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Most shoppers have their first interaction with a business online, where the company name, contact information and hours of operation are listed alongside their star rating. Before taking any further action toward a purchase, 95% of shoppers read customer reviews.
However, the star rating is just one of many factors shoppers consider when reading reviews. This post will examine 5 characteristics of strong customer reviews and how they drive shoppers to make a purchase.
How many reviews a business has
For customer reviews, businesses should seek out both quality and quantity. A variety of unique positive reviews illustrates a business’ ability to maintain consistent customer satisfaction.
Shoppers typically read multiple reviews to get a well-rounded picture of a business’s reputation, with most reading at least four customer reviews. And that’s not all. Though shoppers may only read a few reviews, they also consider the total number of reviews a business has alongside their overall rating—with more reviews indicating a greater level of trustworthiness to shoppers.
How detailed and specific the reviews are
Shoppers read reviews to learn more about whether past customers are satisfied with a business’s products or services and their overall experience from the beginning to the end of their purchase journey.
Although a five-star review might illustrate customer satisfaction, it doesn’t illustrate exactly what made the experience excellent. A Consumer Affairs study found that shoppers consistently consider the content of a review to be more valuable than the rating alone, which reveals little about the actual customer experience.
How recent the reviews are
As time goes on, employees, products and services can change, so shoppers consider recent reviews to be most reliable.
Plus, with mask mandates, vaccination requirements and travel restrictions impacting daily life, how companies do business has changed dramatically and will likely continue to evolve. Shoppers expect reviews to illustrate how a business has handled changes like these.
As a result, shoppers aren’t likely to look at reviews over six months old, according to BrightLocal. For businesses, that means consistent, fresh feedback is critical to a positive reputation.
How a business responds to reviews
Responses, especially to negative criticism, reveal a lot about a business’s professionalism and conflict resolution practices. That’s why 96% of shoppers say they read businesses’ responses. according to a BrightLocal survey.
Shoppers hope to see responses that are respectful, honest and prompt, and which open the door to further communication. For more tips on responding to negative customer reviews, read BBB’s guide to handling criticism.
Whether the customer reviews are authentic
Finally, shoppers take into consideration whether customer reviews are a reflection of legitimate marketplace interactions. To compete in the digital landscape, some businesses are turning to dishonest practices to inflate their reputation—namely, fake customer reviews.
Shoppers are likely to consider reviews that are too positive, vague or lean too heavily on product specifications to be untrustworthy. As a consequence, businesses using fake reviews appear untrustworthy as well.
How to generate trustworthy customer reviews
Customer reviews are one of the most powerful factors influencing where people do business, but many factors dictate how much weight is given to those reviews. Shoppers are 94% more likely to buy from a business with a variety of specific, timely customer reviews about positive experiences.
In other words, businesses need to generate a steady stream of unique, detailed and trustworthy customer reviews.
One way to do that is by reaching out to customers directly—via email, social media or at the time of purchase—to ask if they’d leave a review on BBB.org. Encouraging customers to leave reviews on BBB.org enhances your reputation on one of the most trusted sites for business information.
Read more business articles in the BBB business news feed.
BBB serving Greater Maryland contributed to this article.