Why are product reviews on my site important?
When selling online, your customers want to know about other people’s experiences with your product. You might think what you sell is the best (and it really might be!) but that’s not usually enough to get people to make a purchase. Especially with information being so accessible in this digital age, your customers want to be able to get real life feedback from actual humans who have already used your product. It’s the best way for them to vet whether or not they need what you’re selling.
Does it matter how I display my reviews?
It really does! The thing about reviews is, they have to be believable to your other customers to be helpful. If you just throw up a star rating image with no other information (see “original” graphic”), how does that bring value to your other customers? It’s not enough to tell a potential customer that a product has 4 out of 5 stars. They want to know why.
What’s the best way to show reviews for my products?
The best way to show reviews is to have what’s called a “Ratings Distribution Summary” (see “updated” graphic) That’s basically fancy terminology for a bar graph that you can use to filter results. This summary provides transparency to your current and potential customers because it shows that you’re not trying to hide anything. If people want to see all of the “1 star” reviews, they can easily do that by clicking on the portion of the summary.
Do I really want to advertise my worst reviews?
I’m not saying you need to display them front and center on your homepage, but they do need to be accessible. This kind of transparency might seem unnecessary, but it does provide a sense of honesty from the brand. How is that possible? Because it shows that not every person who has made a purchase loves the product - and that is extremely believable.
It doesn’t matter what product you sell, it is impossible that every single person will love every single thing about their purchase. It’s just not realistic. When companies choose to display only 5 star reviews or suggest that they’ve never gotten a lower rating in any category, other customers begin to assume that those reviews are fake. If they don’t trust your brand, they’re unlikely to purchase from you anyway.
Final Thoughts
Negative customer reviews can be disheartening, but it is also an opportunity for you to make improvements with your site or your product based on direct feedback. This is a great thing to leverage! If you want more thoughts on how to perceive customer feedback, check out our blog post How to Give Customers Exactly What They Want.
Resources for Reviews
Product Reviews Shopify Help Docs
Judge.me Shopify App
Reviews.io Shopify App