Ratings & Reviews - the unexploited source of true consumer insights

There are tens of millions of consumer reviews on major eRetailers and marketplaces around the globe. 

What if you could deeply analyse them all to summarize what people say about your products? How often and what do people talk about in the reviews?

What if you could inspect and understand the topics people talk about in reviews in an efficient, quick & accurate method? Is it cost-effective or even possible?

But let’s start with the basics…

Ratings & Reviews (R&R) empowers your customers to share their opinions and experiences about a product or brand. Most platforms, including Amazon, allow and encourage consumers to leave a product review which enhances the contents of a product page and often provides additional insights regarding the usage of a product.

Product R&R are among the most desired user-generated content a brand can hope for. R&Rs are essential to establishing the credibility of an online buying choice. 

How do R&Rs influence organisations?

Product R&Rs are more than just a source of opinions. Do not underestimate their power: their influence can be extraordinarily strong and felt in various brand-related areas.

1. BUYING DECISIONS

To put it simply - user reviews can help product selection and increase conversions as they can eliminate any doubts or fears potential customers may have about a product. Reviews increase conversion online and offline since customers tend to research products online even when standing next to an in-store shelf.

2. OFF-SITE SEARCH RANKING

Reviews of your product pages can positively affect your company’s organic search rankings in search engines (e.g. Google). Each new review written about a product on an eRetailer’s platform boosts the unique content this platform offers on that product, giving it the impression of having higher authority and more relevance and, therefore, a higher chance of getting those pages ranked in organic search results.

3. ON-SITE SEARCH RANKING

Reviews on your product pages can also influence an internal eRetailer’s search rankings for the same reasons as in the off-site search rankings. Increasing the amount of unique plain-text content on a page usually improves its position on a product listing (however, it may differ across various platforms!).

4. BRAND ENGAGEMENT

How to grow consumer engagement and education? 

• highlight product reviews
• encourage customers to leave feedback
• reply to selected reviews, showing your consumers that you care

You can apply the social media approach (being active, transparent and actively addressing consumer questions) to managing product reviews.

5. “RECYCLING” R&Rs

You can use Consumer reviews in different places and on various assets. They are not limited to reviews-module on product pages on eRetailer sites. Reviews can be used to re-market to consumers in majority paid, owned and earned media (e.g. reviews on banners, on images within the product gallery, in newsletters).

6. CONSUMER INSIGHTS

Finally, by analysing user reviews we acquire real information about product features and benefits, its usage, issues and challenges users face or products pros & cons. This knowledge is an excellent help when updating eCommerce content strategy.

R&R as a source of strategic insights

Consumer insights you gain directly from the product reviews analysis provide the brand with unprecedented quality client feedback. It can be leveraged by different departments.

Just imagine you can analyse customer reviews at scale to gain actionable insights that will impact the company's bottom line!

What would you do to get answers to these questions?

• How to build enhanced product content which addresses real consumer needs?
• How to refine your marketing message by understanding how consumers describe the pros/cons of your product?
• What are the newest, unexpected issues related to your product, its usage or even the packaging?
• What language is used by consumers who talk about your product (keywords, keyphrases)? Can you use this data to optimize your search strategy?
• Which product elements or aspects of usage do your consumers usually mention? And in what way (positive, negative)?
• What aspects of the product are the most important for consumers?
• What are the most common issues?
• What product benefits should be highlighted within the eCommerce content?
• Which features seem to be USPs from the consumer's POV?
  
  

Well, what are you waiting for?

Let's talk about the possibilities enabled by our tool – Ratings & Reviews Explorer–which offers daily monitoring of your product reviews and can provide deep-dive reports with content recommendations based on R&R findings and strategic insights based on R&R analysis.