6 Ways Marketers Can Use Customer Reviews to Influence Buyer Behavior

When managed effectively, reviews actively empower multiple business functions to accomplish their marketing goals. In this article, we discuss six ways customer reviews provide a solid return on investment (ROI) for the marketing, sales and product development teams.

2. Get more in-market prospects

It can be hard to find high-quality leads and even harder to convert them. Customer reviews draw the attention of high-intent buyers that are actively looking to purchase but have not considered your brand yet.

Review pages capture, from these buyers, meaningful intent data or demand signals such as the software category visited by a potential customer, details of a buying firm, engagement level, and product awareness. Access to this customer review data helps both marketing and sales ensure positive outcomes. 

Stakeholders who benefit from high-quality leads:

• Account-based marketing (ABM) managers can gain access to accurate buyer intent data.
• Demand generation professionals can directly influence warm leads in the sales pipeline.
• Sales managers can have the opportunity to increase the conversion rate.

 3. Differentiate your product from market competition

As buyers progress in their purchase journeys, they need to understand what makes your product different from other alternatives on the market. This is when they particularly rely on ratings and reviews to decide between software brands.

Detailed peer and expert reviews with feature or functional-level descriptions help buyers compare multiple products and form opinions. Make sure your customer reviews highlight your product’s unique selling points, and share your product’s average ratings in comparison to competitors’.

Stakeholders who benefit from product differentiation:

• Chief marketing officers (CMOs) can reduce the average time customers take to shortlist products by making critical information easily available.
• Sales representatives can show proof of software value propositions and tell why you deserve buyers’ business.

4. Improve product roadmap with authentic user feedback

Even the best sales pitch in the world won’t help you retain a customer if you don’t have a product that fits the customer’s needs.

Authentic customer feedback ensures your product remains cutting-edge in the ever-changing software landscape. Use reviews to understand the underlying frustrations of users and also the aspects they really like. This process requires establishing a strong review collection process that generates high-quality customer testimonials. 

Stakeholders who benefit from better product planning:

• Product managers can find quick answers about what customers want and grow their product roadmap accordingly.
• Product marketers can identify and highlight popular features that customers find useful.

Learn more: Why Businesses Should Prioritize Authentic Customer Reviews.

5. Earn trust through compelling social proof

Buyers consume marketing messages with some level of skepticism, but they trust reviews as an unbiased source of honest feedback coming from peers facing similar challenges.

Compelling customer reviews for software buyers boil down to two major attributes: overall quantity and recency. A high volume of online reviews shows that the seller is popular among customers, while recency (not older than six months) indicates validity of the product and up-to-date information about its features.

Stakeholders who benefit from social proof:

• Marketers can use real customer stories to convincingly communicate their message.
• Sales representatives can create powerful pitch decks to boost sales.
• Account managers can gain customer trust, as the latter see fresh feedback from other buyers in their industry.
• Demand generation professionals can improve customer experience programs.

Read more: 14 Surprisingly Easy Ways to Collect B2B Software Reviews.

6. Increase retention by building brand reputation

Reviews are valuable assets to stay ahead of customer feedback. Customer reviews that are more negative can still help your business by showcasing themes for areas of improvement from the product offering itself to your customer service.

In a similar vein, reviews from happy customers highlight what’s working well and things you should expand upon to keep consumers interested. Make customer feedback a core part of your brand-building exercise by learning how to identify, triage, respond to and leverage positive and negative reviews. 

Stakeholders who benefit from increased customer retention:

• Sales representatives can increase repeat customers.
• Account managers can retain existing accounts and relationships.
• Customer relationship managers can enhance customer satisfaction with proactive online reputation management.
• CEOs and CMOs can gain insights into the overall product performance and customer experience.

Start using customer reviews to your advantage

It’s never too late to establish a review collection program for your business. Using customer reviews will help you meet your marketing goals, provide solid ROI, and will benefit stakeholders from multiple teams. Building a brand that buyers trust by prioritizing review collection from verified users will guide better-informed leads to find your software and increase the chances of conversion. 

Kari Test

Kari Test is a Sr. Marketing Manager on the Vendor Marketing team at Gartner Digital Markets. Originally from Annapolis, Maryland, Kari graduated from Elon University before moving to the Washington, D.C. area. In her free time, she loves exploring Old Town Alexandria, traveling and trying new recipes. Connect with Kari on LinkedIn.

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Survey methodology:

Gartner Digital Markets’ 2022 Global Software Buyer Trends Survey 

Results presented are based on a Gartner Digital Markets study to understand business challenges and approaches to technology and software investments. The primary research was conducted in October 2021 among a total of 2,501 respondents in the following countries: United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, India, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Portugal, Brazil, Colombia, Belgium, Poland, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Ireland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Germany and France. 

Respondents were screened for having recently purchased technology and decision-making authority. Respondents were required to be responsible for making decisions on purchasing technologies for their organization. 

Disclaimer: Survey results do not represent global findings or the market as a whole, but reflect the sentiment of the respondents and companies surveyed.