Importance of Customer Reviews in eCommerce

When looking into an eCommerce consumer's buying process, one statistic sticks out above the rest: 95% of consumers read customer reviews before making a purchase. And those reviews have a large influence on whether or not they purchase. Over 70% of customers will not purchase anything without reading reviews on a business, which makes positive customer reviews one of the single most important aspects of running an eCommerce store on Shopify, BigCommerce, Etsy, etc. Let's take a look at some more statistics that really highlight just how critical positive customer reviews are to an eCommerce store's success.

70% of eCommerce consumers won't make a purchase without reading customer reviews.

Why Customer Reviews Matter So Much in eCommerce

• If your eCommerce product has 5 or more reviews, the chances of a purchase increase by over 200%. One more time - Two Hundred Percent!! Anything that increases the chance of ab eCommerce purchase by 200% has to be taken advantage of.
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• A business with more than 9 current reviews earns 50% more revenue than a business without reviews. That's a lot of extra revenue that you can acquire just by motivating customers to review your online store. You can incentivize customers to leave reviews by offering 10% off their next purchase for reviewing your online store.

• Over 90% of consumers are suspicious of a company with no negative reviews. You can probably relate to this one as a consumer yourself. If an online shopper sees an eCommerce product that has no negative reviews, you start to think that the online business is editing or writing the reviews themselves.
• Purchases increase by 15% if reviews are verified vs not. Verified reviews helps combat the suspicion that an online merchant may be editing or screening reviews. For example, if you get reviews on your Etsy store from verified Etsy users, then people are more likely to trust your online store - and are shown to be 15% more likely to purchase.
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• Customers are willing to spend 30% more in your online store if your business has positive reviews. This is really a trust issue at the end of the day. If your eCommerce store seems suspicious due to not having any negative reviews, or not having many reviews at all, people will spend less money because the purchase seems riskier.

Strategies to Encourage Customer Reviews for your eCommerce Store

These numbers should give you a clear picture of just how much of an impact reviews can have on your business. Now that you know you need reviews, It's important to develop a strategy on getting customers to positively review your eCommerce business and products.

Let's look at some strategies you can employ to get more of your customers to write and leave more reviews of your online products:

• Just ask. Crazy right? Sometimes all it takes is a quick follow up e-mail after the product has been delivered asking your customer to leave a review.
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• Offer the customer an incentive to submit a review. Send your customer percentage off of their next purchase for leaving a verified review - everyone wins!
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• Provide customers with a template for the review. If you can turn a review into a quick and easy to fill out form, you increase the chances of an online shopper leaving a review.

• Make the review process quick and easy. Attention spans are limited. So you should make your review process as simple as possible to increase your chances of getting a positive review.

We hope these tips for your eCommerce store can help you grow your business and the amount of reviews you receive! We're willing to bet that the number of verified reviews you have posted to your online store will strongly correlate to your revenue. And if you're ever in need of a fulfillment partner due to increased order fulfillment demands, contact PackYak today for a no-strings-attached quote and free consultative phone call!

That's all for this week's edition of The New Yak Times, tune in next week!