In fact, as ecommerce has grown, online reviews have been one of the key tools that build and retain consumer trust. According to Baymard Institute, 95% of use<\/a>rs rely on reviews to evaluate or learn more about products. In some cases, users grant more weight to product descriptions in reviews than the brand\u2019s native product description. User reviews are the most utilized part of the product page after images. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This means that reviews have become an expected element of the ecommerce shopping experience. As an ecommerce brand, it\u2019s now essential to include customer reviews as a central part of your strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In this definitive guide to online customer reviews, we will give you all the tools you need to get the most out of your online reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Social influence is powerful. The percent of people who trust online reviews in their buying decisions is greater than ever. In fact, 84% of shoppers<\/a> trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation from friends and family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s go over some reasons online reviews are important and how they influence conversions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve spoken to several ecommerce site managers who don\u2019t allow customers to submit reviews of products. They\u2019ve done this intentionally for many reasons: They fear receiving a negative review, they don\u2019t have enough resources to monitor the reviews, or they just don\u2019t know where to begin. The simple answer for them was to remove the ability for customer-generated reviews altogether. They eliminated the problem by ignoring it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, by doing this they also eliminated a valuable piece of the customer buying experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No matter your industry, having positive online reviews gives you several key advantages that all boost conversions. For example, Seriously Silly Socks (an online sock retailer) was able to drive 60% higher average order value due to reviews. \u201cWe encourage reviews by emailing customers after purchase and offering a discount coupon in return for a completed review,\u201d says owner Andrew Gill<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s probably our most important social tool. More important than channels like Facebook because we get more direct communication with customers and we get real feedback about our products and our service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The following is an example that we see frequently while evaluating customer online shopping journeys. As you can see, reviews are an important part of that journey to purchase. If you don\u2019t offer reviews, your customers can\u2019t complete their journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Obviously you want your site to be as visible as possible in organic search. Online reviews can actually help with that. When search engines like Google and Bing categorize your site, they place a value on original content, but product pages are traditionally hard to rank due to light content. <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to online review platform Yotpo<\/a>, reviews offer SEO benefits by providing a stream of fresh content, helping your rank for long-tail keywords, and boosting social SEO. This graph shows the change in organic rankings due to reviews. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trust is a critical component<\/a> of a customer\u2019s shopping experience. If they don’t trust your brand, they won’t take the plunge of making a purchase. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s a simple equation: Few people will buy from a business with less than 3\/5 stars. Most people prefer to shop at stores that have mostly 4\/5 stars. A slim group of people will only buy from stores with perfect scores. Therefore, better ratings mean more trust. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Online reviews give you a forum to communicate with your customers. You can respond to their praises and their complaints. This gives you a chance to rectify problems and show other customers that you care about their experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Better communication through reviews can create more reviews, as well. For example, MedQuest was able to significantly improve its ratings and review volume by responding faster to both negative and positive responses. Their review volume soared on Facebook by 163% and on Google by 23%<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the biggest benefit and the one you probably care about the most. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A study by the Harvard Business School learned that online reviews have a real effect on your bottom line. A one-star improvement leads to a 5% to 9% boost on sales<\/a> in the short term. Even a small improvement can have a massive impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a 2016 study, Revoo discovered that online reviews drive an average of 18% sales uplift<\/a> by affecting conversion rates, order sizes, and repeat orders. And a Berkeley study found that just a half-star improvement for a restaurant made it 30% to 49% more likely<\/a> to fill up during its busy hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, one report found that products with more than five reviews have a significantly higher conversion rate<\/a> than those with no reviews. \u201cAs products begin displaying reviews, conversion rates escalate rapidly,\u201d the report notes. \u201cThe purchase likelihood for a product with five reviews is 270% greater than the purchase likelihood of a product with no reviews.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, the report also found a relationship between conversion rate and price: As a product\u2019s price increases, so does the importance of reviews. \u201cWhen reviews were displayed for a lower-priced product, the conversion rate increased 19%. However, for a higher-priced product, the conversion rate increased 380%.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The pattern here is clear: If people see lots of positive online reviews, they are more likely to make a purchase, spend more money, and make future purchases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Customers expect<\/a> to see reviews at the product level, so every product page should have the functionality to leave and read comments. These typically sit lower on the page, beneath the product image, description, details, and add-to-cart button. