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Expert Advice
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For Success in e-Commerce
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Our team of e-Commerce experts outline effective strategies for increasing and optimising your sales!
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Customer reviews present a real asset to online stores. 71% of eshoppers read reviews before buying online, according to a survey taken by PeopleClaim, and 63% of them are more likely to make a purchase if the product has ratings and reviews. They are a vital element for instilling trust in your site visitors and key in converting them. A study, by Search Engine Land, showed that 72% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
Reviews are fast becoming a part of the buying process, not just the decision process, as more people consult them and more people are likely to leave them.
Follow our Expert's Advice and increase your visibility, sales and your conversion rate thanks to customer reviews.
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Bear in mind:
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1. 71% of eshoppers read reviews before buying online
2. 72% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations
3. Product pages with reviews benefit from a 17% increase in CTR
4. Customer reviews increase your visibility, improve the user experience, meet customer expectations and generate more sales. 4 birds with 1 stone!
5. 42% of sites with customer reviews saw an increase in average order value
6. 4 ways to display your reviews: on your estore, on your Facebook page, in your marketing communications and in your SEO and SEM ads on Google!
7. 100 reviews can increase your conversion rate by 37%
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5 ways of using customer reviews to grow your e-Commerce business
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Online reviews: why do you need them?
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Customer reviews give consumers the opportunity to provide feedback and rate your service and products, if you let them! It's best to use a reputable platform that will provide genuine and reliable reviews, like Shopping Satisfaction to manage your reviews. You can let them collect your reviews whilst you enjoy the benefits of having reviews on your site; increase in traffic, number of orders, conversion rate and more!
Discover the how to make the most out of customer reviews.
"I started using Shopping Satisfaction on my site and thanks to the genuine customer reviews they provide, my conversion rate has increased by 125%!"
Florence Lemesle - Canaillougoth
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>Increase your visibility: 17% more clicks on your products
When they're automatically published on your product pages, for Google, customer reviews improve the quality and diversity of your content. This has a direct impact on your SEO and your conversion rate. Google accounts for 89% of searches carried out in the UK (Statista) and according to the big G, product pages with reviews benefit from a 17% increase in CTR (click through rate!).
> Generate up to 200% more sales
Customer reviews increase your visibility and traffic. Therefore, if your purchase tunnel is optimised, you will generate more sales. Products with positive ratings sell up to 200% better than products without reviews and amongst those sites that display reviews, 42% saw an increase in average order value (webrepublic.com).
"We have a conversion rate of 3.65%, almost double the average for our sector! Our conversion rate is helped by having customer reviews displayed on our site. Our average score is 4.8 out of 5 – just off excellent, which certainly encourages visitors to buy our products too!"
E. Desportes – Candle Store
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> Understand customer expectations and win their confidence
Gaining a loyal customer costs 4 to 5 times less than acquiring a new one (Forrester Research). By giving your customers the opportunity to share their buying experience and read the reviews of others, you're showing that their satisfcation is important to you.
You can also get better insight into what makes your clients happy and find solutions to any problems, should negative feedback arise. An excellent way to provide quality customer service!
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02
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5 tips for using Customer Reviews to boost your sales figures
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So you've seen that customer reviews are a vital part of any estore are you ready to use them to your advantage in your marketing strategy?
1. Highlight your customer reviews on your estore
Just one customer review on your site can increase your conversion rate by 10% and 100 reviews can increase your conversion rate by 37%, according to Bazaarvoice. So, don't hesitate to put your reviews on your homepage, your all star average and key positive feedback can enhance every stage of your buying tunnel. This will ensure that you are reassuring your visitors every step of the way to the checkout.
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"Setting up customer reviews with Shopping Satisfaction has helped increase our conversion rate. We receive more than 15 reviews per week and make them visible to everyone, our reputation grew and they also help to reassure site visitors that they are safe buying with us."
F. Bourly – Couteaujaponnais
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2. Integrate your customer reviews into all your channels
Integrate client reviews into all your marketing communications: newsletters, banner ads and so forth. For example, if you're sending out a newsletter to prospects, customer reviews can help potential clients get to know your company quickly and give them the confidence, in your estore and products, to buy. You can also display your average score (with the total number of reviews) in your banner ads to increase your click rate.
3. Add a review tab on your Facebook page
Facebook has over 321 million users in the UK (31,456,000 to be precise, according to Comscore) and 95% of Millennials, 87% of Gen X’ers (30- to 44-year-olds) and even 70% of those ages 45 to 60 expect brands to have a Facebook presence. So, make the most of your account and give your followers a chance to leave and share reviews, which can also help to grow your community.
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With the Oxatis solution you can publish your catalogue on Facebook in just one click! Grow your following and increase your sales!
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To increase the impact of your Facebook prescence add a Customer Review tab to your page and link it to your ’genuine and verified Shopping Satisfaction reviews.
"We recently created our Facebook page and using the Oxatis Social Store app we were able to publish our entire product catalogue. We also use Twitter and our blog to share customer reviews, new arrivals and sales. This way we’re able to stay in constant contact with our customers and followers. With this strategy traffic to our site increased by 30% in a year, with over 750,000 page views in 2013."
JP. Thoër- Balkit
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4. Put your Customer Reviews on Google
As we've already seen, Google account for the vast majority of internet searches in the UK and 60% of eshoppers start their online shop by using a search engine (MineWhat.com), so having your reviews and star ratings in Google is a definite advantage. You can display your stars by using SEO rich snippets. Google AdWords also displays your star ratings when you integrate reviews in your campaign (a minumim of 30 reviews over the last 12 months is the initial requirement). Thanks to customer reviews you will increase your visibility and leave your competition behind!
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"For every pound we invest in SEA, we make about 7 in profit, an excellent result."
C. Zwiller – Direct-siege
5. Manage your negative reviews
There's always something positive in a review, even if it's negative! 65% of consumers have more confidence in sites that show their negative reviews as well as their positive ones (Trustpilot). What's more, without negative reviews, more than 30% of consumers assume that the reviews are fakes (webrepublic.com)!
Negative reviews aren't necessarily bad for business, it's how you deal with them that will help you shine! They can even be useful if they help you establish points you need to improve on or how to better meet customer expectations.
Follow these simple tips to transform a negative review into a positive experience:
> Always thank your clients for their comments, yes, even those that aren't positive! Negative reviews can only help if you prove reactive and offer a genuine and competent response. So it's down to you to show your customers that you can manage all type of reviews and that you are keen to improve your service if needed. A key trust element for helping increase sales.
> Be quick to react and offer solutions
When you recieve a bad review ensure that you are quick to respond and provide a solution. If there is genuine fault from your end then you should offer a free exchange, a promo code or free delivery for example. Don't just ignore bad reviews, they aren't going to disappear and you're more likely to annoy the client even more. Whereas a well handled negative review can turn the relationship around and win you a loyal customer.
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By offering consumers the chance to review your products or service, and displaying your scores and reviews on your site, you are showing your commitment to putting customer satisfaction at the heart of your business.
4 to 6 reviews are enough for consumers to have confidence in a company (webrepublic.com). The online shopping experience is becoming increasingly based on sharing and social recommendation, making reviews an indispensable addition to estores.
Start accumulating reviews now! Ask for and publish genuine, verified customer reviews from Shopping Satisfaction. By providing quality customer service, you'll soon start receiving great reviews and see your conversion rate and sales increase!
Want to learn more about using an e-Commerce SaaS platform advantages?
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