One of the biggest challenges apparel companies face is the large volume of returns. According to a survey from Body Labs, 23% of all clothing gets returned, and 64% of consumers say incorrect fit is the primary reason they return clothing.
Apparel brands and retailers will never be able to completely eliminate returns, but one of the most effective ways for apparel companies to reduce return rates is to make sure shoppers know exactly what to expect from a product. Your product descriptions and professional photos have their part to play, but consumers can get even richer insights from the reviews of previous customers.
Size and Fit Information Helps Customers Find the Best Product Shoppers can turn to the size and fit information in reviews to make sure they’re purchasing the size that will work best for them. For example, if a shopper sees that a pair of shoes runs large, he can confidently order the shoe in a size smaller than he typically wears. The shoes will fit correctly and the retailer will avoid an unnecessary return.
Ask your ratings and reviews provider if they offer an easy way to capture size and fit information from your consumers and display it on your product pages to increase buyer confidence and help consumers make the right purchase decision.
Visual Content Sets Expectations Photos and videos provide shoppers with an accurate picture of what to expect from a purchase so there are fewer surprises when the item arrives in the mail. The professional photos on your site are a great start, but allowing reviewers to submit their own photos adds a level of authenticity and allows future shoppers to see what a product looks like “in real life.” In fact, many shoppers won’t purchase apparel online without these user generated images. PowerReviews research found that 40% of Centennials (age 13-18) won’t purchase a product if there are no photos of people using the product. Armed with this visual information, the shopper can make a well-informed purchase and be less likely to return the product.
If you’re not already, start asking your shoppers to submit photos and videos as part of their reviews. Not only will this allow future shoppers to see what your products look like on various body types, it’ll also give them ideas of different ways to accessorize. For example, a shopper might be looking for a dress for an upcoming special event, and she notices that another consumer posted a photo of herself wearing the dress with a cardigan and a necklace. The shopper then adds all three items to her shopping cart.
It’s no secret that customers turn to ratings and reviews when they’re shopping for just about anything — from books and movies to clothing and electronics. In fact, nearly all consumers consult customer reviews, and 86% say reviews are an essential resource when making a purchase decision.
But reviews aren’t just beneficial to consumers as they search for products that best meet their needs, they’re also good for business. Read on to learn about five ways that ratings and reviews benefit brands and retailers.
Reviews Increase Conversion Today’s information-hungry consumers want to learn everything they can before making a purchase. And if you give shoppers all the information they’re looking for — including the opportunity to hear from previous customers through ratings and reviews — they’re more likely to convert.
Of course, positively impacting conversion for products that have reviews will impact the performance of your entire site. In fact, best in class PowerReviews customers can experience an online sales increase of up to 17% site-wide.
Reviews Reduce Returns If you’re like many brands and retailers, one of your biggest challenges is keeping return rates at bay. This is especially true for apparel brands and retailers, where characteristics like size and fit come into play. In fact, according to a recent survey from Body Labs, 23% of all clothing gets returned, and 64% of shoppers cite “incorrect fit” as the reason for the return.
Fortunately, the information from ratings and reviews helps consumers make better purchase decisions. And when consumers make smart purchase decisions, they’re less likely to return the products they purchase. For example, let’s say a consumer is shopping for a pair of shoes that she loves, but notices several reviews that mention the shoes run a size small. Armed with this information, the shopper confidently adds the shoes to her shopping cart in a size larger than she typically wears. The shoes arrive, they fit perfectly, and the brand avoids an unnecessary return.
Reviews Improve Your Presence on Google Recent PowerReviews research found that 35% of shoppers start their shopping journey on Google or another search engine. That means if you don’t have a strong presence on Google, you’re missing out on more than a third of potential customers.
The good news is, ratings and reviews can play a major role in building a strong presence on search. Ratings and reviews impact Google results in these three ways:
Rich Snippets: The star ratings and key descriptions from reviews appear as part of organic search results.
Product Listing Ads: Product ratings and reviews can be syndicated to Google and appear as part of Product Listing Ads (PLAs).
Seller Ratings: Seller Ratings rate the online seller and are displayed as stars in search results — improving click-through rates for that particular seller.
Reviews Influence Offline Sales Sometimes a consumer will conduct research online, and ultimately make a purchase online, too. However, this isn’t always the case. Consumers often do their product research online (including reading ratings and reviews), then visit a brick and mortar store to make the purchase. In this case, the sale is considered web-influenced.
According to Forrester Research, for every dollar spent online that is influenced by web content, there will be four dollars of offline sales influenced by the same content. That means if you have ratings and reviews online, it can also have a big impact on your offline sales.