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The following example captures many of the traditional elements of a customer review section. Your page layout may need to be tested to ensure that the placement of comments flows appropriately with your customer\u2019s unique journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Depending on your unique audience, it may be appropriate to add additional details to the reviewer\u2019s information to lend credibility to the review. This helps customers accept a reviewer is a real person and not a clever ploy by the retailer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These additional details may include using their real first names instead of usernames or nicknames. This can be done by connecting their review to their account on your site or by requiring customers to leave a review tied to a social media account. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Other additional reviewer details may include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The following review widget is a good example of this. It includes lots of detailed information about the reviewer, such as their username, profile picture, date of stay, trip type, and review date. It screams authenticity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a variety of customer review systems out there, each with different pros and cons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of the popular ecommerce platforms like Shopify, Woocommerce, Magento, and others offer built-in product review apps or allow for custom add-ons. So the technical barrier to enable reviews on these platforms is low. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Depending on your platform, you may need to implement a third-party review system. Here are some options:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We recommend using a review system that allows you to subscribe to their software as a service, rather than developing code to add to your site. This keeps all the work of maintaining code, upgrading features, and security\/privacy concerns in the vendor\u2019s court instead of yours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n These services manage the process of capturing, moderating, and displaying reviews and questions from customers. They also automatically send out review request emails to customers after they\u2019ve purchased a product from your site. This feature alone will significantly and organically boost reviews, which can be requested for your site or for specific products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For custom or proprietary ecommerce systems, contact your web design and development teams to discuss your options. If you need help, we\u2019d be happy to recommend our favorites that we have seen work best to increase engagement and online sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOkay, okay,\u201d you\u2019re probably thinking. \u201cI get that reviews are important. So how do I get them?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019ve enabled customers to leave reviews, the reviews will start pouring in, right? Wrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Studies show that only about 5% of customers write reviews<\/a>. Many times, customers will only leave reviews if they had an exceptionally positive or exceptionally negative experience. Getting good, relevant feedback doesn\u2019t have to just be the exceptional extremes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So how do you get more of your customers to leave reviews on your site?<\/p>\n\n\n\n It seems pretty basic, but the most effective strategy to get online reviews is to simply ask for them. Post-purchase customer outreach can be an effective method to remind your customers that their feedback matters. Their feedback will help others decide to make a purchase as well as help your company to improve future product development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you ask a customer for a review?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Send an email to every customer requesting a review. The request should occur after the customer has had a reasonable amount of time to receive the product and provide an informed opinion. You don\u2019t have to be long-winded here. Keep things short and simple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Provide suggested topics for the reviewer to write about in their review. Use positive action words to encourage highlighting the strengths of the product. E.g. \u201cDescribe your increased productivity after buying this product.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That said, do not<\/em> instruct them on what to write. If you give your customers explicit copy for them to post, they will either a) ignore you, b) write something different just to spite you, or c) mention your instructions in the review itself, which would obliterate the trust and authenticity you\u2019re trying to build with online reviews in the first place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Whenever possible (and not prohibited by law), providing a small discount on a future purchase in exchange for a review can be an effective way to incentivize the customer into action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Make the path for the customer to complete their task as simple as possible. In this case, provide them with a link to a page that has already been set up with a list of their recent purchases and open text fields to complete the reviews. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If allowed, embed a single sign-on action into the link or any other method that allows an automatic login to their account. Make the amount of effort for your customers as low as possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s no perfect template for this email but here is an example that ties all of these elements together:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do the steps above seem daunting to you? Are you tempted to bypass the effort by creating a set of fake users to leave fake reviews that make the products more appealing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our answer to you is simple: Do not post fake reviews. Savvy customers are able to sniff out the obvious fraudulent reviews quite easily. In this way, disingenuous companies that use fake reviews are often exposed. News organizations have published reports of companies who use fake reviews and even provide lists of how to spot a fake review. Simply put, the risk is not worth the reward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that you have reviews up and running, it\u2019s important to ensure that you have customer service staff monitoring the reviews and responding as needed. Many of the ecommerce platform apps have automatic notifications sent to your staff when a new comment arrives so they can be prompted to reply. