The importance of reviews for your online store
Reviews are a must for every online store. No less than eight out of ten customers are influenced by reviews when making an online purchase. Of course, you can highlight how great your service is (let’s be honest and call it advertising, shall we? ;) ), but customers sharing their experiences is much more effective!
The power of reviews
Independent reviews are an indispensable part in the world of e-commerce. Posts on external review sites cannot simply be removed, which adds to the credibility and trustworthiness of your online store and product offer. Make sure people post as many reviews as possible, and ensure they are always up to date. This is important, because:
- A score of 9 out of 10 is great, there’s no doubt about it, but if it’s based on a mere five reviews, it’s not that reliable.
- A score of 8.1 out of 10 based on 181 reviews actually inspires more trust.
- However, if those 181 reviews date back a few months, their reliability once again decreases, because customers cannot tell whether or not your online store is still any good. They’ll also wonder why no new reviews have been posted in a while.
Customer reviews not only inspire trust, they are also a free feedback tool allowing you to further build on your online store. A win-win situation!
More visitors through Google
Reviews on external websites are often also listed in Google, through Ads campaigns (the yellow stars). If you have quite a few of these yellow stars, you can count on a serious traffic boost!
Negative reviews
It is important for negative reviews to remain limited, because if they don’t, it shows there is something not quite right about your online store. That being said, one bad review is not the end of the world. 68% of consumers trust reviews, even if they include a few negative ones, and 95% don’t trust reviews that don’t include any negative ones (source: reevoo.com).
Have you been given a bad review? Here’s how to deal with it:
- Immediately contact the customer, who wants to feel his feedback is actually taken into consideration.
- Provide an explanation or a solution, as this will often prompt the customer to change his review.
- You can request for the review to be removed if it does not meet the guidelines. However, if you do this, make sure you don’t create an even bigger problem! If the customer sees his review has been removed, he might give you even worse feedback.
In most cases it’s best to leave the review as it is and post a response below. This shows potential customers how you deal with complaints and which solutions you propose.
Link to review sites
MyOnlineStore is linked to KiyOh and Webshop Trustmark, which offer a platform for external customer reviews.
KiyOh
The link to KiyOh enables you to collect reviews automatically. Following every order, the customer is automatically asked to enter a review. This allows you to quickly build up an up-to-date review database. For more information on this link click here.
Webshop Trustmark
Since 2001, the foundation Webshop Trustmark has been the association of shops that primarily offer products and services through internet. Webshop Trustmark is happy to help your webshop comply with the latest consumer legislation. You also get a review system (powered by KiyOh). More information about Webshop Keurmerk can be found here.