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Month: January 2023

Optimizing your review collection form is key to generating rich, detailed reviews that boost conversion and fuel informed purchase decisions. You should generally choose no more than 5 customized segments, but if you were to include everything here’s what it could look like:

The Basics
Rating, headline, comments, nickname, location. These are the basics. Think of these questions as the foundation from which all review collection forms are built.
Review Meter
Longer, more detailed reviews are more helpful to shoppers. Including a review meter, an interactive character count that appears below the comments box, in your form can help you generate more of those long, detailed reviews.
Helper Text
Faced with that big blank comments box, some reviewers just don’t know what to write. One way to get the creative juices flowing (and get shoppers to write longer, more detailed reviews) is to include some helper text in the comments field. This text serves as writing prompts for the reviewer.
Add an Image
Site visitors who interact with user-generated imagery on a product page convert at a rate that’s more than 106% higher than average! But in order to display this content, you must first collect it. The best way to do this is through the review collection form.
Bottom Line
Be sure to include a section that asks whether the reviewer would or would not recommend the product in question to a friend. At the end of the day, what the reader really wants to know is whether or not the reviewer recommends the product in question.
Size/Fit
If you’re a brand or retailer that sells apparel and footwear, collecting size and fit information within the review collection form is a must.
Pros & Cons, Best Uses
Research tells us that visitors who filter by these “tags” convert at a rate that’s more than 78% higher than average. Including pros and cons in this way can help get a customer’s thoughts/juices flowing. As a best practice, these are typically served up before the review comment.
Describe Yourself
Consumers value reviews because it’s content written by others like them, without any motive. This is especially true for certain product categories.
Age Range, Skin Type
A skincare company might opt to include questions about the reviewer’s skin type and skin concerns. That way, they can add a feature to their display allowing shoppers to easily find content written by others with similar skin types and concerns.

How do you figure out which merchant-specific questions to ask in your review collection form? Consider what information would be most helpful to shoppers trying to decide if your product is the right fit for them.
Email opt-in
There are some instances where it makes sense to collect data in your review collection form that won’t be included in your review display–but will be leveraged internally. For example, you may want to include a newsletter opt-in form to your review collection. It’s a great way to grow your email list, with little effort.

Key Takeaways:

  1. Optimizing your write-a-review form is key to increasing both review quality and quantity.

  2. Beyond the fundamentals, there’s no one-size-fits-all review collection form. 

  3. Consider what data is important for both your brand and your shoppers, but make sure not to go overboard. Optimize based on what the conversion data tells you.

Additional Resources:

Drive more PDP traffic and conversion with best-in-class PLPs

Perfecting Your Product Listing Pages

Building solid, optimized product detail pages (PDPs) is a must for any brand or retailer. After all, the PDP is where consumers decide to convert (or not). 

Conversion is the ultimate goal. And there are certain factors – including the presence of reviews – that positively impact conversion on the PDP. In fact, we recently compiled an entire guide that explores the 10 must-haves for PDPs that convert.

But before you convince shoppers to convert on your PDPs, you must first get them there. 

Of course, no two shoppers approach the purchase journey in the same manner. Instead, consumers might happen upon your product pages in any number of ways. In this guide, we’ll zoom in on one of the most common ways: the product listing page (PLP).

Read on to explore why PLPs matter, and learn 14 key components that’ll improve the performance of yours (with plenty of real-life examples of these components in action).

The PLP: A Key Stop on the Road to Conversion

If you work for a brand or retailer, you’re likely familiar with the concept of a PLP. If you’re not (or if you need a refresher), PLP stands for product listing page. You may also hear it referred to as a category page.

Essentially, a PLP is a page on an ecommerce site that provides a list of products based on a category or search term. For example, this is a PLP that a consumer reaches when they click on “lattes” in the menu of a coffee brand’s website.

And here’s a PLP that displays all results that match a search term of “waterproof” on an apparel website.

Typically, brands and retailers focus a lot of attention on optimizing their product detail pages (PDPs). That makes sense, as an optimized PDP is key to boosting conversion. 

But all too often, PLPs don’t get the same amount of love from brands and retailers. And that’s a big mistake.

PLPs are a key point on the road to conversion. It’s on the PLP that a shopper decides whether to delve deeper into specific products – or take their search in a different direction.

A poor PLP experience can scare a shopper right off your site. So it’s important to get it right.

The Ideal PLP

The truth is, there’s no one-size fits all formula for a PLP. Rather, it depends on myriad factors including product type and industry. The most important thing is to find the formula that works best for your business.

That said, there are common characteristics across the most effective PLPs. Let’s take a look at what “good” looks like. Then, we’ll take a deep dive into each individual component.

A Quick Caveat

Before we dive deeper into these PLP must-haves, there’s one important thing to note. Great PLPs rely on a solid foundation of comprehensive product data. It may seem obvious, but you can’t showcase information on your PLPs that doesn’t exist! 

With that said, let’s take a closer look at the key ingredients of effective PLPs.

Mobile friendly
Descriptive Header
The right number of products
Descriptive title
Compelling imagery
Price
Ratings and reviews information
Product callouts
Add to cart
Sorting capabilities
Filtering capabilities
Page numbers

1. Mobile Friendly

We know more consumers are shopping online – a trend that accelerated at the start of the pandemic. And a growing portion of those online shoppers are using their phones to browse and buy. 

Insider Intelligence predicts that by 2025, mobile commerce (aka m-commerce) is expected to account for 44.2% of retail ecommerce sales in the US.

It’s critical to ensure your PLPs are easy to consume on a mobile device. If they’re not, we guarantee you’re going to lose a whole lot of potential customers.

2. Descriptive Header

Think of the header on the PLP like a sign in a brick-and-mortar store. It lets you know what you’re looking at – and invites you to explore.

Some brands and retailers keep their headers simple.

Others take a more visual approach to their headers.

Which type of header is the best approach? It really depends on what’s in line with your brand – and what drives the best results. Whichever approach you take, it’s a good idea to incorporate breadcrumbs. These help shoppers understand where they are on the website – and serve as a secondary navigation as they go through the purchase journey.

3. The Right Number of Products

When you’re developing your PLPs, it’s important to determine how many products you’ll feature on each page. If you feature too many products on a page, it can be overwhelming. But if there are too few, shoppers might get frustrated, too.

So, what’s the ideal number of products to feature per page? According to research from Baymard, the ideal number on desktop sites is between 50 and 150 per page. Obviously, this is quite the large range. Again, the “ideal” depends on a number of factors, so it’s important to test to see what works best for your brand.

On mobile sites, Baymard recommends far fewer products per page; 15-30 is the sweet spot.

Be sure to display the quantity of results available on any given PLP. And make it as easy as possible for shoppers to load results beyond the initial ones. That might involve clicking to the next page, clicking to load more results onto the current page, or automatically loading more results upon scroll.  

4. A Descriptive Title

It’s important to have a short, descriptive title for each product that appears on a PLP. That way, shoppers can determine if it’s something they want to learn more about.

For example, great titles on apparel PLPs can convey information about the fabric of each item.

And the titles for products on a food PLP can provide information on flavor and size.

5. Compelling Imagery

Visual content is really important to online shoppers, who can’t touch and see a product prior to purchase. A survey found that 86% of shoppers always or regularly seek out visual content when researching a product to purchase.

Showcasing compelling imagery on your PLPs is like setting up great window displays in your brick-and-mortar stores. This content entices shoppers to learn more. 

At a minimum, be sure to include one, great image for each product on your PLP.

However, you may want to consider additional imagery. Including multiple images can help shoppers understand how the product looks from different angles. What’s more, it can help customers understand what certain product types – for example, clothing and makeup – look like on different people. 

One way to do this is to add arrows, which allow the shopper to scroll through the photos available for each product on the PLP.

Another option is to display additional imagery when a shopper hovers over the listing on the PLP.

6. Price

It’s no surprise that price is a top factor consumers consider when determining what products to explore. A survey found that 87% of shoppers indicate it’s important.

Top Considerations of Website Visitors Determining Which Products to Explore Further
Before you land on a product page, which of the following do you rely on earlier in your journey on a website to establish which product to further explore?
Price
87%
Ratings and Reviews
82%
Any discount listed (e.g. 20% off)
63%
Picture(s) provided of the product
48%
Shipping information
46%
Brand
44%
In store availability
42%
Source: Key Digital & Physical Influences on the Customer Journey

Make sure you’re upfront about pricing – right on your PLP. If shoppers have to click through to a product page to find out how much something costs, it’ll only cause frustration. 

Also, if an item is on sale, be sure to indicate both the regular and sale price on your PLPs. Everyone loves a good deal. And knowing an item is on sale is likely to pique the interest of more shoppers. 

7. Ratings & Review Information

By now, it’s quite clear that reviews play a key role in the purchase journey. On the PDP, reviews give shoppers the confidence to convert. But this content can also entice shoppers to click through to said product page. In fact, a survey found that 82% of consumers rely on ratings and reviews before they land on a product page as a way to determine which products to explore further.

0 %
of consumers rely on ratings and reviews to determine which products to explore further

At a minimum, be sure to display the average star rating for each product on your PLPs. This information will give shoppers a great overview of product sentiment. Then, they’re more likely to click through to the product page to dig deeper into the review content. 

It’s also a best practice to include the quantity of reviews available for each product on the PLP. That information serves as social proof. If a product has a lot of reviews available, a lot of people have purchased it. That means it’s probably worth checking out. 

8. Variation Information

In some cases, there are multiple variations of a single product. For example, a sweater might come in five colors. And a pair of shoes might be available in multiple widths.

Be sure to include that variation information on your PLPs. For example, this shoe brand indicates when a pair of shoes comes in multiple colors. Then, the shopper can see what those colors look like upon hover.

This makeup brand also sells products in different shades. On the PLP, the brand specifies the number of shades each product is available in – and each shade is displayed at the bottom of the listing. If a visitor clicks a particular shade, the main image updates to that shade.

9. Product Callouts

If a PLP has dozens of products listed, it can be easy for a shopper to feel overwhelmed. Including a text or visual call out that indicates something special about a specific product can help guide their journey. 

For example, a callout of “bestseller,” “top rated,” or “award winner” lets shoppers know this is a product other consumers love.

Labels like “almost gone,” “going fast,” and “close out” can create a sense of urgency. This encourages shoppers to learn about a product (and ideally, buy it) right away so they don’t miss out. 

A label of “new” is eye-catching too – especially for repeat customers who quickly want to determine which products they haven’t yet seen. 

Calling out when an item is on sale is also useful for shoppers on your PLPs. In addition to including a “sale” or “promotion” banner, be sure to include both the sale and regular price of the item.

There may also be opportunities to call out specific features or attributes of your products on your PLPs. For example, you might label products that are organic or sustainable. 

10. Add to Cart

There are times when a consumer may be able to find all the information they need about a product without leaving the PLP. So, be sure to include an “add to cart” button to each item on the PLP. This will eliminate the extra step of going to the PDP – and accelerate conversion. 

11. Additional Product Details

Oftentimes, a shopper might want more details about a product. But they’re not quite ready to navigate to the PDP.

Consider adding functionality to your PLPS that allows consumers to get more information about a specific product, without navigating away from the PLP. 

One option is to include a “quick view” or “quick shop” button, which will open a pop up with more information about the product in question. The shopper can learn more about the product, click through to the product page, or even add the product to their cart without navigating away from the PLP. According to Baymard, this approach is particularly effective for products that are visual in nature.

Another option is to display additional product information upon hover – such as color options. According to Baymard, this technique results in visitors spending more time on relevant product pages – and a higher overall rate of success for the ecommerce brand or retailer. 

12. Sorting Capabilities

Consumers consider myriad factors when determining which products they want to explore. Those factors vary from shopper to shopper. While some seek out the latest and greatest, others prefer proven products loved by others like them.

Provide robust sorting capabilities on your PLPs that allow shoppers to more quickly hone in on the products that’ll fit their needs. A few sorting options you’ll want to include are:

  • Featured products
  • Price
  • Best sellers
  • Top rated
  • New

13. Filtering Capabilities

Filtering is another key way shoppers zero in on products that are worth exploring. So be sure to include robust filtering capabilities on your PLPs. 

