For as long as I have been working with companies to help them improve their social media efforts, I have heard them explain how worried they are about what their customers are saying online. “How do we make it go away?” or “How do we get this off the 1st page of Google results?” are questions I have heard all too often.
One area where this really comes into play is the issue of adding product reviews to your e-commerce site. Many companies do NOT want to do this, because they fear that letting customers post reviews on their site will hurt sales.
I was discussing this on Twitter last week, and Ian at Bazaarvoice started chatting with me. If you haven’t heard of them, Bazaarvoice works with companies to add functionality to their e-commerce sites, including Ratings and Reviews. Ian sent me a ton of useful information and data about companies that using ratings and reviews on their sites, and I wanted to share some of the key points with you.
First, Bazaarvoice has found that 80% of the people that review products with its US clients give those products a 4 or 5 star rating (out of 5 stars). For its clients in the UK, that figure jumps up to 88%.
Second, there’s the case study of how QuickBooks added the functionality of reviews to its Pro Advisors (Quick Book experts that help customers use the software). Quick Books found that Pro Advisors with reviews had their profiles clicked on 555% more than those with no reviews. Quick Book also found that volume trumped rating, as some Pro Advisors with more reviews got more clicks than Pro Advisors with higher overall ratings, but far fewer reviews.
Another key advantage to reviews that Ian shared with me is that reviews are great sources of customer feedback. If you see that several customers are complaining about a particular aspect of your product and/or service, then obviously that’s alerting you to a pain point for your customers that you need to address.
One final tip from Ian: product reviews lower the number of returns (and the associated restocking fees/costs) cause customers have a better idea of exactly what they are getting before they order it. Makes complete sense, eh?
But at the end of the day, the key lesson here is to be proactive in monitoring online mentions (even if its reviews on your site), and responding to them when appropriate. We talked recently about examples of ‘social media backlashes‘ that brands have endured. In each instance, the problem grew over time, due to the company not monitoring the situation. The company not responding in a timely fashion was the main culprit behind the problem for them.
Most customers that complain online do NOT want to ‘hurt’ your company. They just want you to listen to them, and help them with their problem. If you’ll do that, you’ll often flip a detractor into an evangelist. Hopefully these stats will help debunk the myth that any negative mention/review online hurts your company. In reality, it’s often an opportunity.
Great post, Mack! Love the data! And so true!
Thank you Ekaterina!
Mack
I understand their fears but the data does not lie. I have to admit that I am more weary of a biz or product that does not have a review. I think of it this way. If you have a forum where people can say great or negative things, it opens the door to be better. We know that a very positive or negative experience gets spoken about f2f, phone or on another platform then you then have to be sure that you have the proper listening and monitoring tools in place.
allowing them on your site is bring the people to your site and having them stay there. If there is a complain that is not taken care of then shame on you. Sure there are some that are completely ridiculous but there are ones where a complaint can be sort of a gift as you can make changes.
Fear is real but at the same time you are only fearing the risk and not taking the risk can hurt in the long run.
Suzanne I saw a study somewhere that said if a product has just ONE negative review, that suddenly all the POSITIVE ones are seen as more credible. Ian’s data backs up that belief.
And I would assume that product reviews would make the customer view ALL the information on the website as more credible, to a degree.
I logged on to post exactly this comment. As a consumer, I certainly can attest to these statistics! Thank you for posting, Mack!
Thank you Margaret 😉
Mack,
I am so glad that you have put all of this information out on the “table.” I recently had the opportunity to purchase a few items through Nordstrom’s bridal store website. Being able to read reviews, both positive and negative, allowed me to learn more about the dress or shoes. And, of course, their on-line service was great.
When you are in business, it is very hard to please everyone, but it cost you nothing to listen to customer critiques and you often will learn things about your business that your own employees don’t want to share with you.
I was once responsible for conducting face to face exit interviews with patients. These interviews were then shared with senior staff and when we saw a pattern developing we knew where we had to put our efforts to provide better care.
I have always felt that if you offer valid input, the company can only get better.
Thanks for this data, it will be helpful.
Judy
Good takeaways, Judy. I think the value of reviews as a feedback mechanism is very overlooked. If a lot of customers are having the same complaints with a product, it can help the company contact the vendor with the information, or stop selling the product.
And I do think it’s easier to trust merchants that allow reviews on their sites.
Thanks, Judy. Nordstrom is an excellent example, and an excellent client 🙂
Hi Mack ironically I wrote a similar post about this on my blog. I always tell my clients to embrace negative reviews, In fact in most cases they are better than positive ones. Look at a negative review as a call to action. If more business owners would take the opportunity to communicate with the person that has a negative perception it actually has more weight than a positive review.
Hey Marc! And I really think if customers see 5 positive reviews for an item, and no negative ones, that some of them wonder if there have been negative reviews, that were deleted.
But on the flipside, if I see 4 people give an item 5-stars, and one customer give it 2-stars, I tend to believe that the person that gave it 2-stars had an unusual experience. I tend to put more weight with the other 4 customers, I think.
