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A hesitant buyer looks for a voice that is not the seller’s. Customer reviews play that role: they say whether the size runs true, whether the colour matches the photo, whether the parcel arrived on time. You still need to have them, show them, and be able to prove they are real.
This guide is for teams that want to make reviews an asset of their store: more trust on the product page, and a better presence in search results. It covers three stages: collecting, displaying, and getting them read by Google.
What reviews change on a product page
Northwestern University’s Spiegel Research Center measured the effect of displaying reviews on data from online retailers. On a high-end gift retailer, the purchase likelihood of a product with five reviews was 270% greater than that of a product with none, and the effect varied with price:
Conversion increase when reviews are displayed
Two other findings from the same study help you decide. Early reviews matter most: nearly all of the increase happens within the first ten reviews, and the first five drive the bulk of it. And a perfect rating is not the best: purchase likelihood peaks between 4.0 and 4.7, then declines as the rating approaches 5. A page where everything is perfect raises doubt.
These figures come from a limited number of stores and date from 2017: they give a direction, not a promise for yours. Your own measure remains the add-to-cart rate per product page, tracked among the five numbers to track every week.
Collecting: ask everyone, at the right time
The same study distinguishes verified buyers, whom the store asked for a review after purchase, from people who came of their own accord. The former give an average of 4.34 out of 5, the latter 3.89: those who write without being asked are more often the unhappy ones. Asking therefore gives a more faithful picture of your customers as a whole.
- Wait for delivery.
A review requested before the parcel arrives talks about the wait, not the product.
- Ask every buyer.
Not only those who seem satisfied.
- Make answering easy.
A rating and a few lines, one click away from the email.
- Send one reminder, at most.
A review request should not become one more solicitation.
The second step is not just good practice. Amazon’s seller code of conduct, for example, prohibits soliciting reviews only from customers who had a positive experience, as well as offering an incentive in exchange for a review. If you also sell on a marketplace, its rules apply there; our article on selling on Amazon alongside your store details what the platform allows. The review request goes out from the post-purchase sequence, which follows the same principles as abandoned cart reminders: few messages, useful ones, and a clean stop.
Displaying: on the product page, and honestly
A review is useful where the buyer decides, that is on the product page, near the price and the buy button. Our article on the product page that converts lists it among the answers buyers look for before paying.
EU law frames this display. The European Union’s page on unfair commercial practices puts it this way:
Under EU rules, traders publishing reviews must disclose how they ensure the reviews have been submitted by real consumers who have purchased the product or service.
The same page prohibits altering customer reviews and product ratings, and paying people to write fake reviews. In practice:
- Explain the verification, in one sentence under the reviews: for example, only buyers of a delivered order receive the invitation.
- Publish negative reviews too, and answer them calmly: a useful reply reassures the next reader more than a flawless page.
- Edit nothing. A typo in a review stays in the review.
From the field
On an online plush toy store that we are putting back on its feet, the audit found four to five review systems loaded on the pages, and not a single review displayed. A double loss: the weight of several scripts on every page, without the social proof they were meant to bring. The lesson applies to any store: one system, and visible reviews.
This pile-up is a textbook case of what our article on the cost of Shopify apps describes: every review tool tested then forgotten keeps weighing on speed.
Getting reviews read by Google
Reviews can also appear in search results, as stars, on two conditions: correct markup on the page, and compliance with Google’s rules.
- On product pages, review structured data is allowed. Google’s documentation on review snippets requires ratings to be sourced directly from users and prohibits aggregating reviews from other websites.
- On a company’s own page, it is the opposite: the same documentation excludes stars when the entity being reviewed controls the reviews about itself, including through a widget embedded on its site.
- In Google Shopping, product ratings go through Merchant Center, which requires at least 50 reviews across all your products, according to its help on product ratings eligibility.
Stars in ads do not replace a clean feed: our guide to preparing your store for Google Shopping lays the foundation, and what makes a Google Shopping campaign rise or sink also depends on the trust shown next to the price.
Key takeaway
A review is worth its proof
The number of reviews catches the eye, their authenticity wins the decision. A published verification method, negative reviews shown with their reply and a single well-integrated system are worth more than a perfect rating nobody believes.
Reviews as raw material
Reviews say what product pages forget: “runs small”, “softer than expected”, “darker than the photo”. Read every month, they point to information to add to the pages. They also forecast returns: a reason that keeps coming up in reviews will keep coming back in parcels, as our article on product returns shows. And a review about a product received late or never shipped often points to poorly synced inventory.
If you sell in several languages, the question arises too: according to a 2020 CSA Research survey, 73% of online shoppers want at least product reviews in their language, a point taken up in our article on the multilingual, multi-currency store. The platform choice, finally, decides what is built in and what needs an app, as our Shopify or Medusa comparison shows.
If you want to put your reviews in order (one system, a request after delivery, correct markup), our ecommerce service starts with a review of your product pages.
Frequently asked questions
When should you ask for a review after a purchase?
After the product arrives, not at the time of the order: the buyer must have had time to use it. The right delay depends on the product and the carrier. One reminder is enough if the first request goes unanswered. Beyond that, the review request becomes one solicitation too many.
Can you delete a negative review?
EU law prohibits altering customer reviews, and deleting a review because it is negative misleads the next buyers. Moderation on objective grounds (abusive language, a review unrelated to the product) is described in advance in your review policy. Everything else is handled with a public reply, calm and useful.
Do you need a paid review tool?
Not necessarily. The essentials come down to three functions: sending the request after delivery, displaying reviews on the product page with their verification method, and producing the markup Google reads. If your platform does this natively, one more tool only adds weight. Keep a single one, and cleanly remove those you no longer use.
Do customer reviews improve SEO?
They can bring stars into search results when product pages carry review structured data that follows Google’s rules, and into Google Shopping from 50 reviews across the catalogue. They also add text written in buyers’ own words to your pages. Google does not guarantee that stars will be shown.
Sources
- Amazon seller code of conduct (new tab)sellercentral.amazon.com
- Your Europe, unfair commercial practices (new tab)europa.eu
- Google Search Central, review snippets (new tab)developers.google.com
- Google Merchant Center Help, product ratings eligibility (new tab)support.google.com
- CSA Research, Consumers Prefer their Own Language, July 2020 (new tab)csa-research.com
CSA Research, Consumers Prefer their Own Language, July 2020
Read on csa-research.com(new tab)Jim · founder of Brain Plus AI
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