Some basic filters to incorporate include: 

  • Color
  • Size 
  • Pricing “bucket”
  • In-store availability 

In addition, consider adding filtering capabilities that are specific to the types of products you sell. For example, on a PLP for hair styling tools, it makes sense to allow shoppers to filter results based on category, brand, and type of material the tool is made from.

On the other hand, a consumer browsing on a makeup PLP would find it helpful to filter products by factors including skin type, skin concern, and product coverage – among others. 

Also, a brand selling handbags might allow shoppers to filter PLP results by factors including silhouette and material.

And a brand selling prepared meals might opt to allow shoppers to filter products by preparation method, ingredients, and dietary needs — among others.

What filtering options should you incorporate into your PLPs? The best place to start is to determine what factors consumers weigh when shopping for your products. Then, measure performance and optimize accordingly. 

Whatever filtering options you choose, it’s a best practice to ensure your site visitors can easily see which filters are applied at any given time. It should also be easy for shoppers to deselect a filter or filters. 

14. Personalized PLP Experiences

These days, consumers are no longer satisfied with generic, one-size-fits all experiences. Rather, they expect the purchase journey to be tailored to them. According to McKinsey & Company, 71% of consumers expect personalization. And 67% place value on a brand’s ability to provide relevant product and service recommendations.

As you get to know your shoppers better, start delivering more personalized PLP experiences based on their past site behavior. For example, serve up the newest products at the top. Another idea is to give top priority to products a shopper has saved to their favorites – or those that complement a product they’ve already purchased.

Go Forth and Optimize Your PLPs

PLPs play a major role in the purchase journey of many shoppers. But all too often, brands and retailers don’t give these pages the attention they deserve.

A well-designed PLP helps shoppers quickly find the products that’ll best fit their needs. This reduces the amount of time it takes for a browser to become a buyer. 

On the other hand, a poorly designed PLP will leave your shoppers frustrated – and likely to abandon your site altogether.

It’s essential to ensure your PLPs are built to increase traffic to your product pages – where shoppers can then convert. Of course, there’s no one-size fits all formula for building PLPs that perform. The best approach is to start with best practices outlined in this guide – especially those for your industry. Then, measure and optimize on a regular basis to drive even better results. 

Finally, remember that your PLPs are built on a foundation of great product data. So make sure you have rich, comprehensive product data that’ll fuel great experiences on your PLPs. 

If there’s one thing we’re the experts on, it’s Ratings and Reviews. Which is why we’ve literally written the (digital) book on it.

We have created this Guide to enable you to optimize your Ratings and Reviews strategy for 2023. It’s rammed full of practical steps you can apply today, all through the lens of what we know – through our own extensive data – consumers are looking for right now.

Contents

Chapter 1
Ratings & Reviews in 2023
1.1 How important are Ratings and Reviews?
1.2 Reviews in an Economic Downturn
1.3 Reviews Through the Customer Journey
1.4 A Good Ratings and Reviews Footprint in 2023
1.5 Imagery and Video
1.6 What Should the Ideal Customer Review Incorporate?
Chapter 2
Review Collection
2.1 Making the Ask
2.2 Maximizing Review Volume and Recency
2.3 Optimizing Review Quality
Chapter 3
Preserving Authenticity
Chapter 4
Review Display on PDPs & Throughout Your Site
4.1 How to Create Review Displays that Convert
4.2 Displaying Reviews Throughout Your Website
Chapter 5
Enhancing Marketing Initiatives with Ratings & Reviews
5.1 Digital Marketing
5.2 Traditional Marketing
5.3 Brick-and-Mortar Retail
Chapter 6
Dealing with Negative Reviews
6.1 Why Negative Reviews Can Help You
6.2 Three Ways to Leverage Negative Reviews to Boost Your Bottom Line
Chapter 7
Sharing & Syndication
7.1 Ratings and Reviews as a Customer Acquisition Mechanism
7.2 Improve your SEO ranking
7.3 Ratings & Reviews on Amazon
7.4 Ratings & Reviews on big box retail sites
7.5 Activating Ratings & Reviews Syndication
Chapter 8
Ratings & Reviews as an SEO tool
Chapter 9
Image & Video
9.1 How User-Generated Imagery Fuels Smart Purchase Decisions
9.2 Maximize the Impact of User-Generated Imagery
9.3 Amplify the Reach of User-Generated Visual Content
9.4 How to Analyze Imagery and Optimize Performance
Chapter 10
Questions & Answers
10.1 What is Q&A?
10.2 Why Use Q&A
10.3 Collecting Q&A Content
10.4 Displaying Q&A Content
Chapter 11
Analyze: Review Program Optimization
11.1 Review Collection Metrics
11.2 Review Display Metrics
11.3 Web/Retailer Presence (SEO) Metrics
Chapter 12
Analyze: Product Optimization
12.1 Product Insights
12.2 Competitor and Benchmark Insights
Chapter 13
Quick Tips for Improving Your Ratings & Reviews Strategy in 2023
  • Contents
Chapter 1

Ratings & Reviews in 2023

Section 1.1

How important are Ratings and Reviews?

Ratings and reviews allow customers to share their experience with a product or service, and give it an overall star rating.

Shoppers rely on this content to make more informed purchase decisions. In 2021, ratings and reviews were defined by consumers as the top factor impacting purchase decisions over the past year, surpassing price, free shipping, brand, and recommendations from family and friends.

Now, consumers tend to change their opinions due to a myriad of factors – the economy, their individual purchasing preferences at any given time or even the day they’re asked. So this is unlikely to conclusively remain the case for ever more.

But – as a reviews vendor – this was the first time we had observed such a trend and it’s testament to growing reliance on reviews to generate purchasing decisions.

Ratings & Reviews Have Always Been Important. They’ve Become Even More Important.

This trend of the growing importance of Ratings and Reviews is highlighted in various different research projects we have completed in recent times.

Percentage of Consumers Who Consult Reviews When Shopping Online
0 %
in 2021
0 %
in 2018
0 %
in 2014
Percentage Who Consider Reviews an Essential Resource When Making Purchase Decisions
0 %
in 2021
0 %
in 2018
0 %
in 2014
Source: The Ever-Growing Power of Reviews (Survey of 6,538 consumers)

Consumers rely on them to such an extent that the percentage who consult product reviews when shopping online is 99.9% (yes, you read that right). 98% now think of them as essential when considering products online, up from 86% eight years ago.

Now, there is often a difference between what people say and what they do. But the conversion metrics back this up too.

The Impact of Reviews on Conversion
0 %
Lift in conversions when visitors interact with reviews
0 %
Lift in conversions when visitors are served reviews
Source: Ratings & Reviews: Av. Interactor and Impression Conversion Lift
Section 1.2

Reviews in an Economic Downturn

At the start of 2023, the economy is a hot topic due to hyper-inflation, mass job layoffs and significant uncertainty. Naturally at times like these, budgets become heavily scrutinized.

So the inevitable question for brands and retailers is: where should we invest at times like these?

Most popular shopping considerations for consumers
Reviews are more valued by consumers than other marketing investments
Price
93%
Ratings & Reviews
68%
Trustworthiness of brand
51%
Familiarity with Products or Brands
43%
Family/Friends Recommendations
37%
Values of the Manufacturing Brand
22%
Search Engine Ranking
15%
Brands/Influencers on Social Media
12%
Source: 2022 Holiday Shopping Trends

Not surprisingly, price shot up to the number one determinant of purchase decisions for 2023 (the above responses are based on preferences during the 2022 Holiday season). However, when it comes to other marketing and brand initiatives, ratings and reviews stand head and shoulders as the most valued by shoppers.

Section 1.3

Reviews Through the Customer Journey

Digital Impact of Reviews

As demonstrated above, ratings and reviews clearly have significant on-page conversion impact – that is the decision made by a shopper while on a product page on whether to purchase an item. But they also have a notable impact on driving visits to these pages in the first place.

0 %
Of consumers conduct pre-purchase research on Google or an equivalent search engine (where ratings and reviews are typically very visible)
0 %
Of consumers are more likely to click through from a Social Media Post/Ad due to ratings and reviews highlighted
0 %
Of consumers are more likely to click through from a marketing email due to ratings and reviews highlighted
0 %
Of consumers rely on ratings and reviews to determine which products to further explore when they first land on a website.
Source: Key Digital & Physical Influences on the Customer Journey

Regardless of the exact route taken during the customer journey, reviews lead to significantly more traffic.

Pages with reviews account for 40% of all Product Pages on the internet but 88% of all web traffic.
Source: UGC Benchmarks: Review Influence on Traffic to Product Pages

In-Store Impact of Reviews

There has been much discussion about how customer journeys are no longer linear, involving multiple touchpoints across different channels.

In many cases, in-store shoppers are doing plenty of research before making an in-store purchase. 

In fact, 99% research products online before setting foot in a store. In addition, a large portion of consumers – 92% – pull out their phones to do research while shopping in a physical store location. Though shoppers of all generations do this, younger consumers tend to do it more frequently.

So it is perhaps no surprise that 84% look for positive ratings and reviews when considering in-store purchases.

84% of consumers look at ratings and reviews when considering in-store purchases
Source: Key Digital & Physical Influences on the Customer Journey
Section 1.4

What does a good ratings and reviews footprint look like in 2023

Review Volume

We get asked a lot: how many reviews do I need to be successful? The answer is: it depends. Ultimately, this will be dictated by the channel you are looking to stand out on and what you are trying to achieve.

However, the general rule is the more, the better.

Review Volume Impact on Traffic

Source: UGC Benchmarks: Review Influence on Online Traffic to Product Pages

As demonstrated above, product pages with zero reviews account for 60.18% of all product pages on the internet but only 11.59% of all page views. Conversely, those with more than 1,000 reviews account for 1.67% of all product pages but 10.64% of all page views.

Review Volume Impact on Conversion

And we see the same “more is merrier” philosophy when it comes to on-page conversion.

Conversion Lift Relative to Number of Reviews Displayed
0 Reviews Displayed
0%
1-100 Reviews Displayed
76.7%
101-250 Reviews Displayed
143.2%
251-500 Reviews Displayed
166.4%
501-1000 Reviews Displayed
172.1%
1001-5000 Reviews Displayed
224.7%
5000+ Reviews Displayed
292.6%
Source: The Power of Review Volume & Recency

Not every business will have the resources to collect 5000+ reviews. But there are significant lifts in each of the ranges so focusing on review collection should always be a priority.

Average Star Rating

Aside from the review count on a product, the average star rating is another key element consumers look for.

Star Rating Impact on Traffic

Source: UGC Benchmarks: Review Influence on Online Traffic to Product Pages

Average Star Rating Impact on Conversion

Source: Ratings & Reviews Benchmarks: Average Rating Impact on Conversion

The sweet spot for conversion and traffic is an average rating of 4.5 – 4.99. Interestingly, pages in the 4.5 – 4.74 range attract more page views than those in the 4.75 – 4.99 range but the trend is reversed for on-page conversion.

The takeaway here for ecommerce practitioners wondering what targets they should set themselves: anything above 4 stars is good, 4.25 stars better, 4.5 stars better still and 4.75 stars the “North Star” goal.

All the while, you need to underpin any targets you do set yourself with the context of the specifics of your own business (e.g. vertical you operate in and competitors you’re up against, pricepoint of your product, etc). Ultimately, consumer expectations – which are a big part of how shoppers approach submitting ratings and reviews – are dictated by a number of factors that are likely unique to your business.

These results make one thing completely clear: consumers pay attention to the average rating. That might sound obvious in and of itself but remember star ratings are rounded to the nearest half star – in other words, both a 4.75 average rating and a 5.0 average rating will appear as a 5 star on a product page. There is a significant difference between the conversion rates in both of these bands. This means that shoppers clearly look beyond the star visual when deciding whether to purchase a product.

One finding – again – is clear and unmistakable. Consumers don’t trust 5-star average ratings. This supports much of our research: we have found a sizable proportion of consumers are suspicious of perfect 5-star ratings, including 46% of shoppers overall and 53% of Gen Z shoppers.

Review Recency

Recency is a MAJOR consideration for consumers.