Reviews Help Improve Products Reviews written by customers are chock full of insights and information that can help you improve your products and the customer experience, which will, in turn, positively impact your bottom line.
For example, Room & Board, a modern home furnishings retailer, noticed that they had an average star rating of 3.7 for one of their upholstery products. After digging into the reviews, Room & Board noticed that several shoppers had negative feedback about the cushioning in the upholstery. The company shared this information with their merchant, who then changed the cushioning for the product. As a result, the average star rating for the item rose to 4.3 stars. This is good news for Room & Board, since our research with Northwestern University found that products with an average star rating between 4.2 and 4.5 have the highest probability of purchase.
The Internet Retailer Conference and Exposition is by far one of my favorite industry events, based, in large part, because of the fact that it’s right in PowerReviews’ hometown of Chicago.
This year’s agenda was impressive — with a roster of impressive speakers including industry analysts as well as brand, retail and eCommerce thought leaders. I especially enjoyed hearing from some of our own customers including VF Corporation, evo, Advance Auto Parts, Nebraska Furniture Mart, The Step2 Company, and more — on a range of key topics including:
Using technology to engage shoppers in-store
The importance of a responsive website
Planning a successful social media strategy
Getting the most ROI from video
For me, the best part of being at IRCE was having the opportunity to catch up with current customers and make new connections. I enjoyed hearing about the successes and challenges of various brands and retailers and how PowerReviews is (or can start) helping them be more successful.
New Product Offerings PowerReviews also released some exciting new product capabilities at IRCE. We launched Review Your Purchases as well as a new Analytics and Insights solution to help brands and retailers generate more content and mine insights from that content.
Review Your Purchases More than 60% of purchases in the PowerReviews network contain more than one item. However, until now, ratings and reviews providers have asked for a review on only one of the items in a multi-item purchase. Review Your Purchases is a streamlined experience that allows consumers to quickly review multiple products from one page, which helps brands and retailers increase collection, product coverage, and coverage rates.
Let’s say a customer buys a pair of jeans, a blouse and a belt in one transaction. After receiving her order, the shopper receives a post purchase email with each of these products listed, so she can easily submit multiple reviews in a single step. In addition, as this consumer continues to buy products from your brand, she’ll be able to write reviews for all of the products she’s ever purchased via a dedicated landing page.
As a result of implementing Review Your Purchases during the product pilot, a major retailer saw some impressive results, including:
Additionally, a large sports retailer experienced:
75% increase in reviews collected year over year
252% increase in review collection rates quarter over quarter
Analytics and Insights In addition to driving conversion, ratings and reviews also provide a wealth of information that brands and retailers can use to not only increase conversion, but also improve products, services, and the customer experience.
Our new Analytics and Insights tool compiles and presents review data in an easy-to-use format. That way, brands and retailers can easily understand how ratings and reviews and Q&A increase conversion and better understand the impact of distributing brand content across across the PowerReviews Open Network. In addition, brands and retailers can use the new Analytics and Insights tool to identify products that can benefit most from additional content.
If you’re a current PowerReviews customer and have questions about Review Your Purchases or the new Analytics and Insights tool, feel free to reach out to your Client Success Director or Community Manager.
Did you attend IRCE 2016? Was was your favorite part of the event?
Meet the Team is a recurring series on the PowerReviews blog, allowing you to get to know the people behind our success.
We recently sat down with Andrew Abeto, a member of our Implementation team, to learn about the key role his team plays in getting brands and retailers up and running on the PowerReviews platform, why he loves his job, and why ice cream holds a special place in his heart.
Where were you before joining PowerReviews? I’ve been at PowerReviews for a year and a half. Before PowerReviews, I worked in the financial industry for nearly 7 years with my last stint working in JP Morgan’s treasury division. I was an implementation project manager where I worked with a portfolio of multinational Fortune 500 companies managing multiple, complex integrations on our treasury platform solution.
Tell us about your team and your role at PowerReviews I manage the Chicago implementation group which supports client integrations across the U.S. and in Europe (we have a San Francisco group as well). My team consists of implementation project managers and engineers. They work jointly to support our clients’ integrations by managing the project lifecycle, meeting project milestones, and supporting the technical integration with the goal of getting our clients up and running to quickly begin collecting user-generated content to drive sales.
