February 8th Newsletter

The Conversation

Reviews Should Be Priority

It's human nature to dismiss something if others have not experienced it yet. Reviews are as old as time and double down on importance when building a business with no supporters yet. If you do not have public or private reviews, it's the best place to start.

As mentioned before, people buy what others can verify to be good. Many of you may be thinking, “What if someone leaves a bad review? Will it break my business?” The answer is absolutely not! Do not be afraid to earn good and bad reviews. If you have great reviews, it serves well as a reference for others who may be teetering on a decision to spend money with you. The bad reviews are great too. It can show you where you need to improve. It also makes for a great excuse to do an upgraded version of the product.

Other businesses may use reviews in their marketing, but in my opinion, it is not necessary. Placing the reviews higher up on the product page can assist in the buying process. The goal is to give them an unbiased platform so they can make an educated decision if they are stuck on whether to buy or not. Never manipulate reviews with purchasing reviewers or quid pro quo influencers to leave higher reviews.

When it comes to reviews, be ethical. Do not feel the need to delete bad reviews. You can use bad reviews to get back in front of your potential buyers with plans to revise the product based on honest feedback. Addressing negative reviews will also attract curious potential buyers who may not have been aware of your product. Bad reviews can lead to more opportunities to introduce your business under the guise of constantly revising your product.

You can encourage more people to leave a review if you are trying to receive your first 10 or 20 reviews. This is where giving deep discounts can apply well. Incentivizing people to purchase with lower prices and leaving an honest review is the easiest way to get reviews. When I first started on Fiverr, I offered a consultation for $5/ hour for 3 to 4 months. This was not due to a lack of confidence or expertise. It was a strategic plan to build up reviews so others across the platform would choose me to work with. It was how I was able to make $10k in my 9 months on the platform. Understand the deepest discounts you can give while still making the profit you need to gain reviews. Your first year is proving your brand concept. Earning reviews will have others speaking on behalf of the product and will influence others to purchase or keep your business top of mind.

Did you notice my mistake?

If you are an active subscriber on my email list you have probably seen the embarrassing mistake I made as a marketer and public relations professional.

As I was in a hurry to get the newsletter out to all of you I did not test the email before making it public. The result? An email without working links.

As I am committed to testing my new newsletter sending platform— behiive— the learning curve is still there.

Take my rookie mistake and save it for a later date when you are writing your own emails. ALWAYS SEND A TEST EMAIL TO YOURSELF no matter how much of a deadline you are giving yourself. This can lead to a potential loss in interested traffic and sales.

That being said, you can review the last newsletter to find nuggets of information you may need one day.