Whether you’re opening a local London shop or have dreams of taking your fashion brand worldwide, every business needs customers. This isn’t just about securing sales, either. Your customers can make or break your fashion brand, shaping your identity and influencing the opinion of your audience.
But what makes customer feedback so important? Find out more in our guide along with some bonus tips to help you create a constant stream of positive reviews.
See an Increase in Sales
Sales are the mark of a successful business. After all, your brand is only going to thrive as long as you’re converting browsers into buyers.
According to customer review experts Magic, generating more customer reviews for your small business can boost sales by an average of 226%. This makes it a key marketing method for those looking to open a fashion store, and one with a healthy return on investment (ROI).
If you’re on the hunt for a long-term strategy to help your fashion brand grow, focusing on customer feedback shouldn’t be overlooked.
Secure a Competitive Edge
Boosting sales is the overarching advantage of customer feedback, but there are a lot of benefits coming together to make this happen. One such benefit is a competitive edge.
Over three-quarters of online shoppers in the UK check reviews before making a purchase, using them to learn more about your reputation and the quality of your clothing. The more positive reviews you have, the likelier they are to shop with you.
This is just as important to brick-and-mortar fashion shops as it is to online businesses. In a location as competitive as London, potential customers searching for brands nearby are likely to look at existing customer feedback for a quick overview of where is best to spend their money.
Learn More About Your Audience
As a brand, customer insights are endlessly useful. They can help you to:
- Understand what trends your customers are enjoying
- Create new products based on feedback
- Learn what your audience would like to see in the future
For example, a customer might leave a comment saying that they love a certain bag you’ve released but would be happy to see it in a larger size or in more colours. If other customers agree, you’re given an insight into a profitable product innovation that’ll make your shoppers happy.
You can also learn what sort of service your customers prefer. Feedback could highlight that your team needs to be more hands-on with approaching customers in-store or that your customers enjoy the friendly, warm approach you’re already maintaining.
Encourage Online Engagement
Encouraging customer feedback fosters engagement within your community online. It gives you a chance to talk with your audience, cultivating a clear brand identity and showing that their opinion is valued.
Of course, to reap the benefits of engagement you need to not only encourage feedback but respond to it, too. This is where good review management comes in.
When you receive a new review, try to write a response quickly. If it’s positive feedback, you can simply say thank you and that you hope to see the customer again in your physical or online shop. Add a little brand personality, too, be it an enthusiastic agreement that they picked a great product or some emojis that are in line with your brand image.
Negative reviews need a little extra management. Let the customer know that you appreciate their feedback and always like to hear where you could improve.
If they’re dealing with a problem, provide them with contact details so that you can help them further. You can also detail steps you’ll take to change what they’re unhappy with, showing that you’re taking action to improve based on what they have to say.
Increase Your Visibility
Did you know that online reviews can actually increase your UK fashion brand’s visibility?
When it comes to search engine optimisation (SEO), building up a collection of positive reviews is a great way to show search engines – like Google – just how reputable and trustworthy your brand is. This gives them a strong signal that your fashion brand is going to be a good match for people searching for your products.
You’ll then see that search engines push your website higher up their results. Considering that over 25% of people focus on the first result, with a further 15% going for the second and 11% clicking on the third, this is vital to securing those all-important clicks.
Other Ways That Feedback Builds a Fashion Brand
We’ve covered some of the ways that feedback can drive success for your clothing line, but there are plenty more perks. To give you a better idea of just how important reviews are, here are some more reasons to focus on yours:
- Measure customer satisfaction
- Build a brand experience based on real demands
- Improve customer retention
- Show off your clothing brand’s best points to potential customers
- Build trust through your reputation
- Nurture brand loyalty
Tips to Boost Positive Customer Feedback
The importance of customer feedback for new and existing fashion brands is undeniably clear. Now, then, it’s time to start focusing on a strategy that’ll earn you more positive reviews.
Here are some expert tips to help you get started:
- Create a customer-focused experience both in-store and online
- Produce high-quality items based on customer demand
- Set up profiles on review platforms (like Google My Business)
- Add incentives to leave reviews (e.g. a 10% discount next time they shop with you)
- Train your customer service team to ask customers to leave reviews
- Use social media to shine a light on your review platform
- Explain that customer reviews give your audience a voice over the direction of future products
If you’re busy running your fashion brand and don’t have time to create a review-boosting strategy, don’t panic. There are plenty of review management tools out there that can make the task a whole lot easier.
From automatically asking for feedback on online orders to organising your reviews across platforms, these tools do the leg work so that you don’t have to, giving you more time to focus on the parts of growing your brand that you enjoy.
Final Words
When you’re looking to shape the future success of your fashion brand, don’t forget to include reviews in your marketing strategy. While they’re not the be-all and end-all of a flourishing business, they do go a long way to helping you stand out from the crowd.
For more London fashion news, be sure to join our community so that you always get the latest insights first.
