How Giglio went from local retailer to international brand in the era of social proof

In an increasingly global and digital market — where attention to detail and customer care often give way to the numbers and revenue of a company — combining innovation with tradition is a challenge that many mature brands are facing.

But Giglio, the longstanding Italian fashion brand named after the family that owns it to this day, has been balancing innovation with tradition since 2007, when they first expanded their brick and mortar retail presence into a modern eCommerce empire.

We had the opportunity to catch up with our friends at Giglio to get an update on the many ways Trustpilot reviews have not only brought them closer to their customers, but helped transform their business from a local retailer to an international success.

__Check out their latest successes in our new video, and don’t miss their full story below. __

Giglio realized that a stellar online presence can be a key to success in the eCommerce space, where it’s not as easy to build up a personal relationship with customers.

With the goals of opening a dialogue with their customer base and better communicating with a worldwide audience, Giglio decided to partner with Trustpilot in 2017.

Ever since, they’ve used the Trustpilot platform to monitor their customer satisfaction, maximize their eCommerce conversions, and grow their bottom line.

We really appreciated the fact that Trustpilot is a world leading online reviews platform translated and localized in all languages, as it is fundamental for a company like ours that wants to reach out to all its customers around the globe

How Giglio uses Trustpilot’s features and integrations

Driven by their automatic review collection strategy, Giglio empowers their customers to communicate insights, questions, and concerns directly to the team through reviews. This provides the business with valuable customer feedback they can show and use in their marketing emails and SERP ads.

Adding this kind of social proof to their marketing materials has also boosted their performance in key metrics.

After adding review content to their website and showcasing their Trustpilot star rating in Google Ads campaigns, Giglio saw an incredible 20% click-through rate increase in adverts displaying Trustpilot stars.

But their use of Trustpilot doesn’t stop there at the very top of the funnel — Giglio has also made the most of TrustBox widgets on their website to build trust, which is known to boost eCommerce conversions.

We perform A/B tests for all levels of the purchase funnel, and the results show that the ones containing Trustpilot elements achieve the best results in terms of conversion rate.

Thanks to this simple integration, and according to A/B test results on their checkout page, Giglio increased their conversion rate by 7% with their TrustBox.

Another key widget in Giglio’s marketing strategy has been the TrustBox Newsletter, which Giglio implemented throughout their email communication in hopes of increasing the trustworthiness of their company communications.

In this case, the A/B test results also show that click-through rate increased by almost 10%, which is especially significant considering the many kinds of emails Giglio sends to their potential customers.

Thanks to this powerful tool, Giglio showcases their star rating in email marketing campaigns and transactional emails, allowing them to benefit from social proof across channels, and at different stages of the eCommerce customer journey.

It’s an opportunity for us to show the high quality of our services. At the same time it provides us with a daily challenge to constantly improve our performance, especially in the areas where we struggle. In that sense nothing is more valuable than a review - even a bad one - from the people who have decided to place trust in your company.

On top of the steady stream of customer reviews, constant and customized support are among the Trustpilot features that Giglio appreciates the most. But of all their favorite features, the plug and play Trustpilot API is definitely at the top of the list.

Thanks to this option, Giglio’s Customer Relationship Management system — which is managed and constantly updated by their developers — can easily be hooked up to connect with Trustpilot’s platform in real time.

This allows Giglio to stay connected with both systems on a daily basis while collecting valuable information from reviews. And perhaps most importantly, it offers the Customer Service and Social Media teams a real time window into customer sentiment.

Our way of using the API is easy yet smart: everyday we read all the incoming reviews we received within the last 24 hours and import them in our own CRM. This links them to the incoming orders and, thus, to our customer. Because of this step our Customer Care division can much better understand the level of satisfaction of our clients when it comes to repeated purchases.

Powering the family tradition of personal customer service with reviews

That said, the power of reviews and savvy systems integrations can only go so far if those insights aren’t communicated widely to the right departments at the right time.

Because of the way Giglio shares customer reviews across departments, and the ongoing support of Trustpilot’s Customer Success Managers, customer reviews not only helps the company grow, but also highlight which aspects of their business can be improved, and what the biggest challenges are for their customers.

Trustpilot reviews even allow Giuseppe Giglio, the CEO of the business, to maintain the personal and family-owned feel they established back in their brick and mortar days by interacting directly with customers and replying to feedback left in reviews.

“I inherited the culture of the family business from my family,” he says. “We are on the front line. When a client is unhappy with our service, I answer personally to understand what went wrong, to apologize, and to understand what actions we can take to set things right and correct our mistake.”

From a small shop to a publicly traded company, the story of Giglio’s family has roots that run deep in their past and traditions, but that hasn’t stopped them from future-proofing their business with the help of a trusted third-party review partner like Trustpilot.

When mature brands move to the online space, it’s not enough to simply be present. Now it’s essential to interact with customers and demonstrate that you hear their feedback.

With Giglio’s ongoing efforts to meet their customers exactly where they are, we have no doubt that they’ll continue to succeed in the eCommerce space — and be at the frontlines of whatever shopping innovation comes next.

*Special thanks to Marta Zugliano and Stefano Cruciata for the original version of this article.