Why Your E-Commerce Store’s Online Reviews Matter

Do you remember the last time you were mulling over a purchase?

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If you’re like 95% of all customers who read online reviews before they shop, your first step was likely to look up the brand to learn what others had to say about their experience.

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In fact, 84% trust online reviews as much as they would a personal recommendation, because many of us feel that the stories we read and hear online from previous customers often say more about a company than their own website does. 

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With this in mind, it’s not difficult to understand why online reviews are such a crucial asset to your E-Commerce brand and why they matter for your growth and success.

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Why Are Online Reviews Beneficial?

You’d be correct in assuming that social proof is one of the most important benefits of online reviews, but there are actually many other reasons why online reviews are absolutely essential to your online store’s success.

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Here are a few reasons why online reviews are so important for your E-Commerce business, especially in a world where it’s easier than ever for potential customers to access them.

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1. Online reviews drive sales. We’re not exaggerating when we say that online reviews have become the most important factor for customers’ purchasing decisions. A report from 2021 found that price and even recommendations from family and friends aren’t as important to customers as the reviews and ratings they will find online – didn’t see that one coming, did ya? This means that if your brand and a direct competitor offer a similar product or service, the reviews left by customers who’ve purchased from you will often influence whether future customers decide to purchase from you or give their business to another brand. 
   
   Therefore, having an extensive collection of positive reviews on your website and other digital platforms will drive sales and give you an edge over your competitors.

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2. Online reviews develop trust. It goes without saying that brands with many reviews have more credibility in customers’ eyes than brands with few or no reviews (typically because brands with few or no reviews can be seen as potential scams). However, developing trust with customers via reviews is also about how you handle the ones your brand receives, and trust us – when it comes to online reviews left by customers, there’s definitely a right way and a wrong way to handle them. The wrong way is to either ignore the review entirely or respond aggressively or defensively (hint – we don’t recommend this approach).  The right way is to respond to every review – positive or negative – and be sure to practice humility and empathy when addressing any and all concerns within negative reviews of your brand.
   
   Since responses from a brand offer insight into how responsive, responsible, and caring they are, 56% of customers said that a company’s response to a review changed their perspective and swayed whether or not they would work with the brand again in the future.

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3. Online reviews generate organic traffic with SEO. Search engine optimization is an in-depth strategy that can take time to generate organic traffic, but online reviews can effortlessly improve your website or online store’s visibility (for free, we might add!). Since customers typically use keywords in their reviews to describe their experience, other users searching online for products or services that you offer may have a better chance of finding you in their search engine results. Plus, if your brand has more positive reviews than negative ones, they’ll be more likely to read the positive ones and consider purchasing from your brand over a competitor.  

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4. Online reviews help with decision-making. Unlike the tactile experience customers have while shopping in a physical store, online shopping doesn’t allow us to see or feel all of the details of a product before we buy it. Therefore, many of us turn to online reviews to better understand the shape, size, and feel of a product before we make a purchase. Let’s say you’re checking out a new tent for an upcoming camping trip: Though the photos you see of the tent on the website make it look too small to fit two people, the reviews and photos from other customers may show that it actually has plenty of space for two people to sleep comfortably inside. 
   
   Now, you have the details you need to make an informed purchase (without fretting about whether the tent will work for your specific needs when it arrives). 

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5. Online reviews improve processes. The secret to using reviews to your full advantage is understanding that every review, positive or negative, has a helpful takeaway. Though we all love to see happy customers on our Google My Business pages, the reviews containing critiques or negative feedback are opportunities for us to update, change, or generally improve processes that are causing friction at certain points in the customer journey. Use this feedback as a means to make your business better for the next customers who come around, and be sure to thank the reviewers for their honest feedback.

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How To Ask Customers For Online Reviews

Collecting online reviews from customers doesn’t have to be a painstaking process. 

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Check out our few tips below on how to ask for reviews online without putting more items on your customer service team’s to-do list:

• Ask customers directly for reviews via follow-up emails, pop-ups, or on the confirmation or thank-you page after making a purchase. 
• Include links to all of your social media accounts, as well as your Google My Business page, to make it easy for them to both find and write reviews for your brand.
• Offer incentives like a rewards program, free shipping, or a discount to customers who leave reviews (positive or negative).
• Automate your online review collection process by creating workflows that automatically send surveys at key points in the customer journey.

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Earn More Positive Customer Reviews For Your E-Commerce Business By Partnering With TalentPop

Collecting online reviews is a huge part of any business, not only because you can use customers’ feedback to your advantage, but also because positive reviews are proven to generate more sales.

At TalentPop, our highly skilled agents aim to help your E-Commerce brand earn consistently positive reviews by providing a 5-star customer service experience to your customer base. Plus, the perks of our flexible month-to-month services, simple pricing model, and dedicated Customer Success Manager make it easier than ever to help you reach your goals and KPIs. To learn more about how we can match your brand with customer service agents in as little as 3 weeks, schedule a call with our team today.

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