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According to a CompUSA-iPerceptions study, 63 percent of consumers said they were more likely to purchase from a site if it had product ratings and reviews. And JupiterResearch found that 77 percent of online shoppers used consumer-generated product reviews and ratings — and that those who found them useful were more loyal to those businesses.
Clearly, allowing customers to rate and review your products right on your website (a la Amazon.com) has a lot of benefits, like increasing sales and decreasing returns. But what if you don’t have tens of thousands of dollars to spend on a social commerce application?
Worry not. There are now a number of developers with social commerce applications (the ability to add customer-generated ratings and reviews, even the ability to ask and answer customer questions) that small and mid-sized businesses (though probably not small mom-and-pop-type sites) can afford. And they are well worth the investment.
I recently did a case study on one such developer, Bazaarvoice.com, which provided e-commerce business Rugs Direct with the ability to safely and securely allow its customers to post ratings and reviews. It’s a great story — with a happy ending.
Another social commerce service that’s received glowing reviews is Baynote, which I wrote about for Ecommerce-Guide.com last year. And even though I haven’t covered this company yet, I’d check out PowerReviews when comparison shopping.
Have any thoughts or experiences about including or using social commerce/ratings and reviews on a site or tips to share? Let me know. I’ll post your comments.
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