What’s the best part about working at PowerReviews? The people, culture, and work environment. As I mentioned before, I came from the world of finance, and well, everything was pretty conservative and quite formal. Since coming here, that work environment took a complete turn. The moment you walk through the door, there is a tremendous amount of energy, passion, and drive for what we do. It’s cliche, but true — we work hard, and play hard. Everyone here does what is needed to make sure our clients are happy and love our product as much as we do. Above that, we know how to take a break, enjoy those that we work with, and do it all over a nice cold beer!
What’s been one of your favorite projects while working at PowerReviews? One of the coolest projects that I have been a part of was the development of a new implementation approach for our corporate clients. After several months of gathering implementation data, we discovered that getting value to our clients with our core products, quicker, was an implementation approach that needed to evolve. Today, we now offer a ‘Core Value’ implementation approach that focuses on getting our clients collecting and displaying user generated content within 30 days or less.
What’s something people might not know about you? I was a Navy kid growing up and lived in Keflavik, Iceland for 3 years. Also, my family bleeds ice cream as we’ve been in the Dairy Queen business for over 40 years.
It’s no secret that Amazon has become a destination for consumers searching for a wide variety of products, from books and movies to electronics and toys. In fact, according to a recent PowerReviews report, 38% of online shoppers begin their shopping journey on Amazon, with 79% citing a wide variety of products as a reason they start there.
Now Amazon is making its mark on the apparel sector — in a big way. In addition to featuring online “boutiques” for established, popular apparel brands such as Kate Spade, BCBG, Hugo Boss, and 7 For All Mankind, Amazon has recently launched seven of its own clothing brands for men, women, and children. And the company has no plans to slow down. According to a report from Morgan Stanley, Amazon currently has 7% market share of the apparel industry, but by 2020, that number will climb to 19%. To provide a little more context, Cowen & Co. predicts Amazon will displace Macy’s as the top U.S. apparel retailer by next year.
It’s clear that apparel retailers are taking note of Amazon’s growth in apparel — as they should be. Art Peck, CEO at Gap, Inc. said at the company’s last shareholder meeting, “To not be considering Amazon and others would be in my view delusional.”
But what can apparel retailers do to effectively compete with the eCommerce giant?
It’s no Longer an Option to Compete on Pricing and Product Availability In addition to a wide selection of products, our recent report on the path to purchase found that pricing considerations, such as free shipping, are another top reason consumers choose to start the purchase journey on Amazon. However, it’s difficult for the majority of retailers to compete against Amazon when it comes to inventory, price, and shipping.
But the good news is, there’s a big opportunity for apparel retailers to leverage user-generated content including ratings and reviews and Q&A to offer a superior shopping experience that wins consumers and cultivates brand advocates. Read on to learn how reviews can help apparel retailers grow sales and effectively compete with Amazon.
Reviews Attract Visitors A search engine is the second most popular place to begin the online shopping journey, with 35% of shoppers starting their product search there. And with 71% market share, “search” means “Google” for the majority of shoppers.
What’s encouraging for retailers is that after conducting a search on Google or another search engine, shoppers are just as likely to click through to a retailer site as they are Amazon (41% each).
Retailers can effectively compete with Amazon to attract these “search-first” consumers by leveraging ratings and reviews. Ratings and reviews improve a retailer’s visibility in search engine results and improve clickthrough rates with rich snippets that display star ratings and review information in search results.
Reviews Keep Visitors On Your Site to Convert Some of the top reasons shoppers choose to start the purchase journey on a brand or retailer site is because it’s easier to find what they’re looking for and they can find the best product information there. After you’ve successfully attracted shoppers to your site, make sure to keep them there by providing all of the information they need to make an informed purchase decision, including the opportunity to hear from other consumers through ratings and reviews.
And remember — visual review content is especially important for apparel shoppers, who want to better understand the size and fit of a particular piece of clothing on someone with a body type like them before making a purchase.
If you don’t provide a high volume of valuable reviews, you risk losing shoppers to a site that will. Shoppers we surveyed said they’ll turn to a search engine (45%), Amazon (25%), or another brand or retailer site (20%) if they can’t find any — or enough reviews on a brand or retailer site.
Reviews Cultivate Loyalty Of the 21% of consumers that start the purchase journey on a brand or retailer site, 48% say they do so because they’re past customers, loyal to the brand or retailer.
Consider not only purchases when rewarding customers, but also content. If someone contributes a review, award them points in your loyalty program. Then, when they’ve accrued enough points, award them a coupon for free shipping or a percentage off their next purchase. It’s a small investment to cultivate a loyal customer that will go straight to your site the next time they’re in the market for apparel.
Next week, the PowerReviews will be headed to the 2016 Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition (IRCE) right here in our hometown of Chicago. The world of eCommerce is constantly changing and evolving, and this event provides a great opportunity to hear from industry experts and network with likeminded professionals.
