How Important Are Product Reviews?

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.

The number of online shoppers who trust reviews is increasing. According to Vendasta, 88% of online shoppers incorporate product reviews into their purchase decision process and they trust those reviews as much as a personal recommendation. Given the fact that reviews are written by complete strangers, the fact that most people trust product reviews is huge. Not having product reviews on your website or not incorporating them as a major part of your business strategy means that you’re ignoring 88% of the population who look for that information to help make a purchase decision.

But how do reviews help increase sales and increase 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 products you’ll sell. More sales creates more revenue.

Product reviews are tremendously important. They are essential to a majority of online shoppers and are only becoming more important. As this importance increases, companies will be doing more to encourage customers to submit ratings and reviews. Without including reviews as a core part of your eCommerce strategy, you’ll be left behind.