If you’ve ever made an online purchase, you’ve seen an online review. You may have checked out an aggregated star rating for a product or read an in-depth write up of someone’s experience with a product. A product review may take many shapes and forms, but it is a powerful factor in influencing a customer’s decision to buy from your brand. It has a direct impact on your bottom line.
If you’ve done a quick Google search for information on product reviews, you’ve probably found all the stats about how much people trust reviews written by their peers or how much reviews lift sales—but can a review make or break sale? Can it make the difference between hitting or missing sales goals? Yes.
Who reads product reviews?
The number of online shoppers who trust reviews is only increasing. According to Yelp, 93% of online shoppers incorporate product reviews into their purchase decision process. And nearly half of customers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation. Given the fact that reviews are written by complete strangers, the fact that most people read product reviews is significant. Not having product reviews on your website or not incorporating them as a major part of your eCommerce marketing strategy means that you’re ignoring 93% of the population who look for that information to help make a purchase decision.
How reviews impact your bottom line
So how do reviews help increase sales and grow revenue? There is a direct correlation between the number of reviews for a product and a website’s conversion rate. Having a blend of both “good” and “bad” reviews is important for the “good” ones to seem sincere. Bad reviews can actually help increase your conversion rate by bringing authenticity to your brand and giving you an opportunity for excellent customer service—turning a negative experience a positive one. The more reviews you have and the more honest they are, the more social proof you offer potential customers that gives them the confidence to buy.
Product reviews are no doubt important, and if you’re not employing them on your eCommerce site, you are wasting an opportunity to build credibility with customers and optimize your conversion rate.
Revere can help you harness the power of user-generated content to increase traffic, enhance SEO, improve conversions, increase AOV, and decrease returns. Request a demo today to learn more.
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