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Know Why Your Customers Like You?
My wife surprised me with a trip to a camping site with a Yurt. If, like me, you have no idea what a Yurt is here is a picture:
Was a fun experience. But what I liked best wasn’t the Yurt, it was the camp washroom facility. Really appreciated how clean it was. But the camp management will never know this because they didn’t ask. They will just assume that since the most unique aspect of their property are the Yurt that’s what their advertising needs to market.
We make this really bad assumption of thinking people love our products because of the physical attributes of the actual product. What people ACTUALLY love is the experience around using products and services.
We assume people who bought and loved the Travel Pro 3-Wheel mobility scooter must love it because of one of these listed features:
Top Speed: 4.00 mph
Turning Radius: 32.75″
Drive Range: 6.30 miles
Weight Capacity: 275 lbs
Heaviest Piece: 27.5 lbs.
Disassembles: Yes
Seat Width: 17″
Max Seat to Ground Height: 21″
Height Adjustable Seat: Yes
Flip-Back Armrests: Yes
Wheel Type: Three Wheeled
Front Wheel Size: 8″
Rear Wheel Size: 8″
Air-Filled (Pneumatic) Tires: No
Overall Width: 19.5″
Overall Length: 37″
Batteries Included: Yes
Basket Included: Yes
Weight Without Batteries: 73.50 lbs.
Battery Pack Weight: 18.50 lbs.
Charging Port Location: Battery Box
But that’s just one dimension of how shoppers think, and it’s a limiting one. Here are some of the customer comments I picked from their customer reviews. Bolded snippets are sections that stood out:
“Very quiet when you ride it – and I love the cup holder.”
“Strengths: Comes assembled.“
“This was the most well packed product I’ve ever received along with clear directions and easy assembly topped off with very fast delivery.”
“Like that it has solid tires so they won’t go flat.”
“Gives me the ability to get around the house, It fits through the doorways, but my wheelchair won’t.”
“As a single woman with arthritis I am able to load and unload this scooter into my vehicle by myself (takes about 5 – 10 min. due to my mobility issues). I was able to take it to a wedding on the grass and it did fairly well. It’s very compact and convenient. This product has enabled me to keep my job and transport to my required locations independently.”
“I have spinal stenosis and cannot stand for any length of time without pain. I went to the mall for the first time in 4 years. Even I can disassemble this machine. So I am not dependent on my husband.”
“I like the swivel seat“
“It has nice curb appeal. I use the scooter to travel back and forth to our club house for activities.”
“The price & that it’s Made in USA“
“Stops immediately when you let off the hand lever. Climbs ramps easily.”
“I was glad I got the 3-wheel model as it is SO maneuverable; not at all tippy.”
“The instructions that came with the product are very easy to understand“
“… reassuring year’s worth of in-home support/insurance.”
“Easy to travel with both in the car and other forms of travel (boats & planes).”
“Before I bought it I read reviews that said it tipped easily on uneven surfaces. I went to a convention and had to park in the unpaved area, NO Problem with dirt, grass very uneven surface.”
“It turns on a dime. Even in an elevator you can go in straight and clear the door.”
“Ability to break down into 5 pieces for easy to transport … if need to pick up to fit into small space like on a bus.”
“The best is I can bring the battery’s inside to charge and leave the scooter in the car”
“The ease of transporting this scooter – fits into the trunk of a Nissan Altima!”
“I love the way it CAN fit into a trunk of a small car.”
“The ease of taking it apart and the fact that I can fit it in the trunk of my Toyota Camry is amazing.”
“Light weight easy to load in my explorer.”
“Can fit in the trunk of our little car to take it with us as we travel.”
Note: The 5 reviews listed above all talk about being fit into trunks of different car brands. Buyers seem relieved to know their scooter can fit into their car. The retailer could add a little widget on the product page to ask “What vehicle do you plan to transport this scooter on?” and next to that show a dropdown (or autofill) with most car models (such pre built car model menus can be easily found online. Your developer doesn’t have to manually build one). Once the shopper enters their model they will see a confirmation message. Mockup of our idea:
1: User first enters car make on product page:
2: They then hit SUBMIT button and see this (notice confirmation text in green):
If I was the retailer I would use these feedback snippets to rewrite my product description. Additionally, I would make a product video and talk about these features.
But this is the tip of the iceberg because it’s what we picked from the published reviews. As a rule of thumb 1,200 purchases generate one (1) organic product review. This product page has 473 reviews, which means spinlife.com may have sold over 500,000 units of this scooter. So I would literally call the thousands of people who bought the scooter (and didn’t return it) to ask them one simple question, “what feature did you like best about your scooter?” That one question will give us a wealth of knowledge. Knowledge we could use this improve this page conversions rates by over 13%.
Are you looking to unlock a 13% conversion lift on your best selling product page? Good, then apply this approach to your site. Or, better still, set a time to chat with me: meetme.so/RishiRawat
Comments 22
What I like most about this post is that these recommendations are highly actionable. Note that the word “Actionable” does not appear anywhere in it 🙂
ReplyFrictionless Commerce
Hi, Ted. First of all, thanks for reading my rather long post. Please explain what you mean by this statement: Note that the word “Actionable” does not appear anywhere in it.
I didn’t quite follow.
ReplyHaha, I was just commenting to enforce the point of your article–how you may *think* you know what is awesome about your offering, but your audience is actually appreciating something else about it that you didn’t explicitly mention. In this case, I thought the observations and advice were actionable, as in, I actually see what steps to take to realize a benefit, which is the main reason why I liked it–but because you didn’t explicitly point this out as a value proposition in the article, its unlikely that you’d know this is why I liked it
ReplyTed: I thought the observations and advice were actionable, as in, I actually see what steps to take to realize a benefit, which is the main reason why I liked it–but because you didn’t explicitly point this out as a value proposition in the article, its unlikely that you’d know this is why I liked it
Rishi: Oh my God, so meta and so powerful. You literally are the best.
