How important are online customer reviews?

Customer reviews are opinions of a product or a service which have been submitted by a customer who has purchased the product/service. They are common on e-commerce sites such as Ebay or Amazon where giving product feedback is very important for both the seller and the buyer. Many sites also reward customers for giving feedback by entering them into prize draws. The feedback is used for business improvement and also for publishing. There are specialist sites which focus on feedback on products and services, for example Checkatrade.com, Yelp and Trustpilot.

Over 40% of Britons have left a review for a product online (The Search Engine People, 2013) 38% of them aimed to influence other buyers. Other reasons for customers to leave feedback may be; to show appreciation for the product, to seek a refund, rewards for feedback and to raise their own profile. 

Customers look for reviews on products and services more frequently now, this is due to there being a greater choice of items due to internet searches. It is also more difficult to test and try a product online as there is little physical interaction with the product, thus asking the opinion of other customers is crucial.

A questionnaire by Brightlocal in 2013 shows how online feedback is growing in importance;

They also displayed how not only how people check the reviews more frequently but also how many reviews they read;

As you can see people in 2013 read reviews in greater numbers than in previous years, with many people reading up to 6 reviews when obtaining an opinions about a business.

Interestingly, customers are increasingly likely to trust online reviews, more people believe that they are authentic and reliable. However, people are weary of some business reviews. This may show indication of the importance of reliability, and the growth of review sites.

How have business incorporated this new phenomenon? 

It is essential for business to display or promote their customer feedback scores/reviews. Many industry's have their own measurement scale to compare certain products on an industry scale. For example films are rated /10 and many cars are rated in categories /5.

Here are a few examples of how dealerships are reviewed and compared;

For Coulsdon Audi, they post reviews on their website; (www.SGSmith.co.uk)













They have multiple reviews for the group, encompassing a breadth of brands, products and services. However almost all of the reviews are old with many ranging the summer of 2012.

Here is the review of SG Smith on Facebook;

Monitoring the feedback and reviews left by customers is EXTREMELY important, especially if a business has large digital marketing campaigns. A poor review WILL cost customers.

Here is a review of  a car dealership on Motorratings.com;

The review is from a used car dealer, the review is extremely negative (1/5 stars and a sad face). As this was one of the few reviews about the dealer I would avoid the dealership, as I am sure others would, displaying the importance of review monitoring.

Another issue with customer feedback is the threat of review spoofing, where poor reviews are left by a competitor, or a customer who has not purchased the product. As review sites cant check if the member has purchased the item, removing the content is difficult.

There is a internet trend, especially on Amazon where people leave humorous review of a product, whilst attracting publicity and attention they may damage the sales of the product.

Here is an example of a humorous customer review on Amazon;






















It seems that reviews are essential for buyers when considering a product, and results show that they are more likely to trust online reviews. This makes review monitoring more important than ever, along with having detailed, honest reviews. A business can learn much from reviews, they can improve their services, establish weaknesses and set satisfaction targets and work to achieve them.