The Importance of Reviews for Ecommerce

The Importance of Reviews for Ecommerce SEO

Businessman and the current head of TED say, “Your brand isn’t what you say it is — it’s what Google says it is.” What is the first thing you as a buyer go do online before even purchasing a product?

Yes, we all read product reviews.

Not just products but we all spend most of our time reading reviews for other services and also the reviews of a company before we even join it.

Reviews in regards to ecommerce seo are extremely important given the fact that you cannot touch or feel the product while you shop online. The same comes to services. When you want to hire someone for some task you want to know what their previous experience was and how was other people’s experience with that person’s services.

You will want to deep dive before you take any step and that’s what many people do online.

Some Facts to Help You Understand

Brand Comparison
Apples to apples, You have to put your best foot forward because your brand is being compared, watched and judged.

It is said that around 91% of people read online reviews before making a purchase and around 84% of them trust the reviews and make a buying decision. You may very well think that all the online reviews go lost in the noise. But think again.

People do read and they don’t mind digging deeper until they are satisfied with the product review. 68% of them read between 1-6 reviews before making a purchasing decision. So, this is how crucial online reviews are.

Your brand is being monitored and judged and you have to put your best foot forward to make sure it is the best of all out there.

Is an Essential Trust-Building Factor?

Bad Reviews
When a consumer posts a negative review about a product, you should immediately respond by offering them a solution for their negative experience. This helps build a trusting business relationship.

Many customers actively participate in writing reviews. They are eager to tell others what their experience was with a product or a service. Around 72% of people say that reviews have helped them make better choices while purchasing a product online.

Ecommerce reviews are not sponsored and are given by individual people. That’s the reason why it builds trust. It’s real people talking about the products and that’s why others believe it. A study says given the option, a product with negative reviews is more likely to sell than a product with no reviews. Ecommerce reviews are unfiltered and not scripted.

They have a free language that is very conversational. It is almost like someone who has used the product is telling about their experience with it. Another great reason why reviews trend is because many brands communicate with their customers through reviews.

When a consumer posts a negative review about a product, conscious brands almost immediately respond to make it alright for the customer. It could be replacing the product or comforting them with words and then providing them with a solution for their negative experience. This helps build trust like no other.

1. Enhances Your Ecommerce SEO Game

Reviews are important because it boosts your SEO organically. All brands want organic SEO for better positioning on the search engines. Building SEO-Friendly web content can take time for many brands especially when it comes to doing the right keyword research and putting the most relatable content.

Another challenging task for brands is to constantly generate content. All of these can be overcome with ecommerce reviews.

When customers review products, they mention the brand name several times and knowingly or unknowingly mention the purpose of it which happens to be a relatable keyword for the brand.

When customers review products, they tend to use terms that happen to be the keywords like the name of the product, the brand, its uses, and the benefits of using it. This boosts SERP ratings and improves your brand presence online.

2. Helps Customers in Effective Decision-Making

Effective Decision-Making
Reviews help people make the right decision. Customers write reviews to share their experiences with others. This enables others to make wise decisions while choosing a brand or a product.

When customers are confused about a product, they turn to customer reviews. Many customers also try out multiple products and write about the brand comparisons. This enables others to make wise decisions while choosing a brand or a product.

Not many customers understand the elements of the brand easily. This could be the dimensions, the color, the quality, or the texture. When other customers review the products, they also capture pictures and add them to the review which helps others visualize the product in real-time. When customers can make better decisions, they can trust the product better and the brand too.

3. Improves Engagement

Listening is an integral part of any brand’s online presence, while social listening is crucial, reading and responding to customer reviews also has great perks.

Reviews create online social communities where people who use the product or the service come together and share their experiences. Many customers just leave a review to see if someone else too has experienced the same.

Or if they have come across any surprising experiences. A forum like this eventually creates a community where people don’t just converse with each other but with the brand as well. This improves customer loyalty. This happens when customers feel heard.

4. Boost Sales Tremendously

Increase Ecommerce Sales
Reviews are a great way to increase your e-commerce sales. They can help you to improve your business and increase your revenue.

95% of customers go online to read reviews and feedback before they make a purchasing decision. Customers need social validation for a product before they make a purchase and this helps them in it.

Customers trust online reviews more than they trust what their family has got to say about the product. When people read more positive comments and e-commerce reviews about a product, the more likely they are to make a purchase and refer it to their family and friends.

