In today’s online market, product reviews can make or break an ecommerce business. Consumers rely heavily on product reviews in the decision-making process when making an online purchase and trust what fellow consumers say regarding a relatively unfamiliar product.
Product reviews are beneficial for consumers shopping online, and if used correctly and appropriately, can also be a powerful, insightful tool for businesses.
Product reviews allow ecommerce businesses to:
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See firsthand feedback from consumers on products.
Depending on consumer feedback, businesses can make relevant adjustments to products or marketing strategies and learn or gain insight from the consumer perspective regarding the product value.
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Fosters customer loyalty, trust, and brand credibility.
Product reviews can either encourage or discourage consumers from purchasing. By having enough customers positively review your products, consumers are more likely to buy because they’ve seen social proof of the value of your product.
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Improve SEO ranking.
When consumers review your products, it can positively impact your Search Engine placement in local listings by encouraging users to click through your site as well as improve.
Overall, having a strong review system that verifies purchasers while presenting a healthy mix of positive and constructive reviews is great for intentional buyers because they know what they’re looking for. However, if a consumer stumbled across a site or if they are simply browsing, a lack of visual reinforcement of excellent customer experience could have a user disengage quickly.
An 18% sales uplift or more is possible solely off of product reviews. As a result, we have put together a few strategies to follow to get more product reviews on your ecommerce website.
3 Ways to Get More Product Reviews:
1. Feature testimonials across your ecommerce website and make it easy for customers to leave a review.
For skeptical consumers, seeing positive customer experiences as soon as they arrive on your site can convince them that your products are a worthwhile purchase. Consumers are more likely to trust a recommendation from a peer than they are to trust a marketing push to buy. Featuring customer reviews on your website gives consumers confidence that you care and are intentional about a positive customer experience.
By providing returning customers with an opportunity to review your products, they are more likely to leave a review. Dollar Shave Club is an excellent example of this. Displaying the number of other customers that have already left a review can encourage others to do the same.
The customer can take a variety of paths on their journey through your website. Here's a few effective places to showcase customer testimonials:
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A testimonials section on the Home Page or in the Hero Section of your website:
At first opportunity, website visitors can see the benefits in buying your products and this can help reduce any suspicions they have about your services.
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Right under the product or service on the individual product page:
When website visitors browse your products, they are likely to click on items they are interested in but may not be convinced to purchase. Customers are looking for quick info that will help them determine if this product is a fit for them. Testimonials, along with strong product descriptions, excellent product images that show your product in action can nudge them to make the purchase.
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Create a dedicated testimonials page:
Some website visitors are more interested in what people have to say about your product. In this scenario, having a dedicated testimonials page reduces browsing time and helps the user find what they need.
Providing customers with the opportunity to enter information based on their purchase can give strong insight to users looking for similar products and help them determine if it fits their needs. For example, some users may only want to see reviews for products that were purchased in their size, if the product met other customers' expectations, etc.
Bonus Tip: In addition to product reviews on your website, encouraging customers to use third-party review systems is a great way to boost shopper confidence in consumers. Third-party review systems are independent of your business, meaning reviews you receive on third-party review websites are 100% legit. This is also a good way to boost your organic SEO and backlinks to your website.
2. Implement quick user experience opportunities soon after purchase.
Right after purchase is the perfect opportunity to remind your customers to leave a review or a rating. For returning customers, this is a great design strategy to remind them to rate your products.
There are a few plugins that can help you accomplish this review experience. This can be accomplished on WordPress, Shopify, and BigCommerce by searching the app or plugin marketplace.
- Starfish - WordPress
- Product Reviews - Shopify
- Yotpo Product Reviews - BigCommerce
These quick opportunities for users to leave a rating or review, keeps providing feedback at the forefront of the users mind. Whether through a thank you page, order confirmation page, or a confirmation email, users have multiple ways to provide feedback.
3. Consider offering incentives to a retargeted list of users who have previously been on your site.
If visitors are on your site for a second time, this implies there is a product bringing them back to the site and piquing their interest. An incentive of a gift card or a discount at purchase in exchange for a review is likely to give consumers the push they need to complete a purchase.
Clutch.co found that, “of shoppers who don’t write reviews, about half (53%) indicated a specific reason, while the remainder of online shoppers (47%) simply do not frequently review products. These reasons reveal a lack of time and incentive as pain points that e-commerce websites can address to improve their process for collecting reviews.”
Final Thoughts
The key to convincing more customers to leave a review on your ecommerce website is to make it as easy as possible. Remember, you're asking them to take time out of their day to share their experience. Getting positive reviews can be even more challenging because unhappy customers are 2-3x more likely to leave a review than a happy customer. It's important that customers have a high quality shopping experience and are given seamless ways to leave feedback. In return, this increase the number of reviews on your ecommerce website.