Nearly all – 97% – of consumers consider review recency to be at least somewhat important when weighing a purchase decision:

Importance of Review Recency
How important is the recency with which reviews are written to you when considering buying a product?
Source: The Power of Review Volume & Recency
Specific Review Recency Expectations for Consumers
In an ideal world, how recently do you like to see that review content was left on a specific product when assessing whether to purchase it?
Source: The Power of Review Volume & Recency

When it comes to the recency of reviews, consumers have high expectations. Brands and retailers must make it a priority to consistently generate a steady stream of reviews so shoppers can always find the fresh content they’ve come to expect.

Consumers value review quality

Review quality – the depth of specific information and context included within a review – is a key consideration for many consumers.

The Vast Majority of Consumers Go Beyond the Basics and Read the Actual Review Content
When you read product reviews, how often do you look beyond the basic information (i.e. review volume count, review date and average star rating) to dig deeper and read the actual review content?
Source: Key Information Shoppers Look for in Product Reviews

This begs the question: why? And what information are they looking for? The answer to this is: a lot of different things.

Those Who Read Reviews do so to get Feedback on Many Topics
When you read reviews, what specifically are you looking for in the content of the reviews themselves?
To learn about bad experiences reported with the product
84%
That the product has been used in the same way I intend to use it
78%
To check the product performs as claimed by the manufacturing brand
73%
Sizing information (when shopping for clothing and shoes)
70%
Long-term durability
64%
Imagery or photos of the product from a real-life shopper
57%
To assess value for money
57%
That the review comes from someone who has used the product more than once
53%
That the person who writes the review is similar to me
22%

When it comes to the information consumers actually value in the review itself, again there are many.

Consumers Value Many Aspects of Individual Reviews
Which of the following types of detail included within individual reviews do you find useful or would find useful when reading them?
A picture/image of the product from someone who has used it
65%
Longer, more descriptive reviews
59%
Stories and accounts that relate to and are consistent with how you intend to use the product
57%
Aggregated pros and cons pulled from all the reviews submitted
54%
“Most positive review” vs “most negative review” pulled from all reviews submitted
45%
The tag/badge signifying how the reviewer obtained the product
42%
A video of the product from someone who has used it
36%
Demographic profile information
19%
Longer, more descriptive title
17%

The key takeaway from this is that you should seek to collect – as much as possible – quality reviews in addition to volume.

Section 1.5

Imagery and Video

Shoppers want user-generated image & video more than ever
Types of Photos Consumers Value More
What kind of product photos are more valuable to you: professional photos supplied by the brand/retailer, or those supplied by another customer?
2016
2021
Source: How User-Generated Visual Content Became Fundamental to Ecommerce
There is a 106.3% lift in conversion when shoppers interact with a user-generate image or video online.
Source: The Conversion Impact of User-Generated Content: A Complete Breakdown

Online shoppers depend on visual content – including photos and videos – when making purchase decisions. But not just any visual content will satisfy their needs. A staggering 99% of consumers look for visuals submitted by other consumers prior to making a purchase.

Imagery and video provide exceptional real-life examples of the product in actual everyday use. How does it hold up under the typical strain customers put it under? Does it look, feel and smell as described? Is performance in line with, worse or better than expected?

Visual media enables each of these questions to be answered with precision and in great detail. In doing so, it generates exceptional authenticity and trust. So aim as much as possible to incorporate visual media into your UGC strategy.

Section 1.6

What Information Should the Ideal Customer Review Incorporate?

When thinking about how to generate review content that will convert the best, always remember the purpose of displaying user-generated content is to build buyer confidence.

Reviews are a great vehicle for building confidence with customers by delivering an authentic depiction of your products.

Building a “perfect review” and considering all the elements entailed is therefore grounded in this overall concept. How do you hone and elevate the trustworthy voice of your customers?

From our experience, a perfect review typically incorporates the elements highlighted below.

Informative Title
Titles need to grab shopper attention quickly.
Rating
Five star reviews are ideal but consumers value authenticity above all.
An artificially-inflated rating will only lead to distrust of your brand.
Verified Buyer
Ensures content is 100% reliable, and more valued by consumers.
Relatable Stories
Real-life accounts of use cases add value and color that is critical to the buying decision.
Length
Reviews longer than 500 characters are proven to generate a greater number of conversions.
Contextual Media
Authentic imagery and video “out in the wild” adds unrivaled credibility.
Profile Info
Specific demographic detail to make content relatable and relevant.
Back to Contents
Chapter 2

Review Collection

Section 2.1

Making the ask

The first step to maximizing review collection is asking.

You may get lucky and capture some content without, but most people need at least a gentle nudge. Others may need considerably more.

The more creative you can get, the more successful you are likely to be. But here are some of our top tips.

Email request

A post-purchase email asking for a review is a staple for most brands.

And with good reason: it’s the most important review collection technique. From our experience, it generates up to 80% of ALL ratings and reviews content dependent on the brand.

Although this should go without saying, they must be personalized based on the specific purchase.

They should also be simple and to the point. No fluff. Be very clear about the purpose of the communication and in your call to action.

Here are some good examples.

All three of these follow-up review request emails are on brand, simple and to-the-point – critical factors in generating the desired outcome.

Post Purchase Email Checklist
  • Compelling subject line with less than 55 characters
  • Personalized
  • Mobile-friendly
  • Short and sweet
  • 16–18 point font
  • Single column layout
  • Clear call to action
  • Image and link to product
  • No other marketing or sales call to action
FURTHER READING
If you want to increase your email open rates, it all comes down to your subject line. Here are eight dos and don’ts to help you optimize those subject lines.
8 Email Subject Line Dos & Don’ts for Stronger Review Collection

Enable review submission from within email

There are typically two options when it comes to actual collection of the review content:

  1. Dynamically from within the email itself
  2. In a form on your website

Here’s an example of an “In-Email” review submission capability from Naturepedic.

This obviously means fewer clicks and a more seamless review submission process. However, content generated this way is typically less detailed and shorter.

Review Collection Form

Let’s assume you are not enabling reviewers to provide content in the email itself. In which case, you’ll be directing shoppers to a form on your site to provide a review. Again, you’ll need to be very clear in your ask. Provide obvious direction to deliver the content you need where you need it.

Although there is clear variation across different categories, basket size data highlights how each individual online purchase averages 2.73 items.

So – when it comes to review collection – you should also enable consumers to write reviews on multiple products without leaving or refreshing the page. This encourages far higher collection rates.

As in this example: load up all of those products in your review form so customers can provide content without leaving the window or refreshing the page.

Collect Ratings & Reviews via Text Message

Increasingly, brands are also collecting ratings and reviews via text message. Why? It’s deemed by many to be quicker and easier. This methodology particularly resonates with younger generations who are not as wedded to email.

Section 2.2

Maximize Review Volume and Recency

We already talked about the importance of review coverage across all your products. And – beyond that – how generating a high volume of reviews can have a big impact on conversion. l. We also explored the importance of ensuring shoppers can always find recent reviews for your products. 

Here are some ways you can generate a steady stream of reviews so consumers can always find a high volume of fresh content for the products they’re considering

Time the ask appropriately

You can’t ask for a review as soon as the item has been purchased. Customers need time to 1) receive the product and 2) try it out.

The ideal timing is also dependent on the type of product the consumer purchased. We therefore typically provide the following guidelines for timing review request emails:

Seasonal Products: 7 Days

There’s a pretty short window when folks will purchase seasonal goods, such as school supplies or holiday decorations. Since we know that reviews drive sales, you’ll want to get reviews for seasonal products as quickly as possible so you don’t miss the season. Send post purchase emails for seasonal goods within seven days.

Perishable Goods: 14 Days

Perishable goods—such as cut flowers and fresh fruit and vegetables —have a short shelf life. Send post purchase emails for these products within 14 days. If you wait any longer, the product will be out of sight and out of mind.

Soft Goods: 14 Days

Soft goods are items that are immediately consumed or have a lifespan of three years or less, such as clothing and cosmetics. As with hard goods, you’ll want to give your customer the opportunity to try out the product before writing a review. But don’t wait too long, because the lifespan of soft goods is much shorter than hard goods and the purchase won’t be top of mind for long.

Hard Goods: 21 Days

Hard goods are durable items that don’t wear out quickly, such as refrigerators, washing machines, and computers. It’s a best practice to wait 21 days before sending a post purchase email for these types of products.

After three weeks, the customer will have enough time to get a good feel for the product so they can write a well informed, thorough review.

Ask more than once

Although we’d all love to only make the ask once to get the desired results, that’s also not realistic. Our research found that about a third (32%) of shoppers need to be asked twice or more before they’ll submit a review. 

As a best practice, send TWO email requests. As previously mentioned, studies show that up to 80% of reviews originate from post purchase emails. If you don’t send more than one email, you risk wasting the best opportunity to boost review volume and recency. 

Prioritize products that need it

Review coverage – the concept of generating review content across your entire product catalog – is a big concern for pretty much every brand and retailer.

Where possible, look to prioritize collection for products with few (or no) reviews. Remember: the higher the review volume, the larger the impact on conversion!

In this example, the products are ordered accordingly. Best-in-class technology will do this automatically.

Incorporate sweepstake incentives

A sweepstakes is an incentive to be placed in a raffle-style drawing for a cash prize or similar in exchange for providing a review.

Although not appropriate for all brands, they can work great in the right circumstances.

Here are a couple of examples of how you would incorporate this incentive in one of your review submission request emails.

Incorporate in your loyalty program

You may not want to provide cash incentives. If so, consider integrating into your loyalty program. It’s an effective way to generate more content, as our research found that 59% of consumers would be motivated to write a review if they received loyalty points with the store or brand in exchange for their feedback. 

Many brands offer up loyalty points in exchange for review content.

This can be super powerful in creating engagement with your brand, generating more loyal customers and generally making them feel part of a bigger community.

Review Generation Case Study: Leading Apparel Brand
Three simple tweaks to Ratings & Review program that had a stunning impact.

What they did

  1. Added a second follow up email post-purchase
  2. Enabled ability to provide multiple products in the same form
  3. Added a sweepstakes entry

The results they saw

  • Initial jump from 1,000 to 10,000 reviews in a month
  • Continue to generate 8,000 reviews monthly
  • These new techniques led to increased review completion by 300% and review volume by 147%.

Ask for review content in other communication channels

Dedicated follow-up emails are the most direct and effective review collection method.

But you routinely communicate with customers across a whole host of methods and channels. Brands are increasingly leveraging these to collect review content.

Review request on packaging
Review request social media contest
Review request on receipt
Review request in an Instagram story
Review request in a social media response
Review request in an invoice

Run a product sampling campaign

Product sampling campaigns – sending a product to a group of people who agree to write a review or create a social post in exchange – are a really effective method for generating reviews from a very targeted persona.

Our research found that 86% of consumers indicate they’d be motivated to write a review if they received a free product sample. And to back up that research, we’ve found that our own product sampling campaigns yield a 86% response rate. In other words, 86% of shoppers who receive a free sample go on to write a product review. 

Brands and retailers find they are particularly effective in specific scenarios:

  • Product launches
  • Filling existing glaring gaps
  • To keep review content fresh (remember: recency matters!)
  • Generating content quickly to in advance of selling a seasonal product

Product sampling is a complex process made up of a number of critical elements. You need to be clear on your goals from the outset and this will determine the scale of the project.

Targeting the right audience, fulfilling the campaign and then ensuring your samplers provide the review content you’re seeking is also obviously super important.

Our product sampling guide provides a detailed step-by-step breakdown.

Case Study: Bissell
Bissell, the vacuum brand, offers high consideration items. With a typical cost of $200, shoppers tend to consume a lot of review content before purchasing.

Problem

Bissell wanted to launch its latest product line complete with pre-existing customer endorsement and validation.

 

Solution

Bissell believes its vacuums are the best in the industry at tackling pet hair, so they embarked on a sampling campaign to target pet owners frustrated by other vacuums.

Result

This resulted in a review coverage of 90% across its product catalog and the collection of over 2,000 customer-generated images. As you can see from this image, many of these included dogs – a vivid illustration of the value proposition the company sought to communicate.

Tap into a powerful database of online and in-store purchases

While ecommerce continues to grow, the majority of purchases are still made in a brick-and-mortar store. So if you’re not soliciting reviews from both in-store and online shoppers, you’re missing out on a big opportunity to generate a ton of content.