IRCE is an event I look forward to all year, and this year is certainly no exception. The agenda for the 2016 event includes more than 100 different sessions on topics ranging from personalization and advertising to pricing strategy and user experience.Attendees are sure to walk away with lots of new connections and ideas to improve their business.
I’m especially eager to hear more about how some of our own customers have been successful, including speakers from VF Corporation, evo, Advance Auto Parts, and more.
Stop By Our Booth If you’re attending IRCE, be sure to stop by booth #328 in the Exhibit Hall to catch up with PowerReviews. We’d love the opportunity to discuss your business’ unique challenges, why brands and retailers are choosing PowerReviews, and how you can increase online site-wide sales as much as 17% with PowerReviews. We’ll also be launching some exciting new product offerings at IRCE that we can’t wait to tell you more about.
But it won’t be all business at the booth. Visitors will also have the opportunity to spin the wheel to win great prizes from some PowerReviews clients, including LUSH, Toys R Us, and Stance.
The exhibit hall will be open:
Tuesday, June 7: 4:00pm – 6:30pm
Wednesday, June 8: 9am – 6:30pm
Thursday, June 9: 9am – 4pm
We hope to see you next week in Chicago!
It’s no secret that the majority of consumers today turn to ratings and reviews to help them make informed purchase decisions. PowerReviews research found that 95% of shoppers consult reviews, and 86% consider them an essential resource when making purchase decisions.
Reviews are important for a variety of different product categories. But they’re becoming increasingly important for apparel brands and retailers. Today, according to Forrester Research, only 15% of apparel is purchased online. But this number will only continue to grow as more and more consumers crave the convenience of browsing and shopping for just about anything online. Plus, the growth of online apparel sales will likely accelerate now that Amazon is ramping up its apparel offerings. In fact, some predict that Amazon will become the #1 apparel retailer by 2017.
Now’s the time for apparel brands and retailers to adopt ratings and reviews in order to appeal to the increasing number of consumers shopping online — and to avoid losing market share to Amazon. Read on to learn more about the benefits of ratings and reviews for apparel brands and retailers.
Increase Conversion There are some product categories that consumers don’t think twice about purchasing online. But apparel is a highly personal purchase. Many factors are considered when making a clothing or shoe purchase decision, including size and fit, style, and quality. And it’s more challenging for shoppers to access these qualities when shopping online. For example, a shopper knows she generally wears a size medium in blouses. But how can she know how a particular blouse will fit on her body type? Or whether the blouse will hold up well after numerous washings?
That’s where reviews come into play. The feedback from past customers can help give your future shoppers the confidence they need to convert. For example, in my previous example, the woman shopping for a new blouse can look at reviews to hear what other shoppers like her say about the size and fit of the blouse and how it holds up in a washing machine. As an added bonus, if you allow visual content in reviews, that consumer can find a photo of another shopper with a body type like hers to get a better idea of how the top fits. With this information in mind, she can confidently make a purchase.
And remember — apparel shoppers aren’t only using reviews when they’re shopping online. PowerReviews research found that 70% of shoppers want to access product ratings and reviews while shopping in-store. By making reviews accessible wherever consumers shop, you’ll also boost in-store conversion.
Decrease Returns One of the biggest challenges apparel companies face is the large volume of returns. 17% of returns are made because the item didn’t fit properly and 30% are made because the product wasn’t what the shopper expected.
You’ll never be able to completely eliminate returns, but one of the most effective ways for apparel companies to reduce return rates is to make sure shoppers know exactly what to expect from a product. Your product descriptions and photos play their part, but consumers can get great insights from the reviews of past customers. For example, let’s say a customer is looking for a new pair of sandals in a size 11. He looks at the reviews and notices that many of customers mention that a particular style runs about a size large. He loves the style of the shoes, so he orders them in a size 10. He loves the shoes, and the brand avoids an unnecessary return.
Improve Products and the Customer Experience An often overlooked benefit of ratings and reviews is that they provide brands and retailers with a wealth of insights about how to improve products and the customer experience. By using insights gleaned from reviews to improve your products and the customer experience, you’re also improving your bottom line.
For example, Soft Surroundings, a leading women’s clothing and bedding retailer, makes and designs all of their apparel in-house, and they use the feedback from reviews to improve their products. “When we get feedback, it goes directly to our technical team,” said Gail Buffington, eCommerce Manager. “The quicker we get feedback, the quicker we can resolve issues.”