I think you also have to take reviews with a grain of salt, since they are based on an experience or a perception! I take them into consideration however I give the benefit of the doubt to the business until they prove me wrong! Great blog post
Marc I think it depends. If the review is ‘I loved this product, awesome!’, then that doesn’t give you much to work with. But if the review is a 5-page accounting of the pros and cons of the product, then it’s more credible, in most cases. Have you read the reviews on Amazon? Many people there review multiple products and take their reviews VERY seriously 😉 But that improves their overall quality.
I was sure I left a comment on this post?
Rob I checked and I didn’t get a notification that you had left a comment to this post, before this one.
No worries Mack… *sigh damn pc’s 😉
This is so true in the restaurant industry!
Since working at the company that I do now I have found that restaurants and the hospitality industry at large are super leery of negative feedback. Let’s face it; reviews can make or break a restaurant. Slowly but surely (and sometimes really quickly as I shove people forward, haha!) we’re coming around to the viewpoint that by engaging online with negative reviews we’re actually improving our service. It’s actually empowering our managers to do a better job!
Thank you Mark. I never knew this much about the reviews before this.
I was sent the link to this article by a colleague, and this was my response with regard to the subject of your article, that I shall repeat here:
I believe there is a small group of like-minded individuals, who search for something negative or hurtful to say, in order to hurt social communities. They decide to openly ATTACK places where they will never fit in, simply because they have nothing positive to offer the community. It could be because of their jealousies, they want to tear down the sterling reputation of a given community.
It becomes painfully obvious to many readers precisely what these negative types are tying to do. Happily I can report that for most part, we tend to IGNORE them. We are Smart Enough not to fan the fires of disruptive behavior. They are TROLLS and have only one objective and that is disruptive behavior. Many times they do this just for SHOCK value.
I have seen it before and I am sure to witness it again and again. As for me, I shall apply GOOD JUDGEMENT and never allow someone else’s bad manners or potty mouth to sway my thinking. I am a Renaissance Woman and I do my own thinking.
Great blog, thanks !
I work with various industries and often with a focus on online engagement. One area where I have a lot of hands on experience is in the Hotel/Resort industry, and I’d focus on online reviews of hotel stays here (via TripAdvisor etc).
Whilst the system for responding to reviews isn’t perfect, generally speaking I love negative reviews as they give a) opportunities for the resort/hotel to review how they interact with guests based on guest feedback, b) show that they listen and respond to guest concerns, and c) allow customers to see, as your blog pointed out, that nobody is perfect.. nobody believes a hotel can get all 5* reviews 🙂
it is great to finally see other individuals understanding the power of relationships. This is a great post Mack and we built http://www.carfolks.com for the automotive vertical for this very reason. Have a look and give me your feedback, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Kim Clouse
Executive Director
Carfolks.com
Must work harder ,simply
<a href=”http://www.katalogi.co”>katalog firm</a>
I agree that the majority of customers are not out to hurt businesses with negative reviews but I also feel that the majority of customers with a good experience rarely go out and embrace a business online. The ratio of people willing to complain vs people willing to compliment is very much out of whack. This is because companies are not willing to actively seek out positive reviews in fear that this will prompt someone to leave a negative review. Our business was not willing to invest in Yelp.com and take the chance of getting a negative review let alone have a competitor blast us with a fake review. We found an excellent solution in goodpickle.com. This website only accepts compliments. You can promote it without fear of competitors destroying your image.
Hope this helps. Check it out.
http://www.goodpickle.com
And plenty makes us poor.
Hi Mack,
Of course these are fundamental points laid out here. Completely agree in it being important to listen and respond.
With respect to negative comments, there are two aspects I’d like to add to support your point of view:
1. Being negatively reviewed is natural and not unbelievable. Nobody can be perfect, companies too are a part of the ‘nobody’.
2. Negative reviews cannot always be generalized to be negative for all. Say I didn’t like the food at a restaurant because it was too spicy. But may be the person reading the review is a great fan of spicy food. Of course this is not the case all the time but negative reviews need to be further examined for the generality.
Thanks
Deepak
Hi Deepak, good points! I actually visited Bazaarvoice last week, and got to talk to Erin Nelson, BV’s CMO for a bit. She said that what they’ve noticed with their clients is that 4-star reviews typically have more value for the client than 5 star reviews! As she explained, with a 4-star review, the customer will typically say ‘I would have given it 5 stars, but….’. And that ‘but’ is valuable information that the company can use to improve the product!
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and was curious what all is required to get setup? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a pretty penny? I’m not very web savvy so I’m not 100% positive. Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers
Hey, I had this problem of actively managing my reviews for my restaurant, The Westside Cafe, in Vail, CO. So, I built software to do it for my. Other restaurants wanted to use it so I developed MyReviewAlarm.com to help manage the process. Just thought I’d let you know. Thanks.
Ryan
Hi Mack, These are quite true points for every online marketing company. The last paragraph is really depicts the summary and made me to think twice. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Mack it’s very true, reviews helps the customer to know complete details about their buying product. Thanks for sharing valuable information:)
Very nice and useful information. Really I came to know the benefits of the negative reviews about products or services. Obviously Ian point is correct. Because if the customers are complaining about our product, it is the correct time for us to rectify our disadvantages of the product.It also helps the customers to think before they order it. Thanks for sharing the valuable information Mack.