One way to do this is to leverage a service like “Receipt. Review. Collect” from PowerReviews. This solution allows brands to tap into a consumer database of online and in-store purchases across more than 10 million members. Brands can then generate reviews from these verified purchasers. Tom’s of Maine used the program to grow review volume by 18,600% in 21 days (yes, you read that right). 

Section 2.3

Optimize review quality

What to Include in Your Review Collection Form

Optimizing your Review Collection form is key to increasing review quality. But what exactly should you include in yours?

There’s no easy answer. It really depends on your industry and what works for your brand.

The first step is to determine the types of information that will be useful to consumers considering your products. This is data you’ll want to incorporate into your review display, so you’ll want to include questions that address it in your Review Collection form. In addition, consider data you’ll leverage internally to improve products, experiences, or internal operations. 

That said, there are common elements across the most effective Review Collection forms. In this guide, we’ll explore the elements you’ll want to consider when building (or optimizing) your Review Collection form, based on our experience helping more than 1,000 brands and retailers collect and display high quality reviews. 

Remember: best practices (especially those for your industry) are a great place to start. Then, you can measure and optimize from there to get the best results.

The Basics

When it comes to Review Collection forms, there are five basic questions to include. Think of these questions as the foundation from which all Review Collection forms are built. They’re must-haves.

At the end of the day, it’s up to you to determine which of these fields are required and which (if any) are optional. However, it’s best practice to make all five fields required. This is especially true for brands that syndicate their review content to retailers. That’s because all five are required for syndication.

1. Rating

The star rating a shopper assigns to a product, on a scale of one to five.

Star ratings are really important to shoppers; 77% say they consider the average star rating when reading reviews. So it’s important to collect them in your Review Collection form 

Typically, a product’s average star rating is displayed at the top of the product page – alongside the number of reviews for the given product. This review snippet helps the shopper determine whether to explore the product further or look for other options.

2. Headline

The headline of a review is kind of like the title of a book. It helps shoppers determine whether they want to read the review itself.

At PowerReviews, we require a specific headline when a shopper submits a review. Be sure this is a field you include in your Review Collection form.

Other vendors allow brands and retailers to instead publish the first few words and/or characters of the review in its place. We don’t recommend this because the headline acts as the customer’s opening thought/recommendation on which they can elaborate on as they write their review. 

And then when the review is published, it’s also super informative in determining whether shoppers decide to read the review or not.

3. Comments

There’s no getting away from it: comments are the review. They provide the “why” behind the star rating. They offer reviewers the opportunity to share their specific sentiment(s) on the product under consideration.

Shoppers scrutinize this content to identify answers to questions on more intricate details that ultimately determine whether they buy or not. For brands and retailers, they also offer deep insight on customer sentiment specific to that product.

It’s important to collect this written commentary within your Review Collection form. In fact, we feel very strongly that this should be a required field on all Review Collection forms. Research tells us nearly all shoppers look beyond the basic summary information in a review to read the actual content at least sometimes.

That’s because comments provide context for star ratings – and can allow future shoppers to find reviews that speak to their specific needs, concerns, and use cases. 

Later on, we’ll share some best practices for encouraging shoppers to provide longer, more detailed commentary in this field. 

4. Nickname

A nickname is how a reviewer is identified and is typically displayed with the review to reinforce that it was written by a real person.

Because the bottom line is: Consumers value reviews because it’s content written by others like them, without any motive. Displaying the nickname adds a human element to the review.

As such, the nickname is a foundational field to include in your Review Collection form. Some brands request the first name and last initial – and others allow more freedom. It’s really up to you to determine what’s in line with your brand.

Worthy of note: PowerReviews enables you to change these headlines to be whatever you want. However, there is a balance to be struck: we are very careful to ensure the privacy of your customers and recommend not capturing a reviewer’s full name for this reason. With that being said, our sophisticated moderation techniques mean PII is extracted from a review before it’s published.

5. Location

Location is another important, basic element to include in your Review Collection form. Again, this information helps convey to future shoppers that this is a real review written by a real person. 

In addition, geographical location can be helpful for shoppers looking for relevant content. This is especially true for certain product categories. For example, consider a Chicago-based consumer shopping for winter boots. They’re likely to value reviews written by other Midwesterners, as they experience a similar winter climate. 

Review Meter

Remember when we said longer, more detailed reviews are more helpful to shoppers? Well, it’s a claim backed by data. A survey found that just about all (97%) of consumers seek out longer, more detailed reviews at least sometimes. And 68% say they do so always or on the regular.

Consumers Seek Out Long, Detailed Reviews
When you read reviews, how often do you actively seek out reviews that are longer in length and contain more detail?

When reviewers provide a lot of keyword-rich details, future shoppers are more likely to find content that’s relevant to them. For example, a consumer with sensitive skin might seek out reviews for a cosmetic that specifically speaks to how it works for those with sensitive skin. 

Including a review meter in your Review Collection form can help you generate more of those long, detailed reviews that fuel great purchase decisions. 

Essentially, a review meter is an interactive character count that appears below the comments box in the Review Collection form. As the reviewer types, that little green bar grows. When the review reaches the ideal length (you choose what that is), the meter lights up to let the shopper know they’ve written a great review – and to keep going if they’d like. It’s super satisfying to the customer – and a powerful way to generate longer reviews. 

Helper Text

Writer’s block is a thing – for novelists and review writers alike. A consumer may be willing to write a review. But faced with that big blank comments box, they just don’t know what the heck to write. 

The result? They abandon the process altogether. Or, they write a super short, less-than-helpful review. 

One simple way to get the creative juices flowing (and get shoppers to write longer, more detailed reviews) is to include some helper text in the comments field. This text serves as writing prompts for the reviewer.

For example, the comments field of this Review Collection form for a skincare product asks the shopper to consider:

  • How they use the product
  • Things that are great about it
  • Things that aren’t great about it

With PowerReviews, this can be completely customized. Maybe feedback from your customers highlights a desire for specific information about a specific feature of your product. With this text, you can capture more of this detail in your reviews.

Native Image and Video Collection

When consumers shop online (which they’re doing a lot lately), they don’t have the benefit of seeing and touching a product in person. Visual content, including photos and videos, helps bridge the gap. 

Brand-provided photos and videos are helpful to shoppers. But increasingly, they want to see content from others like them. A survey found that 77% of consumers always or regularly seek out photos or videos from others who have purchased a given product.

As such, customer-centric brands make it a priority to prominently showcase user-generated visual content on their product pages. A common way to do this is to feature a visual gallery with shopper-submitted photos and videos.

Brands who prioritize user-generated imagery reap some big benefits. Site visitors who interact with user-generated imagery on a product page convert at a rate that’s more than 106% higher than average!

But in order to display this content, you must first collect it. The best way to do this is through the Review Collection form.

If user-generated content is a priority for you (hint: it should be), then be sure to add a field to your Review Collection form that allows reviewers to easily submit it. Allow them to submit the media natively – or from their social media accounts.

The Bottom Line

A review might be a few words long – or a few paragraphs. But at the end of the day, what the reader really wants to know is whether or not the reviewer recommends the product in question.

Many brands and retailers get this. It’s why they feature the percentage of reviewers that recommend a product at the top of their review display.

Where do brands and retailers get this aggregated data? You guessed it: their Review Collection form. 

So, be sure to include a section in your Review Collection form that asks whether the reviewer would or would not recommend the product in question to a friend. Future shoppers are sure to factor in this information when deciding whether or not to explore the product.

Customized Questions

Up to this point, we’ve focused on key elements of Review Collection forms that are important across all product categories. For example, asking for a star rating or review comments is key – whether you’re selling jewelry or mattresses.

However, each industry and business is unique. That’s why it often makes sense to include additional questions on your Review Collection form.

How many questions should you add? The short answer is, it depends. Here at PowerReviews, we generally recommend adding between two and five additional questions. This allows you to gather the insights that matter to your business and customers, without overwhelming them (by the same token, the form can also be set not to include any additional questions if that is your preference).

So, what additional questions should you add to your Review Collection? Again, there’s no easy answer. You have to consider what data you (or your future customers) will actually use. Consider what data will fuel your review display, and what data you can leverage internally to inform product and customer experience optimizations. 

In addition, your ratings and reviews provider should have expertise in your business and your industry. So be sure to ask for their guidance in terms of question quantity, as well as what questions to ask. 

Remember: you never want to add questions simply for the sake of adding them. If a Review Collection form is too long (even if a lot of the fields are optional), you’re likely to see a high abandonment rate.

With all that said, here are a few types of questions you may want to consider adding to your Review Collection form.

1. Subratings

The star rating is a key component of a review. However, it requires customers to assign a single number to their overall experience with a product. 

Sometimes, brands and retailers want to get more granular feedback about various elements of a given product, including quality, value, durability, and comfort. They do this by adding subratings fields to their Review Collection form.

Displaying this feedback can help future shoppers better assess the product’s attributes. What’s more, this data provides businesses with insights about what shoppers like (and don’t like). Brands and retailers can use this data to fuel product improvements. 

2. Size/Fit Questions

A survey found that 89% of apparel and footwear shoppers consider size and fit when considering an apparel or footwear purchase. But these factors are tough to assess when shopping online. 

Of course, tools like size charts help. However, many apparel brands and retailers also provide aggregated, customer-provided size and fit feedback within the review display.

If you’re a brand or retailer that sells apparel and footwear, collecting size and fit information within the Review Collection form is a must. The size and fit information you’ll want to collect depends on the type of product. For example, an apparel brand may opt to collect overall fit and sleeve length feedback for tops and jackets, and waist fit for pants.  

Displaying this information helps shoppers make better purchase decisions. What’s more, it can dramatically reduce returns, as size and fit issues are a top reason apparel is returned.

3. Service & Delivery Comments

Typically, product reviews focus on the product itself. However, some brands and retailers also want to collect feedback on other aspects of the customer experience – including service and delivery. This makes sense, as the experiences a customer has with a brand can be just as important as the product.  As such, optimizing experiences can increase both conversion and retention.

If you’re looking to collect feedback on service and delivery, consider adding a service/delivery comments field to your Review Collection form. But remember: only collect this data if you plan to act on the insights it yields. 

4. Tag-Based Questions

Some brands and retailers build interactive review snapshots that provide an overview of all reviews written for a particular product. For example, consumers landing on this product page can quickly determine the product’s pros, cons, and best uses – among other things. Shoppers can then click on any of these elements to hone in on reviews that speak to these specific factors. And research tells us that visitors who filter by these “tags” convert at a rate that’s more than 78% higher than average. 

In order to display this aggregated information for your shoppers, you’ve got to collect it in your Review Collection form. Typically, reviewers are provided with a selection of answers for each question. For example, pre-populated pros for a pair of shoes might include attractive design, comfortable, stylish, breathe well, and durable. The reviewer can also add their own.

A further benefit of including pros and cons in this way is that they can help get a customer’s thoughts/juices flowing. As a best practice, these are typically served up before the review comment. This plants thoughts on the topics they may choose to cover subsequently. For example: if they regard “comfortable” as a pro, they might choose to elaborate on why in their review comment.

5. Merchant Specific Questions

There are certain tag-based questions – such as pros, cons, and best uses – that can be used in Review Collection forms across just about any product category. However, there may be other questions you may want to include in your Review Collection form that are specific to your brand. 

For example, a skincare company might opt to include questions about the reviewer’s skin type and skin concerns. That way, the brand can add a feature to their display allowing shoppers to easily find content written by others with similar skin types and concerns. 

How do you figure out which merchant-specific questions to ask in your Review Collection form? Consider what information would be most helpful to shoppers trying to decide if your product is the right fit for them.

For shoppers, the ability to filter only on reviews that directly address a personally relevant problem or concern specific to them is very powerful. 

As an example, think about skincare products: the capability to filter on reviews by users with oily skin is extremely helpful for shoppers with this skin type. In doing so, they are only served reviews who meet this specific criteria.

6. Email Opt In

There are some instances where it makes sense to collect data in your Review Collection form that won’t be included in your review display – but will be leveraged internally. For example, you may want to include a newsletter opt-in form to your Review Collection. It’s a great way to grow your email list, with little effort. 

7. Ask Questions Specific to the Product

If you are a brand that sells different categories of products, you should definitely consider structuring your review collection form in line with this. In the below example, the brand has different forms for its skincare and hair care products. This makes total sense: buyers have completely different concerns when shopping for these items.

