21. 2. 2023

The more reviews you get, the better you get or how to increase conversions by 250%

We have a lot of data from robust analytics that reveal the answers to how the amount of reviews can sway your sales page conversions. To help you best understand them, and at the same time learn how to make the most of the effects, we've pulled out the most important ones. Of course, there are clear charts. Keep reading!

Key takeaways:

  • 99.9% of consumers read reviews. For 98% of them, they are a crucial factor in their buying decision.
  • The more reviews a brand has, the more benefits it receives. A product page with 1-10 reviews is 52.2% more likely to convert than one without reviews.
  • More reviews mean more conversions and sales, regardless of product type. However, the volume of reviews has the biggest impact in the electronics, FMCG and luxury goods categories.

A new analysis has recently been released1 that makes it absolutely indisputable that the number of reviews matters. It reviewed 4.5 billion visits to 1.5 million online product pages from 1,200 retail and brand sites as data. In short, a mind-boggling sample that yielded robust and highly generalizable conclusions.

Some are not so surprising - like the fact that people trust reviews more than ever. But others are a bit more interesting.

The power of reviews

Let's first consider the impact of reviews in general.

In 2018, consumer research revealed what role reviews play for them when shopping. At the time, 97% said they followed reviews closely, and for 89% of shoppers, reading reviews was a solid part of the shopping journey.2

Even then, these were impressive numbers. But they've undergone another massive increase over the past few years that means the majority (99.9%) of today's consumers can no longer do without reviews. And it's only logical. In a world where one no longer knows what to trust, reviews are an authentic and unbiased source of information for buyers to make smart, worry-free purchases.

Consumer trust in reviews is even so strong that 86% of online shoppers won't buy until they've read at least a few. So the need for social proof is strong!

It's easy to see from the data how reviews effectively encourage consumers to buy

The 2021 analysis3 found that any shopper interaction with product reviews and ratings directly increases conversions, by as much as 120.3%.

In the chart below, note that reviews even outperform the price of the product by a full 3%4 in terms of their importance for shopping.

If reviews are so crucial, is there also a rule that the more the better?

The following analysis provides the answer.

In order to accurately assess the impact of the number of reviews on all stages of the purchase process, the authors calculated the conversion rate of visitors to the product page with the most reviews (calculated as all interactions with a particular site in 24 hours). The advantage of this buyer-centric approach is the ability to directly observe the impact of reviews on the probability of conversion.

Data revealed an incredible effect:

  • When a buyer views a product page with 1 or more reviews, conversion increases by 52.2%.
  • Customers visiting product pages with 11 to 30 reviews have more than 2x higher conversion rates.
  • When products reach the holy grail of 101 or more reviews, conversions rise a massive 250%.

The conclusion is clear: the more reviews you have, the better you sell.

There is a direct linear relationship between the number of reviews a customer is exposed to on a product page and the increase in conversion rate.

The conclusion of the analysis also makes sense from a theory perspective. Marketing professor at the University of South Carolina Dr. Sungsik Park said recently in an interview5 with the Wall Street Journal: "It's all about sample size. The more reviews, the more likely the comments will reflect the actual quality of the product."

Moreover, the impact of the number of reviews goes beyond individual products

Nearly six in ten customers report that they will happily purchase a product without reviews if they know that other items from the same brand have a high number of quality reviews. This is a simple example of the psychological halo effect that is created by reviews. We'll talk about that next time.

References

  1. Team, P. (2022, March 9). The Impact of Review Volume on Conversion: Is More Really Better? PowerReviews. https://www.powerreviews.com/blog/review-volume-conversion-impact/
  2. Team, P. (2022, November 12). Survey: The Ever-Growing Power of Reviews. PowerReviews. https://www.powerreviews.com/insights/power-of-reviews-survey-2021/
  3. Team, P. (2022, September 20). The Conversion Impact of User-Generated Content: A Complete Breakdown. PowerReviews. https://www.powerreviews.com/insights/2021-ugc-conversion-impact-analysis/
  4. Team, P. (2022, November 12). Survey: The Ever-Growing Power of Reviews. PowerReviews. https://www.powerreviews.com/insights/power-of-reviews-survey-2021/
  5. Ward, L. (2021, May 21). How Initial Consumer Reviews Can Affect Future Ones. WSJ. https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-initial-consumer-reviews-can-affect-future-ones-11621605611

Subscribe to our newsletter

For a regular supply of great articles from our blog, do not hesitate to subscribe us.

Categories

Typy blogov

New posts

Follow our Linkedin

Testuj.to

Follow our Facebook

Brand Testing Club is a new marketing tool that aims to help brands test products and generate reviews across Europe along with other authentic content from testers. This creates priceless advertising that customers trust.
Don't worry, we send email about once a week and don't send any spam.
© Copyright 2022 - Brand Testing Club - Made by Digiamo
linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram