Product reviews are arguably the most useful way to address buyer concerns about a product. A majority of people are influenced by product reviews when making a purchase. Whether you are a popular brand or just starting out, product reviews play a crucial role in your ecommerce business in terms of credibility. Credibility is one of the key elements that will determine the success of your brand in the long run. Retailers often overlook the importance of product reviews. The focus is still on the look and feel and website optimisation of the checkout page but nothing really matters if you don’t get good reviews for your products. The importance of product reviews can be seen in the fact that 90% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase and 88% of consumers are prompted to take action after reading positive reviews.
What is a product review?
Product reviews are customers’ opinions or feedback about a particular product. Many online businesses have set up a review section on their website so that customers can rate and review the product they have bought. A product review helps other users get a clear picture of the product before they buy it. They can read the reviews and clarify their opinion and decide whether the product is worth buying or not. If you have not added a product review section to your e-commerce website just because you fear negative reviews, you will lose a large number of potential customers.
Importance of product reviews
In this article, I have mentioned 6 reasons why product reviews are important for your e-commerce business. Let’s take a look.
- product reviews build trust
When a user lands on your website with the intention of making a purchase, the first thing they look for is reviews. A product with good reviews can certainly help the prospective buyer make a purchase decision. They would probably trust both your products and your brand. Amazon displays average ratings for products based on customer feedback at the top of the product page, and at the bottom are customer reviews. When a prospect visits the product page, they are immediately shown the product reviews along with the number of people who have reviewed that product.
Related: 8 ways to build customer trust and loyalty
- product reviews give better insights into the product
Hearing about previous buying experiences helps prospects know whether the product used to meet the customer’s expectations or not. I mean, brands will naturally try to highlight every feature of the product in the best possible way, but it is the customers who give honest feedback about the product. When a customer leaves a review for the product, it helps others understand what to expect from the product, how it works, what its shortcomings are, what its benefits are and more. - With product reviews you can fix the problems with the product.
If the majority of the customers point out the same problem with the product, it is up to you to fix the defect so that the problem is solved. Yes, there is a possibility of a damaged or defective item reaching the customer, but this only happens to a few customers. If the problem is serious, you need to investigate and fix it as soon as possible. Simply put, customer reviews help you find the loopholes in the product and give you the opportunity to improvise in these areas. - product reviews work as social proof
One of the biggest benefits of product reviews is that they can do wonders for your brand. You’ve often seen brands highlight what their customers have to say about their products or services. This is what we call testimonials and they have a significant impact on a potential customer’s purchase.
Display testimonials across your social media pages and on the front page of your website. This is one of the best ways to promote your brand, which can attract a large number of potential customers to your website and also leave an excellent impression when a visitor lands on your website.
- product reviews increase conversions
If you meet the expectations of your customers, product reviews will play a big role in your conversions. People would openly do the marketing for you by leaving positive reviews. And even a single positive review can lead to an increase in conversion rate. Yes, there will be a few negative reviews too, but until the time they have a low number, you don’t have to worry. Not every customer can be satisfied. If the product has the quality and people have made positive comments about it, more and more people will be encouraged to buy that product. - product reviews reduce the possibility of returns.
If you don’t display product reviews, how do online shoppers decide on product quality? They would not be confident enough to make a purchase. Moreover, they will have doubts about the product quality. Let’s understand it this way. You have a product, but you don’t give customer reviews. Now users can only hope that the product does not turn out to be defective or inferior. It is quite possible that they will receive an original product, but if they don’t, they have no choice but to make a return request. Now let’s find out how this could have been sorted with product reviews. A product with good ratings and reviews would probably suffer fewer returns simply because most customers are happy with it, while on the other hand, if negative reviews dominate the positive reviews, it simply means that most people have faced some kind of problem with it. And hence, people would not go for the purchase in the first place.
Conclusion
The customer is the king. They are the ones who can either take your business to new heights or bring it down drastically. Their feedback is very important as only their experience decides how good your product is. And there is no shame in having negative reviews. It’s people’s honest opinions that give you a reality check. And it also shows that you welcome anything a user has to say with open arms. Since there is no technology yet that allows users to review a product online, the importance of product reviews becomes paramount. Make reviews more fun Check out the Reminders and Incentives module.