In these particular examples, the brand asks specific questions about hair and skin type. Incorporating this information in the review display is extremely informative in a highly personally relevant way for shoppers as they consider purchasing these products.

At PowerReviews, we make segmenting Review Collection forms by category like this straightforward.

Back to Contents
Chapter 3

Preserving Authenticity

The value of reviews is rooted in their authenticity. When consumers write reviews, they’re not doing so to sell products. They’re contributing content simply to share their genuine feedback – whether good, bad, or somewhere in between.

The Growing Concern of Fake Reviews

Yet, one simply needs to do a Google news search for “fake reviews” to see that the authenticity and trustworthiness of reviews is being called into question. 

Fake reviews have become more common than you may like to think – especially on certain platforms. And some brands have even gone so far as to suppress negative reviews in an effort to improve consumer perception. Just earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commision (FTC) fined clothing retailer Fashion Nova $4.2m for doing just that.

In the short term, suppressing negative reviews and publishing fraudulent ones can be a quick way to improve a brand’s image – and grow sales. But in the end, these practices cause lasting damage. 

Phony reviews mislead customers. This leads to poor purchase decisions – and unhappy customers.

What’s more, when a brand or retailer is found out (notice we said when, not if) for these unsavory practices, it can cause irreparable damage to their reputation. If consumers don’t feel they can trust a company, they’re unlikely to make a purchase.

Nearly all Consumers Have Stumbled Upon a Shady Review

How common are fake reviews? And what red flags do shoppers look for to determine if a review is phony?

Fake reviews have become all too common. Nine in 10 (90%) US consumers believe they’ve read a fake review in the past.

0 %
of consumers believe they’ve encountered a fake review

How US Shoppers Pinpoint Fraudulent Reviews

Most shoppers in the US believe they’ve seen fake reviews in the past. But what factors lead them to believe a review isn’t authentic?

The top factor is the wording of the review or how it’s written. This factor also tops the list among UK shoppers. 

Other red flags include poor grammar, extremeness (either too positive or too negative), and a lack of specific detail.

Red Flags for Fake Reviews According to Consumers
Which of the following features in a review makes you concerned it may be fake?
Wording of reviews and/or how it’s written
67%
Poor grammar or doesn’t make sense
59%
Too extreme (whether positive or negative)
54%
Lack of specific detail
52%
The name/profile of the reviewer
27%

So fake reviews are bad. But how can you safeguard against them: enter content moderation.

Content Moderation

So, what does best-in-class ratings and reviews moderation look like?

First of all, it needs to account for each and every piece of content submitted by your shoppers. 

Every user-generated review, photo, video, question, or answer — should go through an extensive moderation process to confirm it’s authentic, appropriate, and fraud-free. Each piece of content should also not be altered in any way.

All content that is published should appear as it is originally written, including typos and grammatical errors. This ultimately is critical to authenticity and snuffling out fake reviews.

Step 1: Fraud Detection

Displaying fake reviews directly violates FTC guidelines. So it’s important to keep this content off your website.

To safeguard against this threat, industry-leading fraud technology can analyze the device fingerprint data used to submit a piece of UGC. This data identifies the device ID associated with a review, such as a smartphone or tablet and helps to identify suspicious device or IP information. By using this technology, you’re able to prevent all different types of fraudulent reviews, including spam, duplicate content, and promotional content.  

For example, if it detects a large number of reviews coming from a single device, those reviews get flagged for potential fraud. Of course, there is a possibility it’s just a customer who’s particularly zealous about reviewing every single product they bought for Black Friday. Most times, however, this kind of activity indicates fraud. Either way, the tech applies a “fraud” tag to it, flagging it for review – potentially by human moderators (more on them in step 3).

Step 2: Automated Filtering

Beyond fraud, systems can also scan each piece of content through an automated filtering process to catch additional authenticity issues, from profanity to personally identifiable information. When a potential issue is detected, a tag is added to that content so that it can be later reviewed by a human. 

Examples of the types of content tagged:

  • Content about the wrong product or retailer
  • Contradictory content, e.g. a rave review with a 1-star rating
  • Duplicate content
  • Foreign language
  • Medical advice
  • Personally identifiable information
  • Profanity
  • Violent content
  • Website URLs

For some tags, such as profanity, the content can be automatically rejected for publication. For others, it can be passed to a human moderation team. 

A best-in-class vendor will enable you to add additional words or phrases to the profanity filter. It will also make regular updates to these filters, based on emerging slang terms or political slogans, to ensure nothing profane gets published.

(PowerReviews applies observations tags, which we detail in our Moderation Policy)

Step 3: Human Moderation

For many businesses and Ratings and Reviews vendors, the moderation process stops at step two. But relying solely on technology can leave you vulnerable to some of the exact issues that violate the FTC guideline –  like deceptive performance claims, medical advice, and other forms of misrepresentation. 

Human moderation adds an additional layer of protection for this very reason. Technology can help prevent fraud and profanity, but humans are better equipped to review for nuance, innuendo, and context.

To meet the high standards for authenticity required to successfully snuff out fake reviews (and not to mention the FTC Guidelines), a moderation process powered by both human and artificial intelligence is ideal.

For example – at PowerReviews, our human moderators review every piece of UGC in our secure portal. All content flagged as an observation by our automatic filtering process will be highlighted, such as profane language or reviews that don’t discuss the products.

Upon reviewing all of the Observations, the moderator will determine whether the review should be published. If a review is rejected for publication, it will not be published and will subsequently not be syndicated (if a brand or retailer using our solution chooses to override this decision, the review will only publish to their site — not to any syndicated retailers).

Also of note: our moderators work on several teams. Some moderators work on all English content, while some review content that needs to follow a specific set of guidelines, such as herbal supplements or financial products (PowerReviews can also facilitate an exclusive moderator to review their content for additional concerns, such as medical advice).

Step 4: Badging and Displaying Content

Once a piece of content passes steps 1-3, it’s ready to be displayed on your website. Woohoo! But remember: it’s important to use accurate badging and disclosure codes that indicate the source of the content. 

This added layer of transparency shows details such as:

  • Where a review came from
  • Whether or not it has been verified i.e. written by a person who actually purchased the product
  • If it’s been syndicated from another site
  • If it was collected via a sampling campaign or was shared as a contest entry
  • If the review was submitted by a company employee

PowerReviews offers the following options which serve as a best practice example.

Verified buyers

A “Verified Buyer” badge should be assigned to reviews written by someone who has actually purchased the product they are reviewing, as identified through their purchase history. This builds consumer confidence, and it also ensures you don’t run afoul of Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits “misrepresenting an endorser as an actual, current, or recent user” of a product.

Sweepstakes & product sampling

The FTC also frowns upon failing to disclose whether an endorsement is paid. In the world of influencers, the proper way to do this is by clearly stating that a post or endorsement is sponsored, e.g. with a #sponsored or #ad hashtag at the top of a post. 

A review might be considered a paid endorsement if the reviewer received the product for free, such as through a sweepstakes or product sampling campaign. 

Syndicated reviews

The second example above is also an example of you should badge syndicated reviews. All review content that is syndicated beyond the client’s original website must be badged appropriately (at PowerReviews, we do this by including the name or logo of where the review was originally written – like this Too Faced review syndicated to Ulta).

Staff reviews

Finally, reviews that are written by someone who works for a brand or retailer must also be disclosed, as these people may naturally have a more biased opinion of a brand. For these reviews add a “Staff Reviewer” badge.

It’s important to share as much context as possible about your UGC, as this fosters trust with online shoppers. And in many cases, it’s also required by the FTC (Learn more about PowerReviews Badges).

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Chapter 4

Review Display on PDPs and Throughout Your Site

Let’s start with the most obvious place to showcase your review content: your product pages. But although it’s obvious, many brands and retailers get it wrong.

Of course, review displays aren’t one size fits all.

For example, a display for a pair of shoes should feature size and fit information to help future shoppers determine the correct size to purchase.

But those data points would be completely irrelevant for a product page selling eye makeup.

There are, however, best practices that apply across all categories.

Ultimately, your goal is to provide the information necessary to provide shoppers with the confidence to buy. This is the make-or-break point in the customer journey and the final step.

All your product development, customer acquisition and – not to mention – review collection efforts have led to this point. This is where you convert consumers, turning browsers to customers.

In this section, we focus on the information we know shoppers look for at this moment of truth.

Section 4.1

Create Review Displays On Your PDPs That Convert

Let’s start with the most obvious place to showcase your review content: your product pages. But although it’s obvious, many brands and retailers get it wrong.

Of course, review displays aren’t one size fits all.

For example, a display for a pair of shoes should feature size and fit information to help future shoppers determine the correct size to purchase.

But those data points would be completely irrelevant for a product page selling eye makeup.

There are, however, best practices that apply across all categories.

Ultimately, your goal is to provide the information necessary to provide shoppers with the confidence to buy. This is the make-or-break point in the customer journey and the final step.

All your marketing efforts have led to this point. This is where you convert consumers, turning browsers to customers.

In this section, we focus on the information we know shoppers look for at this moment of truth.

The Ideal Review Display: At a Glance
  • Review Snippet: A simple visualization of a product’s review content — right at the top of the product page.
  • Review Snapshot: A visual overview of the review content for a given product, including average star rating and rating distribution, and customized to your needs.
  • Search and Filter: Helps shoppers find reviews relevant to their needs.
  • Demographic Information: Shoppers can find relatable content from someone with similar characteristics and use cases.

  • Helpful Votes: Enable shoppers to vote reviews as “helpful” and then aggregate this content as they assess a potential purchase. 
  • Verified Buyer Badge: Show shoppers a review was written by someone who actually purchased the product.
  • Visual Content Display: Photos and videos from your shoppers — collected both natively and through social media.
Search and filter options

Once a shopper finds reviews relevant to their use case, they’re more likely to make a purchase. In fact, there’s a 202.9% conversion lift among visitors who use the search feature (over general visitors to the same page).

Compare and contrast

Helps consumers understand the key features existing customers like and dislike about the product. A review “faceoff” shows the most liked positive review alongside the most liked negative one. It’s a great way for shoppers to quickly understand the positives and the negatives of the product that have been most helpful for other shoppers to learn about.

Our research shows there’s a 138.2% conversion lift for those who expand the positive review in the faceoff over general visitors to the same Product Detail Page.

And interestingly, there’s a 120.6% conversion increase among shoppers who click to expand the negative review. This once again proves the value of negative reviews in empowering shoppers to make informed purchase decisions.

Enable shoppers to identify “helpful” reviews

When a shopper reads a review, they can indicate that the content was helpful (or not) by clicking on the thumbs up or thumbs down icons.

As our research highlights, the conversion rate increases by 314.7% among visitors who click the “helpful” icon. And interestingly, there’s a 182.4% conversion lift among those who click the “unhelpful icon”.

Further Enhance Your Image Gallery with Review Content

Your PDP image galleries offer a great opportunity to further highlight great review content in a hugely visually compelling way.

Check out this example within an image carousel.

FURTHER READING
As a brand, your goal is to provide attention-short shoppers with the confidence to buy from you. So focus on what’s important.
How to Display Reviews to Boost Conversions: Focus on What, Not How
Section 4.2

Displaying Reviews Throughout Your Website

There are plenty of ways to leverage review content throughout your website to entice visitors to click through to your product pages.

Transform your Homepage by leveraging Review Content

Of course, your homepage is the springboard for the rest of the customer journey. So it represents a fantastic opportunity to guide consumers down the path to purchase.

Featuring review content on your homepage does just that. Why? It helps shoppers more easily (and quickly) find the products that meet their needs.

Attention spans are notoriously short nowadays so you have little time to influence behavior as you’d like. As we’ve seen, ratings and reviews are among the most potent weapons in your arsenal. So incorporate it in your first “touch” with customers.

Be sure to display the average star rating and review volume for each of the products featured in your best sellers carousel. Or, consider adding a top rating products carousel to your homepage. 

If you’re featuring a specific product on your homepage, include user-generated photos, as well as the text of a glowing review, to entice visitors to click to learn more.

Spruce up your Category Pages

Today, when shoppers hit a product category page, they likely have the option to filter the results by a number of different categories, such as price and new arrivals. Make sure your shoppers can sort by “top rated,” too.