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Almost certainly at some point, a negative review will appear on your site. Don\u2019t panic! <\/p>\n\n\n\n First, it’s important to understand that negative reviews aren’t the end of the world. It would be great if all of your customers had only positive things to say, but that’s not reasonable. The occasional one-star review won’t be the end of your business. In fact, a few poor reviews can actually be beneficial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You see, the customers want to trust the brands they buy from. Research from Edelman<\/a> found that 81% of consumers want to trust a brand prior to making a purchase, and 70% indicate trusting a brand is more important now than ever before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In order to earn their trust, you have to be transparent. And that means displaying all types of feedback, even the kind of feedback that isn’t so flattering. When a shopper sees negative feedback, they see you as an honest brand that isn\u2019t trying to hide anything. In turn, this makes them more trusting of the other reviews and your own words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s good in theory, but does it really <\/em>produce more sales? Actually, yes! A Northwestern University study<\/a> found that shoppers are more likely to purchase a product when there are some negative reviews present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact, researchers learned that there\u2019s no benefit in chasing a five-star review. Purchase probability peaks between 4.2 and 4.5 stars (with some variation based on product categories). If the average rating exceeds 4.5, the likelihood of purchase actually drops<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s what the purchase probability for salon hair care products looks like. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What causes this? Basically, consumers don\u2019t trust products that have perfect scores. They assume a perfect five-star rating and miles of only-positive reviews mean something fishy is going on. They become skeptical and distrustful. They may even jump to the conclusion that you are deliberately filtering out the bad reviews to trick them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Furthermore, research shows<\/a> that 85% of customers seek out<\/em> negative reviews to help them make informed decisions. A third of shoppers say that a negative perspective is either an \u201cimportant\u201d or \u201cvery important\u201d decision-making factor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How do negative online reviews influence their decisions?<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhy Your Ecommerce Site Needs Online Reviews: They Boost Conversions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Online reviews are part of the customer journey<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"example](\"https:\/\/thegood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-244.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n2. Reviews make your site more visible<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"yotopo](\"https:\/\/thegood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-245-1024x682.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n3. Online reviews build trust with shoppers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"bright](\"https:\/\/thegood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-246.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n4. Online reviews help you communicate with customers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"MedQuest](\"https:\/\/thegood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-247-1024x304.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n5. Online reviews have an undeniable impact on sales<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"online](\"https:\/\/thegood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-248.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nWhere to Set Up Online Reviews on Your Ecommerce Site<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"example](\"https:\/\/thegood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-249.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"example](\"https:\/\/thegood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-250-1024x796.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"trip](\"https:\/\/thegood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-251.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nEcommerce Online Review Platforms<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How to Get Online Reviews From Your Ecommerce Customers<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Time the request appropriately<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"sweetwater](\"https:\/\/thegood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-252.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nSeed the review with suggestions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Offer incentives (if possible)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"outdoorsy](\"https:\/\/lh6.googleusercontent.com\/aih3JIl9dLqxZOH7j2qdhWtFkuFBRxDjy_n4RXtU1XUUaPOnVS0KBGB7zEBhFmD60mZ9q3VuwbANByY9VEJfBgS0YfryLxgLz0_qCYXg94LSKT_e4Ty6u2y3KkBJCXuUNWkzZGSl\")
Provide a link to a customized landing page<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"calendly](\"https:\/\/thegood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-253-1024x956.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nDon\u2019t post your own fake reviews<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How to Address Negative Online Reviews<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Edelman](\"https:\/\/thegood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-254-1024x573.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"example](\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/4vr7FXKWSOlWIJhKP5JR9kwga-HRdXiHeGI7j57RsNxP6pscjQtL2m-l44XQeXkfp6K2DS4BMY40t10xcbtpxgs6sn_Ns2BDXHx4TnPukQwnlBw0ZDGUQ7sgj5AUIDEW-HI8H-VM\")
![\"bad](\"https:\/\/thegood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-255-1024x684.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"guide](\"https:\/\/thegood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/image-256-1024x408.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n