How do reviews influence eCommerce customer behaviour?

Product reviews are good for social proof. You’ve probably heard it a thousand times. But what do (unbiased) studies into the impact of reviews tell us?

Are reviews important for eCom sites?

The inclusion of reviews on eCom sites is widespread, as is their use by customers, with many studies referencing that 95% of consumers consider online reviews before purchasing (although I couldn’t find the original source for this figure), it’s clear that for a large number of consumers reviews are very important.

In fact, compared with products without reviews, a product with at least five reviews are 270% more likely to be purchased based on an investigation by the Spiegel Research Centre. Studies have also found that positive comments for products on eCom stores can have a strong persuasive effect, can increase trust and and confidence in products (Archak, Ghose, & Ipeirotis, 2011).

However, it’s also important to remember that social proof doesn’t necessarily mean a positive however and social proof can be negative and prevent people from purchasing. In fact, some studies have found that negative reviews are perceived to be more valuable than positive reviews and have greater influence on buying tendencies (Ahluwalia et al., 2000).

So if you do decide to implement product reviews – make sure you have a good product that garners positive reviews!

Reviews can be too good

Intuitively it seems that the higher your review rating is for a product, the better it must be for your eCom site to convince customers to purchase. However, this is not what has been found in studies on the matter.

In fact, in a study on how review ratings actually impact sales on 3 different eCommerce sites from a range of niches, a non-linear relationship was found.

Products became more likely to be purchased with a review rating of up to about 4.2-4.5 stars, however, products with ratings above 4.5 were found to be less likely to be purchased (Maslowska, Malthouse, & Bernritter, 2017).

This suggests that a few negative reviews may actually have a net positive impact, potentially because some negative reviews increase trust in the product and perceived credibility (Sun-Jae & Jang-Sun, 2009).

In my personal opinion, a 4.5 star rating seems quite low and in personal experience I believe I would tend to trust a higher rated review more so would love to see what more recent studies into this same area show. I can certainly see how “perfect” or “near-perfect” reviews can reduce credibility.

What makes a good review?

Reviews are not all made equally however. Studies have shown that argument quality is a factor that increases the trust in reviews, as does perceived similarity to the reviewer (Ahluwalia, Burnkrant, & Rao Unnava, 2000). This means that if you are looking to have reviews on-site, encouraging customers to leave qualitative information about the product they are reviewing may be beneficial, as will be having reviews for specific products rather than generic brand reviews (since the argument quality for that product will be greater). Product page reviews can have additional benefits for SEO and helping your site stand out in search results will appropriate structured data implemented as well.

Interestingly, some of the more advanced features of some review providers may help eCommerce stores to provide reviews of greater quality, including breakdowns and ratings of specific product features including fit, performance, and quality.

An example of reviews on an eCom site breaking down and rating separate product features, alongside qualitative feedback.

I haven’t seen many examples of reviews on eCommerce sites that allow a customer to filter by “similarity to the reviewer”, however, this could potentially be a box that is ticked by User Generated Content (UGC) which is offered by some review platforms either as part of the review system or as a separate feature.

UGC allows customers to upload images of themselves and the purchased product in use, which could give indicators of similarity to the reviewer which increases trust in reviews.

Sources

Biswas, B., Sengupta, P., & Ganguly, B. (2022). Your reviews or mine? Exploring the determinants of “perceived helpfulness” of online reviews: a cross-cultural study. Electronic Markets, 32(3), 1083–1102. 10.1007/s12525-020-00452-1

Ahluwalia, R., Burnkrant, R. E., & Rao Unnava, H. (2000). Consumer response to negative publicity: The moderating role of commitment. Journal of Marketing Research, 37(2), 203-214. doi:10.1509/jmkr.37.2.203.18734

Maslowska, E., Malthouse, E. C., & Bernritter, S. F. (2017). Too good to be true: The role of online reviews’ features in probability to buy. International Journal of Advertising, 36(1), 142-163. doi:10.1080/02650487.2016.1195622

Sun-Jae, D., & Jang-Sun, H. (2009). How consumers evaluate eWOM (electronic word-of-mouth) messages | CyberPsychology & behavior. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 12(2), 193-197. Retrieved from https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/cpb.2008.0109