Importance of Embracing Reviews in E‑Commerce

Why are reviews important?

E-commerce store reviews are important because they can impact customer decision-making. For example, if a customer is unsure whether or not to purchase a product, they might read a few reviews to determine whether or not it’s worth their money. In addition, shoppers put a lot of effort into evaluating products online and offline. Someone in a brick-and-mortar store may try to find the perfect pair of jeans, spending their time looking for the right fit, cut, and style. Meanwhile, online shoppers will research different products by reading reviews and comparing them to others.

Ultimately, customers use reviews to learn about your business. While you can put anything in your product description, you can’t alter a customer review, and prospective shoppers know this. Therefore, consumers are more willing to trust the word of a stranger because they’re real humans. Now that you understand the importance of reviews in e-commerce, here are a few reasons you need customer reviews.

Boost Credibility

Online store reviews build trust with prospective customers who know nothing about your business and might be on the fence about purchasing your products. Reading reviews can help them determine whether your products are worth it based on facts and opinions from other people. Consumers are also willing to buy your products if you offer reviews because it allows them to learn more about different products and your business, including the quality of your customer service.

Additionally, collecting customer reviews can help you develop a loyal customer base because it makes them feel like you care about their opinions. Modern consumers are smart and don’t always take product descriptions at face value. Therefore, every online business needs product reviews for e-commerce to help them become more credible to new customers and the public.

Increase Sales

New consumers are more willing to purchase products if you have reviews, thus increasing your sales. Social proof in the form of online store reviews helps customers decide to buy your products because they’ll see whether or not other customers enjoyed them. Reading positive reviews makes new customers more confident in your business.

77% of consumers always or regularly look at reviews while browsing local businesses. As a result, you can build your local search reputation with reviews. In addition, customers are almost always looking at reviews to determine whether or not they should spend money on your products. It’s harder to make new customers trust you if you don't have reviews, which may cause you to lose sales and loyal customers.

Gain valuable insights into your products

Reading reviews for e-commerce can help you learn how your customers feel about your products and business. Of course, you should always consider every review, especially negative ones. Negative reviews can tell you a lot about your company, including where in the process you disappointed your customers, so that you can improve your internal processes. For example, maybe your customer had a poor experience with a team member, or they don’t believe your products followed through on their promises. Every negative review can teach your business a lesson and help you learn ways to improve your products and services.

While negative reviews can better your products, don’t forget to read the positive ones. Positive reviews can tell you what people enjoy about your products to prevent you from making changes that could impact a customer’s experience with them.

When reading reviews for e-commerce, try to keep track of any common complaints or praises. For example, if you see a lot of complaints about pricing, you know that’s something that must be addressed.

Enhance SEO

Ranking high in search engine results pages (SERPs) is a goal for many online businesses because it increases traffic and sales. However, an SEO strategy takes time to deliver results, and there are a lot of components that can affect your rankings. Customer reviews can improve your SEO efforts because many customer reviews contain keywords, including product and brand names. As a result, this boosts the online content associated with your business and its products.

E-commerce store reviews can help all aspects of your SEO strategy, including local SEO, by allowing your customers to leave reviews on Google that'll help you rank higher in local search. Additionally, reviews increase social sharing, ultimately spreading the digital word of mouth. Search engines recognize social sharing, increasing your visibility online. However, they can also improve your ranking directly because they boost authority. Websites with higher-rated products and reviews are more likely to rank higher.

Moreover, reviews can help increase web traffic. Since reviews give you additional opportunities to reach people online, you can influence someone’s purchasing decision before they click your link on the SERP. Google shows star ratings in SERPs based on consumer reviews from digital properties and creates an average to give you a star rating that can increase traffic and help you stand out online.

How to get reviews from your customers

Now that you understand the importance of reviews in e-commerce, you can start brainstorming ways to get reviews from your customers. Of course, you’ll get customer reviews naturally throughout the years as your business grows and earns more customers. However, you can also get customer reviews quickly to help boost web traffic and generate more sales.

Here are a few ideas for how to get reviews for e-commerce websites.

• Ask customers directly: You can ask for a review at any point in the buyer’s journey, but it’s typically best to ask for a review after they have the product in their hands. Requesting reviews directly is easy, and you can use email marketing software to automatically send requests for reviews after someone has received their order. You can also teach your customers how to review products online to simplify the process.
• Send emails with feedback surveys: Want to understand how your customers feel about your business, website, and products? Send emails with customer feedback surveys to help them easily voice their opinions. Asking for feedback is a great way to build relationships with customers because it shows them you care about their experience and are committed to improvement.
• Incentivize customers: Customers tend to only go out of their way to leave reviews if they’ve had exceptionally good or bad experiences. However, you can incentivize customers to leave reviews by offering them a discount on their next purchase. Of course, don’t incentivize them to leave positive reviews because your reviews should be honest.

Don’t forget to respond to reviews. Getting reviews and feedback is a good first step, but your customers expect responses for taking the time to tell you their thoughts. Even a simple reply can ensure your customers feel heard.

What to do after getting a negative review

Even if you do everything right, including developing the best product and offering quality customer service, you’re still bound to get at least a few negative reviews from time to time. However, how you handle these situations can set you apart from the competition.

Here are a few tips for what to do after receiving a negative review:

• Follow up: Always respond to negative reviews to learn more about the complaints and try to resolve the issues. Resolving issues mentioned in negative feedback can lead your customers to delete their reviews or edit them after having a more positive experience.
• Be authentic: While it might save you time to have template responses ready for any reviews, it’s always best to have an authentic answer for all negative reviews because your customers want to feel heard. Always use your real name and explain how you can help resolve a customer complaint.
• Ask for a phone call: There’s only so much you can say in response to a review, and one response is unlikely to solve a customer’s problem. Consider asking them to give you a call to resolve the issue. Phone calls allow you to spend more time with customers, making them feel more satisfied with their experience.

Every negative review is a learning experience for your business. Whether a customer is complaining about customer service or they have an issue with the product, always listen to complaints and determine whether you should investigate further.

How to use e-commerce reviews

There are many ways to use e-commerce reviews. If you have the reviews, there’s no reason not to show them off online. Adding testimonials to your site can help customers through the buyer’s journey, ultimately enhancing their experience and helping them make a purchasing decision.

You can also use reviews on social media to spread the word about your business. For example, you can take reviews you’ve earned on your website and turn them into a post or use Facebook reviews to drive traffic to your website.

All of your digital content can benefit from reviews, including email marketing. For example, if you send someone an email with product recommendations based on past purchases, you can include recent reviews to entice them to click on the website.

Embrace reviews with Mailchimp

Embracing reviews can help your business grow by increasing sales and helping you understand what your customers expect from your business. There are many ways to get reviews from customers, but making the process of leaving reviews easy can help you earn more reviews faster. Since reviews impact the purchasing decision-making process, the best thing you can do for your e-commerce business is to promote them across all your digital marketing platforms.

Makechimp makes it easy to ask your customers for reviews. Our email marketing platform integrates seamlessly with your website to help you develop streamlined drip campaigns, so you can ask customers for reviews after they receive their orders. Once you have reviews to share, you can use Mailchimp’s website builder to add them to your website or create social media content to post on your favorite networks.