Approaching customers about feedback?

[Former_Member]

I personally love to hear feedback from my customers. I encourage it in my thank you email and my shipping receipt. However, when I contact them again, I never ask them to leave any official feedback.

They will tell me how happy they are with the item, share pictures, and assure me they will return again. This in itself makes me happy. It gives me courage to continue working on my shop and items even if it seems so complicated to make sales.

(I've been trying to improve my titles and SEO slowly through all of my items but it still seems I can't figure out what to do in terms of generating more sales. Any advice would be very much appreciated by the way!)

I'm starting to wonder if I should be more direct about asking for feedback when I email them about their experience. I just personally hate making it seem like I'm pressuring them. I don't want them to feel forced by my constant repetition of the word "feedback."

I'd love to hear how you guys go about asking for feedback, how much do you think it plays on increasing sales, and what other tips do you have.

Thank you for sharing in advance! :)

[Former_Member]

If you receive feedback by email from your shoppers, write back and say something like "Thank you. I love your feedback! I would be so happy if you could post an official Review with these words."

Chances are so great that newer Etsy shoppers do not even know that there is a way to post an official review. Access to Reviews is somewhat hidden. I would not be shy about asking in a way that is as tactful as you can make it.

[Former_Member]

Adding on to what Mary suggested, try including the exact link too. Also, I believe Etsy will only allow people to leave reviews after two weeks (that was the last time I checked), so let them know about that too.

This is the link: https://www.etsy.com/your/purchases?ref=si_purchases

[weekendjewelry1]

I'm not sure about the encouraging feedback thing, but I was wondering aloud and my DH came up with a super cute idea for getting traffic: a blog named "Felina Fashionistas". One out of every 5 posts or so, feature your feline fashions - and 4 out of 5, just find cute cat pix! People would love it :-)

[2ChicksAndABasket]

Hi there! Your shop is really cute. I agree with Mary. If they e-mail you about the experience, it couldn't hurt to nudge them to leave feedback. :)

We have started doing a monthly drawing to encourage our customers to leave feedback. I send out an e-mail to everyone that placed an order that month and let them know that if they leave feedback by a certain date, they will be entered in our random drawing to win a free sign of their choice.

You don't necessarily have to give away a free item but you could recycle that concept... Just a thought. :)

[Former_Member]

2 Chicks & A Basket from 2ChicksAndABasket says

We have started doing a monthly drawing to encourage our customers to leave feedback. I send out an e-mail to everyone that placed an order that month and let them know that if they leave feedback by a certain date, they will be entered in our random drawing to win a free sign of their choice.

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Be careful what you ask for as you may not be happy with the results.

I'm so tired of being bombarded with requests for feedback from every site that I shop on (and its not just Etsy) that I'm really tempted to leave a feedback saying that the item was just what I was looking for but the continued requests for feedback really put me off from ordering again.

I average about 20 requests each week for feedback and they are getting just as tiresome as the recorded telephone sales calls.

[HopscotchCouture]

Ditto Crochet Gal. Be careful what you wish for. ;)

[MountainGoth]

I thought etsy was sending reminders out to customers for feedback already. I really hate the feedback emails.

[MiBellaBijoux]

I dislike the feedback emails reminding---the other day I got one and I happenned to be in a really bad mood…I knew it was the "mood" to be writing a review for anything..like I might accidently take it out in the review..but I realized so I left no review! LOL...

[Former_Member]

It is bad for your business to send email reminders after they have got their item for customers to leave feedback (no matter how nice your email is). It is their choice whether to leave it or not. You can put a message in their package or message box in Paypal when you do the shipping labels to kindly leave feedback....but after they receive it, do not email them personally to leave it. I have sold online including ebay for many many years and it is a fact that buyers highly dislike email reminders after they have received your item. You can actually lose customers from it.

[ItsVera]

I totally agree with Kathy's post, above this post.
I often get 'convo messages' from customers n wish they'd add their comment as a review. Alas, I'm just happy the customer likes the item from my shop.

[Former_Member]

The blog idea with a couple of featured designs each week really seems fun. I think I might actually integrate that once I start up my blog again. Thank you for the idea Jen! :)

I don't think I could do a drawing. It'd be more of an expense for me and the last thing I want to do is bombard my customers with emails about feedback a month after their purchase. At the same time, my sales aren't nearly high enough to do something like this. I'm lucky if I even get one sale per week, so there wouldn't be too many individuals to enter the contest. :(

It appear that there's a consensus about not asking for feedback as it might backfire. Thank you for your replies!