Also include the average star rating and the number of reviews for each product in a category to make browsing easier for shoppers.

Want to include even more social proof on your category pages? When a shopper hovers over a product, display a preview of a written review to entice them to click through.

Feature Customer Photos and Videos Throughout Your Website

Your professionally shot photos and videos are certainly important. But shoppers actually prefer to see photos and videos of your products being used by real people like them (as we already mentioned, we look at this in a lot more detail in chapter 9).

In fact, according to our own research, 80% of  consumers say customer-generated visual content is more valuable than glossy photos produced by a brand or retailer.

Consider adding a visual content gallery to your website that showcases images and videos of your products that you’ve collected from social media.

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Chapter 5

Enhancing your Marketing Initiatives with Ratings & Reviews

Getting a negative review can feel like a punch to the gut. After all, your brand is laser-focused on developing products and experiences that your customers love.

So it’s never fun to hear negative feedback about something you’ve worked hard to create.

But negative reviews are inevitable. Even the most well-loved businesses get them from time to time.

That’s because it’s simply impossible to create a product that meets the needs of every single customer who comes your way.

Of course, negative reviews are never the end goal. But there’s a positive side to negative reviews. Yes, you read that right. In fact, one and two star reviews can actually be good for your business.

Section 5.1

In Digital Marketing

If you’re like any other brand, you are constantly questioning how to improve the performance of your digital campaigns to drive more shoppers to your website.

Ratings and reviews are a fantastic resource to leverage to drive these enhancements.

Build Email Campaigns that Showcase Ratings & Reviews

With most inboxes now overflowing with promotional emails, you need to stand out.

Consider incorporating star ratings and review text. Or perhaps create completely new campaigns that feature your top-rated products.

For example, if summer is approaching, you might build a campaign featuring top-rated swimwear. Be sure to display star ratings or review excerpts in the email — as well as on the campaign landing pages.

Also think about featuring star ratings in your cart abandonment emails. In many cases, that social proof may be enough to draw shoppers back to your website to complete their purchases. 

Feature Shopper Content on Social Media

Consumers use social media to connect with family and friends. But they also use these channels to discover products and engage with brands.

Feature star ratings, review quotes and customer-submitted photos on your paid and organic posts to drive traffic to your site and generate sales.

Section 5.2

In Traditional Marketing

Traditional marketing is still critical for most brands. Incorporating ratings and reviews content can make this activity even more effective.

Add Review Content to Print Ads

If your brand runs printed ads in magazines or newspapers, think of ways to enhance these ads with ratings and reviews content.

Add Star Ratings and Reviews to Print Catalogs

If you send out paper catalogs to customers, consider adding star ratings, text reviews or even shopper-submitted photos alongside your key products. Or, include an entire spread of your top-rated products.

Create More Credible TV Commercials with Review Content

If you’re looking for ways to make your TV commercials pop, ratings and reviews content can help. 

Feature star ratings for your products (or even your company as a whole) in your television commercials.

Power Creativity with Review Content

Some of the most fun examples we’ve seen use review content as the basis of broader creative branding and imagery.

Section 5.3

In Brick-and-Mortar Retail

We know consumers use ratings and reviews to make smart purchase decisions when shopping online. But they also depend on this content when shopping in a physical store. So look for opportunities to showcase this content in your brick-and-mortar stores. 

Ensure Your Displays are Mobile-Friendly

Everyone has a smartphone now and typically treats it as an extension of their own bodies. 

When shopping in a store, it’s now common practice for shoppers to pull out their phones to get more information about a product.

In fact, a PowerReviews study found that 57% of shoppers read reviews when shopping in brick-and-mortar stores to assess potential purchases. This number is even higher – 63% – among Millennial shoppers 

In-Store Dependence on Reviews
Do you read reviews while shopping in stores to assess potential purchases?
Source: The Ever-Growing Power of Reviews (Survey of 6,538 consumers)

So ensuring your reviews look and read great on mobile is now critical.

Enhance Store Signage with Review Content

Strategically placed review content can attract the attention of in-store shoppers — and give them the confidence they need to add an item to their cart.

Some stores are starting to use digital signage to showcase UGC. And featuring this content in your stores doesn’t have to be an expensive, high tech initiative.

For example, create a display of “top rated” products. Include a product’s average star rating or the text of a positive review to your pricing labels. Or create in-store signage for a product that showcases photos submitted by real shoppers.

Feature Review Content on the Product Itself

Another way to give in-store shoppers the social proof they crave? Feature review content on the product itself.

This can be as simple as including the average star rating or the text from an especially glowing review on the packaging of a few of your key products.

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Chapter 6

Dealing with Negative Reviews

Today, consumers have literally endless shopping options. Of course, there are dozens of things a consumer considers when determining which companies to do business with — and which to pass up. But one top consideration is trust. 

Research from Edelman found that 81% of consumers say they must be able to trust a brand prior to making a purchase. And 70% indicate trusting a brand is more important now than in the past.

In order to earn that trust, brands must be transparent.  A key way to do that is to display feedback from other shoppers — including the negative kind. Our research found that 46% of shoppers (and 53% of Gen Z shoppers) are suspicious of products with an average star rating of five out of five.

And the data we shared in Chapter 1 – that on-page conversion and traffic peak at the 4.5 – 4.99 average rating – further endorses this point.

On the flip side, when shoppers see negative reviews, they see you have nothing to hide. And that reassures them you’re a brand they can trust.

Negative Reviews Help Consumers Make Better Purchase Decisions

Shoppers depend on negative reviews to determine which products fit their needs — and which don’t. Our research found that a staggering 85% of shoppers seek out negative reviews.

To elaborate on why this may be the case, our research also highlights that a third of shoppers say that poor reviews gave balance to their shopping research, stating that a negative perspective was either a ‘very important’ or ‘important’ factor influencing their decision.

In fact, when researching products, two-thirds of ecommerce shoppers filter for one-star reviews. These visitors still convert at 108% the rate of general web traffic (incidentally, this is the type of insight our PDP Site Analytics solution routinely surfaces).

But why is this the case? Here are three things we’ve noticed from speaking to brands and looking at this data day-in, day-out:

  1. Based on the negative reviews, the shopper determines the product isn’t a good fit for their needs. They keep searching for a product that’s a better match — and you avoid an unhappy customer and an unnecessary return.

  2. The shopper determines the feedback in the one and two star reviews isn’t relevant to them– so they disregard it.

  3. The shopper determines the worst case scenario isn’t a concern — so they purchase the product anyway.

In each of these three situations, negative reviews helped a shopper make a more informed purchase decision.

3 Ways to Leverage Negative Reviews to Boost Your Bottom Line

So negative reviews can positively impact the performance of your brand. In fact, they should be viewed as an opportunity to do just that.

Here are three ways how:

1. Display Negative Reviews

It might be tempting to filter out negative reviews. But avoid the temptation. One and two star reviews add a layer of authenticity to your content and let shoppers know you’re a brand they can trust. What’s more, negative reviews help your shoppers make more informed purchase decisions, which will help decrease returns and boost loyalty.

So be sure to display all reviews, regardless of star rating. 

In addition, allow shoppers to easily spot the “worst case scenario” — and determine whether it’s relevant or important to them. Our friends at Athleta do this in a couple different ways. First, shoppers can filter reviews by a specific star rating. Shoppers can also sort reviews by the lowest rating.

Finally, consider displaying the most helpful positive review alongside the most helpful negative review. Again, this is a great way to help shoppers easily identify the worst case scenario –  and find the products that best fit their needs. Plus, as we mentioned earlier, there’s actually a 120.6% conversion lift among shoppers who expand the negative review in a “compare and contrast” display like this one from our friends at Ulta.

2. Respond to Negative Reviews

When you get a negative review, don’t just cross your fingers and hope it’ll quickly get covered up by positive reviews. Instead, face the review head-on by responding to it. 

When you respond to a negative review, you have the opportunity to turn a bad situation around and salvage a relationship with your customer. If you’re able to fix the issue, the shopper is likely to buy from you again. What’s more, your response will show future shoppers that you value your customers and are committed to helping them resolve their issues. And that’ll give these new customers the confidence they need to make a purchase.

Remember: when it comes to responding to negative reviews, time is of the essence. If a customer is left hanging, they’ll only get more upset. 

In addition, avoid using a generic, canned response — and don’t get defensive. Instead, personalize your response by using the shopper’s name and address the specific issues raised in the negative review.

Finally, take things offline when needed. Sometimes you’ll need more details from the shopper in order to resolve their issue. 

But be sure to post a public response too, as it’ll let the customer (and future shoppers) know you’re taking action. Research from our friends at 1440 found that 73% of consumers would overlook a negative review if the brand posted a thoughtful response.

3. Analyze Negative Reviews to Identify Actionable Insights

In some cases, a negative review might mention an isolated issue. For example, a product might be damaged in transit. 

But in other cases, a negative review can point to a larger issue that needs to be addressed. For example, one of our customers noticed several negative reviews for a watch that mentioned a broken clasp. They rectified the problem and their ratings subsequently improved.

Be sure you’re regularly analyzing your review content to gauge sentiment and identify issues early on. Then, use the insights you uncover to improve your products or messaging/marketing of those products or whatever else the data says needs adjusting.

With the right tool, you can also benchmark against your competitors. Compare by product rating, sentiment, key themes and so on by product, brand, and product category. This is critical insight to improving overall strategic direction and performance.

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Chapter 7

Sharing & Syndication

Creating buyer confidence at scale is critical to growing your business. A best-in-class ecommerce strategy will therefore nearly always leverage ratings and reviews as a critical mechanism to “meet shoppers where they are”.

Sharing and syndicating ratings and reviews content to different channels across the internet is a common tactic to scale brand credibility.

Section 7.1

Ratings and Reviews as a Customer Acquisition Mechanism

Sharing and syndicating your ratings and reviews content serves one main purpose: expanding your reach.

Why is this so important? It exposes the value of your products to new audiences, which means it’s critical to customer acquisition.

In an ideal world, you’d create a great product, price it appropriately, build an awesome website and product page and then sit back and watch the sales come in. But that’s unrealistic. You need to be findable across a range of digital channels. We explore a few in this chapter.

But first, here’s a brief definition of what we mean by syndication in the context of ratings and reviews.

Ratings and Reviews Syndication, Defined

How exactly does syndication work? Essentially, syndication is when one business shares some form of user-generated content — such as a review, question, photo or video — with another business. 

For example, let’s say a shopper submits a review via a brand’s site. The brand displays the review on its own website. The exact same review is then shared with the brand’s chosen retailer partners, and these companies display the review on their ecommerce sites, too.

For example, this shopper submitted a review on hormelfoods.com for bacon.

This review is displayed on Hormel’s website — and is shared with Target.com for display on the appropriate product page, extending the value of this specific review.

A badge is displayed as part of the review on Target.com, letting shoppers know the review was originally posted on hormelfoods.com.

The result: you are more likely to get noticed by shoppers who otherwise wouldn’t otherwise have known about your product or – quite possibly – your brand.

Section 7.2

Improve your SEO ranking

Retailer sites aren’t the only place where sharing of ratings and reviews content can enhance customer acquisition potential.

Our research found that 35% of consumers start their shopping journey on Google or another search engine. Showing up there in a strong way is therefore critical.

Organic SEO

Search engines love fresh content. You don’t want to be constantly refreshing your website copy when the product or value proposition hasn’t changed just to improve your rankings.

A steady stream of new, relevant review content enables you to fulfill this key need. It is also typically keyword rich.

A strong review generation program therefore helps your product pages rank higher – which means more traffic on your site and more shoppers being exposed to your products (we talked about loads of ways you can maximize review volumes in Chapter 2). 

Questions & Answers, a form of user-generated content which we explore in depth later, is also great for this purpose.

Paid Search Advertising

Search ads are another great way to reach new shoppers – and they’re even more effective when they include star ratings. 

Be sure to syndicate your product star ratings to Google. That way, stars will appear in your ads — and you will further optimize inbound traffic to your product pages.

Google Seller Ratings

Google Seller Ratings is a Google Ads extension that displays a rating between one and five stars that shows up on search ads.

It’s an automated extension that is calculated by aggregating customer reviews from various sources that Google trusts. The resulting rating is then displayed within the body of the ad.

