PlusOne - Musings of a marketer

If you have an online store, do you offer your customer the opportunity to write reviews about the products you sell?

If you do, are negative reviews included as well?

I was reading an interesting article over at imedia Connenction and they were talking about this very thing.

I guess most of us would be reluctant to include any negative reviews because we reason it will put buyers off…a good rational thought. However Sam Decker of Bazaarvoice says it is not such a bad thing and can be good for business.

He say studies show only about a quarter on online businesses had the feature, but of those who did, almost all thought it was a good thing.

So while three-quarters of retailers don’t , various reasons, Decker’s says having negative customer reviews mixed in with the good is beneficial.

He comes up with 4 salient points, which I summarise here:

1. Customers are looking for negative reviews
Of course products tend not to be perfect, and reviews are a good way for the average consumer to discover the small, perhaps niggly aspects that mat affect a product. However consumers are also smart enough to know that these are balanced by the positive reviews.

2. Negative reviews establish authenticity
The reality here is if only good ones are given, then how many negatives are there - what are they trying to hide…The problem is, what if you don’t get negative ones.

3. Negative reviews help the retailer’s business
Negative reviews not only help customers make purchase decisions, but save the business through early warnings of high levels of customer dissatisfaction so that poor products can be removed from the listing. Of course it also means customers will be steered towards better products that will deliver greater satisfaction.

4. There aren’t many negative reviews
“Across all of Bazaarvoice clients, four and five-star reviews outnumber one and two-star ratings seven to one.” Basically, people tend to provide positive reviews. Jupiter research is quoted as saying that while 60% of shoppers give feedback, the majority give good feedback.

Of course having reviews is great. They can help retailers remove products that cause dissatisfaction, help them sell a perhaps higher priced, better product. But the main thing is for retailers to act. If possible develop a report with those who take the time to come back and say something.

Not forgetting that reviews apply also to services as well

Got a review on product reviews - let us know via comments.