other factors and even a conspicuous disclaimer is not automatic compliance. Burying a disclaimer in a legal footer is not accepted by the FTC. The FTC has also gone after companies that claim they are not paying but are still "incentivizing" by offering free hosting and such.
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  • Profile picture of the author Kurt
    I read an article a while back about how to detect fake reviews, or at least make a judgment about how likely the reviews are real.


    Fake reviews tend to be very general..."This camera takes great pictures". While real reviews are more likely to use specific details, like "the auto focus works really well".
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