If you’ve ever typed into Google’s search bar, you’ve seen Google Seller Ratings.

It is the star rating that displays underneath the URL on Google ads.

While Seller Ratings are most often used by ecommerce companies, any company with a digital presence can use Google Seller Ratings (Note: Seller Ratings are for the entire site, not individual products).

If they are not already, Seller Ratings should be a critical part of your digital strategy. Why? According to Google, they can increase the click-through rates (CTR) of your ads by up to 10%.

This is super important because a higher CTR means a higher quality score — which reduces your CPC (cost per click) and improves your ad rank.

Bottom line: Seller Ratings optimize the performance of your Google Ads. More click throughs, more eyeballs on your site and – in turn – more sales from “greenfield” customers. Which makes complete sense. Your Seller Ratings are determined by a cumulative and aggregated volume of trusted customer reviews. They are a direct reflection of the experiences your customers have had while dealing with your business. This provides social proof for your brand right on Google search results pages, increasing shoppers’ trust in your business and giving them the confidence they need to click through to your site.

So ensure you are maximizing your customer acquisition potential by syndicating your ratings in this way (check out our blog on the topic for technical directions).

Section 7.3

Ratings & Reviews on Amazon

Every brand knows about the importance of Amazon as a sales channel. In fact, nearly half of ALL product searches start on Amazon nowadays.

Our research found that 95% of consumers read reviews on Amazon. So if you sell your products on Amazon, you’ve got to make sure you have plenty of ratings and reviews content on your product pages.

One simple way to do that is to allow your shoppers to share the reviews they’ve written on your website to your Amazon product pages (ask your ratings and reviews vendor if they have a feature that allows this).

In doing so, you cultivate buyer confidence among shoppers who may not even previously known you existed.

Showcase UGC on Amazon Product Pages

Product reviews are actually a top reason consumers shop on Amazon. So think of creative ways to put this content front and center on your Amazon product pages. 

One way to do that is to create an image that includes the text of a product review. Then, upload it alongside your other product images.

You can also feature user-generated visual content alongside your professionally shot photos and videos to give shoppers a better idea of what your products look like being used by “real” people.

Section 7.4

Ratings & Reviews on big box retail sites

Many brands sell their products through retailer sites like Target, Walmart and others – as well as through vertical specific platforms like Ulta, Zappos and so on. And many consumers (93%, according to a PowerReviews survey) say they read reviews on these retailer sites. 

If you sell your products through retailer sites make it a priority to give consumers the content they need to make confident purchase decisions.

Again, these are critical opportunities to acquire new previously untapped customers. So don’t miss this opportunity to provide a great first impression.

Syndicate Your Content to Retailer Partners

Typically, a shopper will write a review on the same website where they purchased a product. That means only customers who shop on your website will see this content.

But when you share your ratings and reviews from your own ecommerce site to your product pages on retailer sites, your reach obviously increases significantly.

For example, this review for a Melissa & Doug toy was originally written on the company’s eCommerce site, but it also appears on the product page on Target.com.

Because of this, shoppers can access the same confidence-building content – regardless of the channel they choose to shop for your products. In doing so, you maximize the value of the content you receive.

Section 7.5

Activating Ratings & Reviews Syndication

So you’re fully bought into ratings and reviews syndication being something you should be doing. But how do you activate it?

The short answer: it’s enabled by your ratings and reviews technology vendor. You’ll need to talk to your preferred supplier to understand where they can get your ratings and reviews content to (PowerReviews has an extensive network).

As well as reach, accuracy is super important. Check whichever vendor you choose to work with accurately syndicates and effectively moderates content across the web.

If you’re wondering what’s the worst that could happen, here is an example of poorly-moderated syndication from Walmart’s website. The reviews contain obscenities and are mainly focused on the availability of the product rather than the product itself. 

Yikes. This content should not have been published.

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Chapter 8

Ratings & Reviews as an SEO tool

Ratings and Reviews are a known SEO aid. The obvious benefit of this is traffic. And, as we mentioned in Chapter 1, average rating and review volume have a significant impact on page views. Much of this is the result of this information being displayed on search engines, throughout ecommerce sites and so on.

However, there is a technical SEO aspect that helps with actual rankings within organic search results. In this chapter we explore this in more detail and provide the guidance you need to ensure you, well, optimize for Search Engine Optimization

1. UGC is good for SEO

First off, we’re a Ratings and Reviews company and we know all about the importance of UGC from an SEO perspective.

The top search results always feature product pages with lots of reviews and a good rating. That’s because Google knows people are looking for the best product, and reviews and ratings help Google determine that.

But reviews are just one aspect of user-generated content, or UGC. There’s also Q&A and user-submitted images and videos. Together, all three forms of UGC are essential to product SEO for a few key reasons:

  1. UGC provides additional content for the search engines to gobble up. The more content Google has, the better their understanding of your site.

  2. That content is often keyword-rich. Customers include all sorts of key phrases in their reviews, more than you could ever include in a snappy product description.

  3. The content is being generated on a regular basis, signaling to Google that your page is still relevant to people searching for these keywords.

Crocs features all three UGC elements on their product pages, with an interactive photo gallery, and a searchable Q&A and Reviews section.

Crocs product pages feature interactive image galleries and searchable reviews, along with specific ratings related to key words
Crocs product pages feature searchable Q&A sections for customers needing additional info

Ulta Beauty’s Reviews section includes clickable filters that make it easy for shoppers to hone in on reviews from people like them.These filters also highlight keywords that are relevant to Google, helping Google connect the dots that this product is good for someone with “sensitive eyes” or anyone looking for a “long lasting” eyebrow pencil.

Ulta reviews use filters to help customers find long lasting brow pencils or options for people with sensitive eyes

If you dig into the reviews, you’ll notice plenty more keywords. Take a look at how many we highlighted in this one: 

Reviews are a great source for keywords that help boost your product's SEO

It’s no wonder a recent study found that having keywords in your reviews is one of the top ranking factors for product pages! 

2. Use keywords in all the right places

Keywords are the foundation of SEO. Whether it’s “waterproof hiking jacket” or “color safe shampoo,” keywords are the words people use during discovery and it’s important to use them when describing your products.

If you want to increase your visibility in search engines, you’ve got to include keywords in all the key places (see what we did there?) on your product page. Your customers will already take care of keywords for you in your product reviews. Where else can you include them?

  • Your title tag
  • Your meta description
  • Your H1 
  • Product description

Title tag

Your title tag appears alongside your Google search result in Google. It lives in your site code, so you’ll never see it unless you go to Google. You can fit about 55-60 characters of text in your title tag.

Many retailers simply copy and paste their product name, but this is a chance to speak directly to what searchers are looking for. iRobot does it best, with a combination of their product name, and the keyword “best robot mop”:

google search for best robot mops shows irobot product based on title tags
Including keywords in your title tag is a great way to boost your listing in search results.

Meta description

Your meta description is the two lines of text that appear beneath your title tag in the Google search results. Like your title tag, it lives in your site code, not on the front-end of your product page.

Together, these two elements serve as a virtual billboard — advertising your product to people in the search results. Will your billboard encourage people to click, or to scroll on by? Add keywords, and they’re more likely to click. 

It’s common for Google to auto-generate their own meta description using text on the page. Still, it’s a best practice to write your own so you have more control over how your brand appears in the search results. You can include up to 160 characters. 

Vistaprint knows that people use a variety of keywords to describe their products, from “custom address stickers” to “return address labels.” They include them all in their title tag and meta description:

Google search where the meta description for a Vistaprint listing includes address lables
Writing your own meta descriptions gives you more control over how your brand appears in search results. Vistaprint takes full advantage of this.

H1 tag

On the page itself, you probably have a big bold heading that puts your product name in bold. This is your h1 tag, and it’s one more area where you can incorporate a keyword. 

For example, by adding the word “golf,” Bonobos is able to help Google differentiate between this performance polo and their other performance polos when people are searching for golf polo shirts.

Bonobos includes golf as a use case in the h1 text for this polo shirt

Product description

Finally, you can include keywords in the biggest piece of text on your product page: the product description. When writing your product descriptions, keep in mind the pain points people are looking for your product to solve. They may be searching for those very same things in Google! 

In their product description, Canyon Bakehouse makes sure to include important keywords a person on a gluten-free diet may be looking for, like “certified gluten-free” and “100% whole grains,” or a bread they can use to make “toast” or “sandwiches.”

Finding Keywords in Google Search Console
  1. Open up Google Search Console, and navigate to the Performance report. By default, the report is set to “Queries” at the bottom. 
  2. Toggle over to the Pages tab, and click on an individual page. 
  3. Then, you can toggle back to Queries to view the specific keywords that page is ranking for.
navigating the google search console to find the keywords your rank in for free

Of course, the Google Search Console report only tells you the keywords you’re currently ranking for. To discover keywords before they start trending in Google, you can look to your review analytics!

All PowerReviews customers using our Ratings & Reviews product with the Review Search feature enabled,now have access to Review Search Reporting. With this tool, you can see the specific keywords customers are entering in when they search through your reviews. 

For the clothing retailer below, it’s clear that their customers seriously want to know whether this product is waterproof. Search terms like “waterproof,” “water,” “rain,” and “water resistant” dominate the top search results:

PowerReviews UGC Analytics reports show what your customers are searching for in your content
Knowing what your customers are searching for in your review content can help you write better product descriptions.

The fact that customers are typing these words into the review search box may indicate that they’re not adequately addressed in the rest of the product page. Thanks to these insights, the retailer can now take action to incorporate waterproof-related keywords into the product page for a SEO boost. 

3. Mark up your images

Images speak louder than words. Nowhere is that statement more true than in the world of eCommerce. In fact, according to our recent study 80% of consumers find photos from other customers more valuable than photos from brands or retailers. Shoppers want to see photos of your product from all angles, in action, and in a lifestyle setting. 

Now, search engines like Google can’t “see” images (yet), but you can tell them what’s in your image, via a little thing called alt text. Like your title tag and meta description, alt text lives in your site code, where search engines can read it to gather more context. (People who are visually impaired also rely on alt text, as their screen readers read it aloud to describe what’s in an image.)

It’s easy to copy and paste the product name or SKU into the alt text field. It’s also a serious waste of a SEO opportunity. By adding descriptive alt text, you not only make your site more accessible to more people, but you also increase your chances of ranking for the right keywords — and for showing up in Google image search!

PowerReviews customers using our UGC Analytics solution can see the tops words and phrases customers use in their reviews.

Where can you find the keywords to add to your image alt text? Look at your reviews! Your customers do a fantastic job describing your products using the words other customers use. What phrases come up again and again? Things like “desk chair for kitchen office” or “favorite hot yoga shorts” would be perfect additions for your alt text. PowerReviews customers using our UGC Analytics solution can see the tops words and phrases customers use in their reviews.

Search engines read captions, too. If it makes sense, consider adding them to your images like  Room & Board does:

Room & Board uses image captions to boost SEO
Both shoppers and search engines skim your image captions, so it's a great place to put additional information or reiterate details.

Remember to markup other images on your page beyond the product gallery. For example, The North Face has alt text for the two icons on their product page: “our most sustainable product” and “recycled content.” Adding alt text to these images may encourage Google to show their product when people are searching for sustainable clothing.

4. Use a clear URL structure

There’s one more thing that shows up in the search results: your URL. 

URL structure is an afterthought for many brands, with the developers left to do whatever feels most logical to them. However, a clean, clear URL structure can make the difference between Google crawling your web pages with ease… or getting lost somewhere along the way. 

You want to avoid URLs that look like this:

				
					www.yourbrand.com/us/shop/products/123/product-catalog/xty-1222

Whew, that’s stressful Looking at that URL, I have no idea what the page is offering. I can tell that it’s an ecommerce site, but that’s about it.

SEO-friendly URL structures, on the other hand, look something like this:

				
					www.yourbrand.com/products/category-name

www.yourbrand.com/products/category-name/sub-category-name

www.yourbrand.com/products/category-name/sub-category-name/product-name

As you can see, there’s a clear hierarchy to this hypothetical website. These URLs say, “Hey, Google. We are a retailer and we list products on our website. You can find them via these category, sub-category, or individual product pages.”

