How to Create a Review Request Workflow

Overview

After someone purchases a product, you may want to ask them to write a review about what they just bought. This is an excellent way to build social proof and drive customer engagement with your brand.

To send review request emails, you can use AVADA's built-in product review workflow as a starting point, or you can build your own from scratch. In this guide, you will learn how to create a review request workflow in AVADA.

Understand your review request workflow

Chances are, you can already attest to the power of customer reviews from your own shopping experiences. Think about the number of times you have been on the fence about making a purchase and only followed through because other customers' glowing reviews gave you the confidence to do so. Or, maybe you were never on the fence at all, because you knew exactly what you wanted to buy because you heard great things about it from someone you know.

The fact of the matter is, what other people say about your business carries more weight than what you say about your business, even if they are complete strangers. Do you know that 84% of people trust online reviews as much as personal communication? Using emails to ask for reviews is a solid approach for your business.

One of the main points to consider with your review request workflow is when the initial email should go out. Most marketers wait after 7 days; however, this heavily depends on your products. For example, a company selling hard goods (i.e., washing machines, refrigerators, computers) should wait 14-21 days before sending their review request, because with products like these, the customer is expecting to use them for a long time. They want to make sure it works as expected, and they need time to confirm that.

On the other hand, companies selling soft products (i.e., apparel, cosmetics, personal care items), perishable goods (i.e., food and beverage items, flowers, plants), or seasonal products (i.e., decor items) may need less time to send review request emails. In general, they should wait 7-14 days before asking for reviews.

So, the point here is considering your product before sending review request emails.

Create a review request workflow

It is quite simple to build a review request workflow with AVADA.

Step 1. Select workflow event

In your AVADA account, head to the Automation section, then choose New workflow.



You will see the section to choose your event. Click the Buying Transaction box. Here, you are able to choose a blank template (where you can generate your own creative workflow) or simply go with a ready-made template.



It will show the preview of the selected workflow. Click Next to continue.

Step 2. Edit your workflow

You can drag and drop items from the left side to the flow.

Please read detailed guides for the following components:

- Edit email

- SMS

- Wait Time/ Certain Time

- Yes/No Splits

- Multiple Splits

- A/B testing

- Exit

Click on the item and condition you want to edit and customize it in the respective right tab of each item.



In this workflow, you should pay attention to 3 following factors:

Workflow trigger and filters

Your product review trigger can be either Placed Order or Fulfilled Order. Since the Fulfilled Order event tracks when an item was shipped, it can give you a more accurate idea of when a customer actually received their product. Keep in mind that you will want to make sure that the customer has had an opportunity to use their new product before sending them a review request email. AVADA's review request workflow uses Placed Order as the trigger metric, but you can completely adjust it in the When to Send section. For instance,



You may also want to target your emails based on the particular item a customer bought. For instance, you might want to have a different product review for items over $100. You can hone this audience by adding additional filters to the workflow trigger.



Other audiences you may want to target include:

- VIP customers or customers who have purchased X number of products before. This can help you determine how engaged a customer is before sending them a review request email. By reaching out to a highly engaged subset of customers, you can increase the odds that someone will leave you a positive review.

- First-time customers. It is a good practice to split your review workflow based on whether or not someone has bought from you in the past. This way, you can change messaging depending on whether it is their first purchase or subsequent purchase and use language that is more relevant to those separate groups. You can create these different paths using a multiple split.

For more information, please head to our article on Understanding Flow Triggers and Filters.

Timing

As mentioned above, the timing depends heavily on your specific product. You will want to make sure a customer has actually received their purchase before sending them a review request workflow. If you know how long your shipping process usually takes, you can use this to inform the timing of your emails.

You will also want to give your customers a chance to use their purchase before sending your review request workflow since they will have a more informed option once they actually use your product.

We recommend sending your review request workflow 7 days (one week) after an order was placed/ fulfilled. The product will still be fresh in the customer's mind, while you've given their email inbox a little breathing room. Keep in mind that you can edit the wait time easily, just by clicking the Wait Time element.



Content



When you click this element, you can adjust the email content by editing ready-made content or using template. If you choose to edit, you will see available content for your review request email, which ensures that each customer receives a unique email based on the product they purchased.



Click each element to edit your email in the right panel. You can use every element in the left panel to customize your review request email. Read How to Edit an Email in Automation Workflow? for more information.

In this workflow, we include an image and information of the product, including the product name, quantity, and price. Please note that when customers click the product block (the product they purchased) in the email, they will be directed to the product page, where they can leave their reviews.

Step 3. Get ready!

- Enter the workflow name, add a description, or tag for the workflow

- Click Launch button

- You can Go live immediately or Keep as draft to finish

Updated on: 06/09/2021