Did You Know?

Visitors to retail sites are 10% more likely to purchase from the retailer’s website if the site has customer generated product reviews. What would increasing purchase intent by 10% do to your bottom line?

A new study released by ForeSee Results finds that the availability of online customer reviews on a retail website boosts overall satisfaction with the website, loyalty, and likelihood to buy online.

In a closer look into research done with the top 100 grossing retail websites, we found that websites that offered customer reviews enjoyed better loyalty and conversion rates.

• Customer reviews significantly improve the online shopping experience: Satisfaction is 11% higher for people who said they had seen customer reviews on the site than for those who said that reviews weren’t on the site they visited.
• Customer reviews increase conversion and loyalty: Shoppers on sites with reviews are 10% more likely to purchase from the retailer’s website than those on sites without reviews. This group is 7% more likely to purchase from the retailer for their next purchase of similar merchandise, which is a strong loyalty metric.
• Customer reviews support acquisition: Customer reviews are a form of recommendation (whether they’re positive or negative) and recommendation is a powerful influence in online retailing. Online shoppers that remembered seeing customer reviews are 13% more likely to recommend the site than are shoppers who didn’t see reviews.