Depending on the size of your catalog, you may not need multiple levels to your URL structure. For example, Clif Bar has one level. Look at these simple, keyword-rich URLs:

When you have a large product catalog, though, it becomes really helpful to have the different levels, as you can see in this example from Ace Hardware:

When you have a clear URL structure like this, Google will often display breadcrumbs with your search result. In the Ace Hardware example, that’s the “hard-sided-coolers” above the title tag. That breadcrumb information confirms to potential customers that they a) have the type of cooler they’re looking for and b) have enough of a selection for it to warrant its own category. That’s the kind of information that encourages more clicks and better SEO!

Beyond having a clear structure, you can boost your product page SEO with a SEO-first internal linking strategy. Link to your bestsellers in blog posts, and link to related items or product categories in carousels on your product pages. This improves the discoverability of these products, and gives Google additional semantic meaning about the relationship between these products.

For example, on the product page for their Advanced Night Repair Serum, Estee Lauder links to related products that speak to the same pain points, like their Advanced Night Repair Eye cream.

products related to estee lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye cream

Also keep an eye out for what other products customers mention in their reviews. For example, let’s say you’re an outdoor clothing retailer. Do reviewers regularly mention one of your jackets in their reviews of your hiking boots or hiking pants? Feature that jacket in your Related Products carousel. 

5. Implement schema markup

Think back to the last time you were shopping online. Have you ever noticed how the search results for products look different than normal results? For example, they often display star ratings, price, and in-stock information.

Once you start to look for them, you’ll notice these stars show up all over Google:

Crocs uses Google review schema to display star ratings in search results

This extra information, especially the stars, is called rich snippets. Rich snippets stand out to shoppers browsing the Google search results. Rich snippets also expand the size of your search result. Either way, searchers are more likely to click through when they see them. 

To enable rich snippets, you need to add schema markup to your website. Schema is code that speaks the search engine’s language and tells them key information about your product, like its price, availability, ratings, and more. To improve your product page SEO, consider adding these schemas to your product pages:

If you’re a PowerReviews customer, good news! We already take care of this for you. Our Review Display comes with schema markup built in.

Back to Contents
Chapter 9

Image & Video

Today’s shoppers depend on visual content — including photos and videos — to make informed purchase decisions. In fact, 100% of shoppers search for photos or videos prior to making a purchase at least occasionally. And 50% always do so.

Consumers Rely More on Visual Content Than They Did Five Years Ago
When researching a product prior to purchase, how often do you look for visuals, such as photos and videos, of that product?
2016
2021
Source: How User-Generated Visual Content Became Fundamental to Ecommerce

Indeed, visual content has never been more important. In the midst of the Covid pandemic, more consumers are shopping online. Photos and videos help these online shoppers find the products that best fit their needs — even when they can’t access their options in person. 

"Visual content is so key to ecommerce. Customers expect high-quality imagery and video. Gardening is very hands-on, and the content inspires confidence in customers that products work as promised."
Amanda EverseSEO Manager, Gardener’s Supply Company
Amanda Everse
Professional Photos and Videos Alone Won’t Cut it

Consumers have a big appetite for visual content. But not just any photos or videos will fit their need.

You probably already capture beautiful, stylized photos and videos of your products. That professional content certainly has a role to play, but it’s no longer enough. That’s because 99%of consumers specifically seek out photos and videos from others like them before making a purchase – up from 88% in 2016. In addition, 77% always or regularly seek out this content.

Consumers Seek Out User-Generated Visual Content Prior to Purchase
2016
2021
Source: How User-Generated Visual Content Became Fundamental to Ecommerce

User-generated visual content is authentic — and shoppers trust it. In fact, 65% of shoppers indicate user-generated imagery is more authentic and “real” than brand-created imagery. What’s more, this imagery allows shoppers to understand what a product looks like “out in the wild,” being used by someone like them. And that helps them make better purchase decisions.

User-Generated Imagery Boosts Sales

Shoppers depend on photos and videos from others like them. And brands and retailers that collect and display this content are rewarded. 

Based on data across our customer base, we’ve found that when a visitor interacts with user-generated photos or videos on a product page, there’s a 91.4% lift in conversion.

There is a 106.3% lift in conversion when shoppers interact with a user-generate image or video online
Source: The Conversion Impact of User-Generated Content: 2022

Here’s the bottom line: if you’re not collecting and displaying user-generated imagery, you’re losing customers to brands that are.

In fact, a third of Gen Z shoppers and 21% of Millennials report they’re less likely to purchase a product if they can’t find photos or videos of the product from other customers.

Section 9.1

User-Generated Photos and Videos Fuel Smart Purchase Decisions

Collecting and displaying visual content from your customers is an important way to help future shoppers make informed purchase decisions. Why should you care? Because when shoppers make informed purchase decisions, they’re more likely to be satisfied when their products arrive in the mail. And that means they’ll also be more likely to:  

  • Keep the product. That’s one less return for you to worry about.
  • Write positive reviews. That content will help future shoppers make smart purchase decisions — and boost your conversion rate.
  • Be a repeat customer. That’s great news, because it’s cheaper to nurture an existing customer than to acquire a new one.

 

Customer Imagery Influences Purchase Behavior

User-generated visual content fuels informed purchase decisions in a number of key ways. Let’s take a closer look.

Visual Content Builds Trust

Today’s shoppers want to buy from brands they trust. In fact, research from Edelman found that 81% of consumers must be able to trust a brand before making a purchase.

Collecting and displaying photos and videos from your shoppers is one way to earn that trust. 

In order to boost sales, brands post sleek, glossy photos that show off their products in the best light. But consumers post realistic photos that show products in real situations — and they have nothing to gain by doing so. And other consumers trust this content.

Research tells us that 80% of consumers find photos from other consumers more valuable than visual content from brands and retailers. What’s more, 42% say that the presence of user-submitted photos and videos boosts their trust in the product or brand. 

When you display user-generated visual content, you’re showing future shoppers you have nothing to hide. That’s an important way to let them know you’re a brand they can trust.

Visual Content Sets Realistic Expectations

User-generated visual content allows shoppers to see what your products look like in real life being used by real people. That means there will be fewer surprises when the item arrives.

What’s more, when you display user-generated photos and videos, shoppers can better understand elements of your product that might not be captured in your professional photos. For example, imagine a consumer is shopping for a dining table. They come across this model, which looks promising and is described as narrow.

The measurements are listed in the product details, but then they scroll to the user-generated images and see several photos of the table in different kitchens and dining rooms. The scale is way too big for a small apartment, so they search for something that’s a better fit.

Visual Content Excites and Inspires Shoppers

Seeing photos and videos from other customers gets shoppers excited to try a product. For example, our friends at Canyon Bakehouse sell gluten-free bakery products. Of course, they include a professionally shot image on each of their product pages. But let’s be honest: a photo of a bag of plain bagels isn’t very inspiring.

Enter the power of user-generated visual content. The company encourages customers to share photos of the dishes they’ve made using their products. These photos help future shoppers understand all of the great dishes they can make with the bagels — and that gets them excited to purchase the product. Avocado bagel, anyone? 

User-generated visual content can also inspire shoppers to add additional items to their shopping baskets — thus increasing your sales. For example, a shopper might be eying this Soren chair from our friends at Room & Board.

They click around the product page and find photos submitted by shoppers who purchased the chair. They especially love how one customer paired the chairs with other items, so they start exploring those items too.

Visual Content Helps Shoppers See What Products Looks Like on Different Types of People

A product like a vacuum cleaner looks the same no matter who buys it. But apparel and cosmetic products look different on different people. For example, a pair of jeans worn by a 6 foot tall model won’t look the same when they’re worn by a shopper who’s a foot shorter. 

User-generated visual content helps apparel and cosmetic shoppers better understand how a product looks on different kinds of people. Shoppers can find photos and videos submitted by people with similar characteristics to them. And that way, they can identify the products that’ll work best for their unique needs. 

For example, let’s say a consumer is shopping for eyeshadow from Juvia’s Place. They can see how a particular eyeshadow looks on shoppers with similar skin types and tones. And by doing so, they can find an option that’ll likely work for them.

Or maybe a customer is shopping for a sweater from Athleta. But the profesional photos show the product on a slender model, and the shopper has a more athletic build. That shopper can scroll through the customer-submitted images to get a better idea of how the sweater looks on someone with a similar body type to theirs.

Section 9.2

How to Maximize the Impact of User-Generated Imagery

We’ve explored the important role visual content from shoppers plays in the purchase journey. But what can you do to see the biggest impact from this type of content?

Let’s explore proven best practices that can help you effectively collect, display and analyze visual content — and drive bigger business results.

Generating More User-Generated Imagery

In order to see an impact from visual content, you’ve got to collect plenty of it. Let’s take a look at a few ways to make that happen.

Make it Easy for Shoppers to Natively Submit Imagery

If it’s complicated or time consuming to submit photos and videos, shoppers probably won’t do it. So make sure the entire process is simple. 

Shoppers should be able to submit photos and videos to your website directly from their desktop, mobile device or social media accounts.

Request Images via Follow-Up Email

Many shoppers are happy to share the photos and videos they take. But oftentimes, they won’t  do so without being prompted. 

Be sure to send post purchase emails to your shoppers, explicitly asking them to share photos and videos of the products they’ve recently purchased. It might seem simple, but it’s incredibly effective.

Here’s an example from our friends at Crocs. The post purchase email is short, simple and straight to the point.

Prioritize Image Collection

Oftentimes, photo and video collection is an afterthought. Brands ask for photos and videos — but not until a shopper has already written a review. Here’s the thing: if a customer spends time and effort writing a review, they’re likely to skip right over the visual content submission component altogether. 

Instead, ask your shoppers to share imagery and videos before providing a review. And consider making the review portion optional. It’ll help you generate more content — quickly.

Here’s an example of a submission form that puts the ask for visual content first. After the shopper has submitted a photo or video, they’re asked to submit a review, too. But the review component isn’t required.

Request Visual Content on Your Homepage

Another great way to generate more visual content from your shoppers is to ask for it — right on the homepage of your website. After all, this is probably one of the most visited pages on your website.

Our friends at Janie and Jack display a beautiful, eye-catching carousel of customer-generated imagery on their homepage — along with a button shoppers can click to to add their own photos.

Those who click the button are taken to a simple form that allows them to upload a photo from their computer or mobile device — or from one of their social media profiles. When they do, their image is added to the image gallery.

Curate Visual Content from Social Media

Up until this point, we’ve been focused on ways to generate more visual content natively. But there’s another simple way to get more user-generated imagery on your website: leveraging the content that’s already being posted by your customers on social media. 

As an example, check out all the beautiful photos that have recently been posted, tagging our friends at Shopper’s Drug Mart. This is a treasure trove of authentic imagery the company can leverage to inspire future shoppers — while boosting site engagement and conversion.

How does it work? Essentially, curating visual content from social media involves a few steps:

  • Setting up your campaign, which involves choosing a hashtag, solidifying your legal messaging and terms and promoting your campaign.
  • Continuously mining social media for photos and videos you’re tagged in.
  • Securing permission to use your shoppers’ photos and videos.
  • Repurposing the content on your website and other marketing initiatives.
FURTHER READING
See the power of socially generated UGC, and 6 strategies to leverage UGC imagery to boost sales.
How To Leverage Social to Sell More Online

It sounds simple, but when done right, it’s incredibly effective. PowerReviews customers that curate visual content from social media capture 221% more images and videos than those that don’t.

Case Study: Shure
Shure Incorporated, an audio products brand, typically collected around 40 images natively per month. But when they started curating content from social media, they were able to access more than 11,000 images in just a few months.
Find out how
Section 9.3

Amplify the Reach of Your User-Generated Visual Content

You’ve started to collect photos and videos from your shoppers both natively and from social media. Now, it’s time to do something with that content. 

Let’s take a look at some proven best practices for getting your user-generated visual content in front of more shoppers.

Prominently Display Content on Product Pages

Perhaps the most obvious place to display your user-generated visual content is on your product pages. After all, when a shopper is researching a product, this content can give them the boost of confidence they need to convert. 

So be sure to prominently showcase user generated imagery — both natively submitted and curated from Instagram — in a gallery on your product pages. Here’s an example of a gallery our friends at Gardener’s Supply Company display on a product page for one of their popular watering cans.