Word travels fast when it is word-of-mouth and these reviews can boost sales tremendously. In a research, 42% of site administrators reported an increase in sales after they got reviews posted for their product.

5. Aids Problem-Solving

No business is perfect and it is not that always everyone can be right. Along with positive reviews, a brand also needs negative reviews.

Yes, you read it right. Negative or critical criticism helps brands understand what’s wrong from their end or what better can be done about their business.

For example, brands cannot always be in customers’ shoes to understand every part of a brand design. A negative review is exactly the same. It helps you address a problem that you are probably not seeing from your end. This is a potential opportunity to address such issues.

6. Reduces Efforts in Brand Propaganda

Reviews are more or less like free advertisements for brands. When people tend to give you good reviews, word travels pretty fast and many people will want to try out your products.

Another great thing is that when your brand is mentioned in many places for various reviews and comparisons, it covers a wide customer base who are looking for similar products.

By allowing customers to give you a review or feedback you are helping yourself in terms of familiarizing your name with the other customers. It is a great method to let your name be found in various places on the internet.

7. Improves Customer Satisfaction

Customer Satisfaction
You can serve your customers well if you use ecommerce reviews. It’s a good way to understand your customers better.

Another great advantage of ecommerce reviews is that it lets you serve your customers well. Not many customers prefer giving feedback. Especially when you immediately give them a form to fill right after purchase. Instead, an online forum or a portal is super helpful.

If they are satisfied, they will definitely check out your link and provide feedback. It is a great way to understand your customers better and serve them right. With feedback, you will understand your customer’s pulse and you will exactly know what they are expecting from you as a brand. It is also super helpful to create a community that slowly builds trust in your brand.

8. Gauge Your Brand’s Growth

Every brand needs a yardstick to understand and know where they are heading and how they are growing. What makes them the best are the comments and the feedback they receive on their products and services.

If a brand is seeing criticism and eventually grows to receive good remarks and feedback, there’s nothing like it. Your customers are your yardstick and they help you understand where you stand and let you grow and flourish provided you take their feedback seriously.


FAQ: Ecommerce & Reviews

Why do I need to let people review my products?

Reviews are a great way to know feedback about your products. As a brand, you must know how customers perceive your products and what they like about them. This will help you understand your customers well and build your products as per their liking. Online reviews also help in growth and help build trust.

Is it okay for a brand to delete negative comments and feedback?

No. Negative comments and feedback should be taken as constructive criticism and you should understand why your customers are commenting that way. If you find their reason valid, you might as well use the feedback to improve your product.

What is ORM?

ORM or Online Reputation Management is an activity where you take efforts to spot negative comments on your brand across various platforms and find a way to deal with them. Dealing here means working towards managing the comments by taking up the responsibility. If a brand does not respond to constructive criticism or does not deal with ORM, then its image is more likely to be doomed.

Should I actively encourage customer feedback?

Yes, customer feedback helps you in a lot of ways. Every customer needs social validation or proof before they make a purchase. Data shows that nearly 90% of customers make a purchasing decision after reading a product review. Product reviews are also great in building trust and letting your customers be the face of your brand. Reviews help you grow with your brand along with your customers as a community.

How can ecommerce reviews help in SEO?

When customers write reviews, they frequently mention the brand, the name, products, its uses, and its benefits. These naturally happen to be the brand’s keywords which is great when it comes to widening your brand’s presence on search engines. By encouraging reviews, you are helping yourself to get your major chunk of SEO work done without even having to have the need to spend time and energy on keyword research.

Are all ecommerce reviews fake?

No, while some of the reviews have collaborated most of them are really given by real people after having used a product or a service. The best way to tell this is by checking the language of the review. Generally, people make their reviews in a conversational tone and do not mind much about language, and write a descriptive review which includes both pros and cons of the product.

How can ecommerce reviews help make critical decisions for customers?

The best part of such reviews is that customers write detailed information about the product and how it has helped them. Many times, not all customers tend to understand certain aspects of the product like colors, dimensions, and so on. In such cases, descriptive reviews and real-time images after the purchase can help them make the right decision in terms of choosing a brand or a product.

Naomi Wilson

Naomi Wilson

Naomi Wilson is the strategic director and content marketing strategist at Haitna, who writes for companies to help them spread the word about their businesses. She has helped many technology startups to acquire more customers by gaining organic rankings.
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