Ratings and reviews have many benefits for apparel brands and retailers. By adding reviews to your apparel site, you’re providing shoppers with the information they’re looking for — and helping improve your bottom line.
Centennials (aka Generation Z) are the first mobile native generation. They don’t remember a time when a connected world wasn’t at their fingertips. And this has impacted their consumption habits as well as their expectations.
We recently surveyed more than 1,000 Centennial consumers (age 13-18) to better understand how they browse for and purchase products. One key finding from the survey is that Centennials want to ask questions about the products they’re considering — and they want quick answers. Read on to learn how Generation Z wants to get their questions answered, as well as 3 tips for brands and retailers to better connect with Centennials through a Question & Answer solution.
Generation Z Expects Instant Answers Twenty-four-hour access to technology has made modern consumers impatient when it comes to wanting answers. And if they can’t get the information they need from retailers and brands immediately, they’ll turn to a competitor that readily provides this information. In fact, a huge 79% of Centennials admitted going straight to another retailer or to Amazon if they couldn’t ask a question on a product page.
In addition, as well as reviews, nearly half (45%) of Centennials said they wouldn’t buy a product if they couldn’t ask a question about it.
Centennials Want to Hear from Other Shoppers the survey found that Centennials want to engage with retailers directly on their website and expect one-to-one attention. But while Q&A on brand and retailer websites are important, nearly two thirds of Centennials prefer having their questions answered by previous customers rather than the retailer.
3 Tips for Engaging With Shoppers Through Q&A If Centennials can’t get answers to questions about the products they’re considering (preferably from other consumers who have experienced the product firsthand), they won’t hesitate to look elsewhere for this information. For brands and retailers, this means thinking about how you can facilitate a communication exchange between new and existing customers. Here are three tips for brands and retailers to better answer their customers’ questions.
Implement a Q&A solution. Adding a Q&A solution to your website is a great way to increase conversion. In addition to answering purchase blocking questions that can stand in the way of a purchase, the questions submitted by your customers become a living Q&A that future shoppers can consult to find answers to their questions so they’re not tempted to look elsewhere to find the information they need. In addition, Q&A can help you uncover insights about your products and the customer experience. For example, Room & Board noticed that their bedroom category was generating the highest number of customer questions — up to 60 questions per item. They noticed similar themes in the questions that were being submitted and saw this as an opportunity to add additional data points and images to their product pages. As soon as they made these updates, Room & Board immediately noticed the number of questions posted in this category decreased.
Respond quickly. Centennials have questions. And they want answers…quickly. If you make them wait too long to get their questions answered, they’ll move on to another brand or retailer that will quickly provide them with the information they need. A best practices is to answer all submitted questions within 24 hours, but the quicker you answer, the less likely the shopper will turn to a competitor’s site. SKECHERS, a leading global brand in the lifestyle footwear industry, uses intelligent routing queues to push questions to the most qualified sources. In less than 3 hours, customers receive the answer to their question in a followup email with a link to the product page, and SKECHERS has experienced a 51% conversion rate from these answer notification emails.
Use multiple answer sources. Centennials don’t just want to hear from brands and retailers. They also want the opportunity to get their questions answered by other consumers like them who have purchased and used a product. For example, in addition to having your internal and customer support teams handle any questions that come in through your Q&A tool, PowerReviews offers two additional answer sources: the On-Demand Answer Community and Ask a Product Owner. Using these multiple answer sources reduces the burden on your internal team, and also allows shoppers to hear from other consumers like them.
Centennials already have $44 million in annual spending power. And this number will continue to grow as this generation comes of age. Now is the time for brands and retailers to better understand the purchase preferences of the next generation of shoppers and adjust their strategy accordingly.
Next week, the PowerReviews team will be participating in the 2016 Adobe Summit, a three day digital marketing conference held in Las Vegas. The Adobe Summit provides attendees with the opportunity to learn about strategies, trends, and tools for better connecting with customers while networking with other digital marketing professionals. This year’s agenda is impressive, with keynotes, breakout sessions, and hands-on labs being delivered by some of the industry’s top leaders.
Stop By Our Booth in the Community Pavilion Are you attending the Adobe Summit next week? If so, I hope you’ll take the time to connect with PowerReviews. We’ll be at booth #308 in the Community Pavilion to discuss your business’ challenges and the return on investment you can experience by partnering with PowerReviews.
In addition, in true Las Vegas style, booth visitors will have the chance to win big. Stop by to spin the wheel to win great prizes from some PowerReviews clients, including Jelly Belly, Crocs, LUSH, SkinnyPop and Toys “R” Us.
