🎓 How incentives boost reviews

Incentives (e.g. gifts, discounts) make reviewing more fun and increase review positivity by up to 83.4% through the transfer of positive emotions.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 February 20, 2024 | [Read Online]( How incentives boost reviews Incentives (e.g. gifts, discounts) make reviewing more fun and increase review positivity by up to 83.4% through the transfer of positive emotions. [Thomas McKinlay]( [fb]( [tw]( [in]( [email](mailto:?subject=Post%20from%20Ariyh&body=How%20incentives%20boost%20reviews%3A%20Incentives%20%28e.g.%20gifts%2C%20discounts%29%20make%20reviewing%20more%20fun%20and%20increase%20review%20positivity%20by%20up%20to%2083.4%25%20through%20the%20transfer%20of%20positive%20emotions.%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Ftips.ariyh.com%2Fp%2Fhow-incentives-boost-reviews) New to [Ariyh](? This is a 3min practical summary of a scientific study 🎓 Join 26,168 marketers who use science, not flawed opinions 📈 [Subscribe here]( Today’s insight is brought to you by… [Modash]( Everyone tells you that long-term influencer partnerships are great, but nobody ever talks about how to do them. How do brands run trial periods, before committing to long-term partnerships? What happens if performance starts to dip a few months in? Ryan Prior from Modash [interviewed 10 expert influencer marketing managers]([Â](to learn how they handle long-term partnerships. Here’s what they do 👇 [Read how they do it]( 📈 Ariyh Pro - Limited time launch offer I’ve designed Ariyh Pro specifically for marketers and founders who use the latest science to drive better marketing results. If you’ve ever applied an Ariyh insight (and 57% of you already have), you will love it. Today you have 3 days left (until Thursday 22nd, included) to take part in the [launch offer]( of 50% off your first year: $49.95. I’ve chosen this price so all of you can try it (there’s also a money-back guarantee). You will never get such a deal like this again. [Get Ariyh Pro for 50% off]( As a reminder, here’s what you get with it: - Access hundreds of Ariyh insights (and growing) - Q&As with science-based answers to marketing problems - Discounts, new learnings, and special events Would love to have you. Now back to today’s insight. 📝 Intro You’ve launched a new product and need to collect positive reviews. To achieve this, you can either: - Hope new clients will post reviews on their own. - Offer clients incentives that motivate them to leave you a review. The latter option is quicker and more likely to yield positive results. But there are some nuances you need to be careful of before you offer $10 gift cards to every customer. Here’s what you need to know. P.S.: An easy way to increase reviews (and your average rating) is to make sure you[Â]([reply to al]([l reviews you receive](. Previous insight: [University-created products are more appealing]( (more insights [here]() Offer incentives to boost the number and positivity of reviews you receive Channels: Reviews For: B2C. Can be tested for B2B Research date: March 2021 📈 Recommendation Give customers incentives to leave a review for your product. For example, give them a discount on future purchases, or enter them in a sweepstake. You don’t need to ask specifically for positive reviews (which can be unethical), simply incentivize the act of giving a review. Try to identify your most satisfied and loyal customers (e.g. repeat buyers) to give these incentives to. You will get more reviews, and they will be more likely to be positive. 🎓 Findings - People who receive an incentive (e.g. a small gift) are more likely to leave a review and that review is more likely to be positive. - Across 8 experiments with 4,057 people, researchers found that: - Home improvement store product reviews were 83.4% more positive when incentivized via sweepstakes entries. - Even a modest $0.25 incentive paid immediately for rating and reviewing a video proved effective, leading to a 20.6% increase in positivity - Non-financial incentives (a sweepstake for Apple AirPods) combined with financial incentives (a sweepstake for a $200 gift card) boosted positive reviews by 50% for video streaming services - This effect disappears if the incentive is from a disliked or unethical company. 🧠Why it works - Getting an incentive to write a review makes the process more enjoyable for us (except for a minority who already love writing reviews). - Achieving a goal (e.g.losing weight) can make related activities (e.g. running) [more enjoyable]( due to the positive emotions associated with the goal. - Pairing unexciting activities (writing a review) with positive elements (an incentive) makes us more interested and [positive]( about doing these activities. 🧑‍🎓 8-week [Marketing Mini-MBA]( with NYU’s Scott Galloway Learn to lead a marketing practice in 2024 with [Section’s 8-week Marketing Mini-MBA]( (May 6 - June 28), taught by experts like NYU marketing prof Scott Galloway. You’ll master the full marketing mix, from brand and growth to retention and analytics. Sign up today and get 20% off with early bird pricing. Spots will go fast. [Enroll now]( This announcement was sponsored. Want your brand here? [Click here](. ✋ Limitations - When incentivizing to write a review, this research did not explicitly ask people to leave a good review (e.g. “Leave a 5-star review to get 10% off”), they just asked buyers to leave a review. It’s unclear whether explicitly asking for a positive review, rather than just a review, would improve review ratings or would come across as unethical and backfire. - In the experiments, all participants had to write a review - some got incentives while others didn’t. In reality, people have a choice about whether to leave a review or not. - It’s unclear how review readers would react if they knew which reviews are ‘incentivized’ (e.g. by adding a tag). It could demotivate those who write without incentives and distract readers from ‘natural’ reviews, but this was not tested. 🏢 Companies using this - Roughly 50% of Americans have at least once been offered some type of incentive in exchange for writing a review. - Most companies offer no incentives and simply thank buyers for leaving a review. - Some companies, such as Adidas, Bath & Body Works, and Walmart, occasionally offer financial incentives to leave a review. Non-financial incentives are rarer. - Amazon does not currently allow you to incentivize reviews - although in the past it had an incentivized “Early Reviewer Program” for new products. Asking specifically for positive reviews is strictly not allowed. Social media management platform Publer offers customers discounts for posting a review ⚡ Steps to implement - Segment your customer base into your most loyal customers and repeat buyers. Those are the people you want to incentivize to write reviews. - If possible, don't offer incentives to those who might not like your product or have a negative image of your brand. As it won't make their reviews more positive. - If you’re unable to segment your customers, then it’s best to incentivize everyone to leave you a review. - Make it clear that there's a connection between leaving a review and your offered reward by either explicitly pointing it out or giving incentives right when people are writing reviews. - If possible, show incentivized reviews first because they tend to be more positive. - Avoid showing negative reviews amongst your most visible reviews as this can make people [42% less likely to buy](. 🔍 Study type Lab and online experiments, and a field experiment (on 7,085 reviews of home improvement products, with a chance to win $300 for leaving a review) 📖 Research [Incentives Increase Relative Positivity of Review Content and Enjoyment of Review Writing](. Journal of Marketing Research (March 2021) 🏫 Researchers - [Kaitlin Woolley](. SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University - [Marissa A. Sharif](. The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania Remember: This is a scientific discovery. In the future, it will probably be better understood and could even be proven wrong (that’s [how science works](). It may also not be generalizable to your situation. If it’s a risky change, always test it on a small scale before rolling it out widely. Rate today’s insight to help me make Ariyh's next insights 🎓 even more useful 📈 How was today’s insight? 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