Thanks for making my day.
ReplyThank you for the insights, Rishi! This technique will be very useful when optimizing product descriptions.
ReplyFrictionless Commerce
Glad you liked it, Mike.
ReplyGreat article, the best selling context is often hidden in real-person reviews!
ReplyFrictionless Commerce
Your comment means a lot, Linda. Hope all is well on your end. –Rishi
ReplyYou’re making a really great point here, I’m often so engrossed in our products that I can’t see the forest for the trees. However, when I actually talk to customers they remind me what’s really important. They care much less about the features (top speed, turning radius, range), which is what I tend to focus on and more about the benefits (tires don’t go flat, fits through doorways, independence). Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyFrictionless Commerce
So glad you saw value in the post, Brett. I’ll make it a point to send you monthly ‘nudges’ to think about benefits 🙂
ReplyExcellent article, I think my big takeaway here is to mine my reviews for looking at both the comments both the concrete and the subtext underlying those comments. I don’t think I have spent enough time on that and your reminder is very valuable to me.
ReplyFrictionless Commerce
Subtext is key. As a business owner, I know you have a whole bunch of “open items” to take care of and it can be hard to make more time for yet another thing. But I’m confident this exercise will have a big conversion boost. I’m happy to chat more, too. –Rishi
ReplyGreat insights Rishi!
1. I like the idea of reading through the reviews to pull out snippets that can be used in the product description. This helps SEO also. Because you are using terms that customers are using, so it helps make your product more relevant to the searcher.
I typically scan product reviews. So if they are really long I probably won’t read them.
So what about taking these snippets and making them bullet points inside, or at the bottom of, the product description?
2. I think this question is brilliant (but simple!): “What feature did you like best about your ?”
It is an open ended question getting them to describe the benefits they received. As you mention, then the store can gain valuable insights. So much better than most review request questions I see.
3. So implementing this method, store owners will need to go back and revisit products that have a fair number of reviews, to re-write. Sometimes we as merchants tend to set it and forget it.
4. Your post also made me think about WHY people buy things.
People don’t buy the Travel Pro mobility scooter (your example) because they’ve always dreamed of owning a mobility scooter, that went 4.00 mpg, or has a 17″ seat.
They buy it to get from point a to point b. They buy it to give them freedom. They buy it to allow them to go shopping in stores. To enjoy the park, etc.
A guy doesn’t go to the hardware store to buy a drill because it’s really cool thing to own.
He buys a drill because he wants to drill a hole!
He buys a hammer to pound a nail, to build something.
Guys spend thousands of dollars on a tiny 6mm round diamond for their girl. Why? Because he wants the reaction of his girl. The oohs, ahhs, the kisses & hugs, the admiration, etc.
I think many product descriptions could be greatly improved by using the EMOTION of the end result, the real reason for the product. Humans buy on emotion and then justify with logic and facts.
ReplyFrictionless Commerce
Hey, Ron. Wow, thanks for that super detailed comment. Absolutely love it. My numbered responses match your numbered list in the comment:
1: You are exactly right about the positive SEO impact of mining reviews and using them to enhance product descriptions.
2: Ron: So much better than most review request questions I see.
Rishi: One reason customers don’t respond to review request emails is that they don’t have Likeability (which is one of the 16 conversion tactics framework I briefly mentioned on our call yesterday). And one doesn’t have to go crazy with crafting a super customized note. Just make it feel like it’s coming from a caring human.
3: Ron: So implementing this method, store owners will need to go back and revisit products that have a fair number of reviews, to re-write. Sometimes we as merchants tend to set it and forget it.
Rishi: And if the review counts are low you can email people who purchased the product (which is usually a bigger number than those who bought and wrote a review). And if purchase list is low set a rule on the product page so if user engages with the page and starts to exit we show a prompt that says,:
“Hi, I’m Ron, the owner of [site]. My goal for 2018 is to make [product X] page perfect. For every visitor. You spent time on the page and I’d love to email you and ask few questions about your experience. We don’t automate anything here so if you agree to be contacted you will receive my hand-typed email. Having the opportunity to ask you a few questions via email would mean a lot and help me achieve my 2018 goal.”
4: Ron: Guys spend thousands of dollars on a tiny 6mm round diamond for their girl. Why? Because he wants the reaction of his girl. The oohs, ahhs, the kisses & hugs, the admiration, etc.
ReplyRishi: You nailed it.
Hi Rishi
ReplyGreat article. You’ve nailed it.
Thanks for writing this. Wes
Frictionless Commerce
Thanks, Wes.
ReplyExcellent points throughout! It’s easy – especially when marketing a very technical product – to get stuck in the features in details. But it’s all about the customers and how the product will help them. This is one of your best articles so far, Rishi. Great insights.
ReplyFrictionless Commerce
Thanks so much for the feedback, Thom. I’m going to do a lot more writing. Like anything, the more I write the better I’ll get. Super glad you liked the overall packaging of the idea. –Rishi
ReplyGreat stuff! Love your outside the box approach.
ReplyGreat article and advice. As a business owner, I tend to make things harder than they need to be. Rishi does a good job of helping me understand what some of my priorities should be. Lots of work, but lots of opportunities. Great to have someone like Rishi deliver these nuggets.
ReplyGreat job of mining the reviews to find the true selling points. I always spend a ton of time with customer reviews for my clients – it’s where I get my best copy ideas.
ReplyFrictionless Commerce
Thanks for adding your thoughts, Holly! Much appreciated.
Reply