In March of 2010 the e-tailing group and Power Review performed a study that found that one half of Internet users research online before making a purchase. This makes sense; with information at our fingertips it would be silly not to research a purchase first. In the same study it was reported that 49% of customers will leave a site if there is a lack of user-generated reviews. The study made it clear; purchasers want to see reviews.
The interesting part is that despite the importance of customer reviews in the purchasing decision, a majority of companies are still putting Facebook strategies higher up on the priority list. In-fact, according to the e-tailing group, 91% of companies either employ or plan to employ a Facebook fan page in 2010, while only 85% plan to implement customer reviews on their site.
Even more interesting, the “2010 Social Shopping Study” found that customer reviews had a strong influence on over 70% of respondents and the purchases they make. At the same time, only 25% of respondents felt that Facebook had a strong influence on their purchase decisions. In fact, the survey found that social media sites were the least likely place for customers to do research to aid in their purchase decisions.
The customers have spoken; if the question is ‘to buy or not to buy?’ they want to see some reviews.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I love reading reviews before I purchase an item.The trick is taking them with a grain of salt. Some people are pretty reactive and negative about little annoyances that my not bother you. So, it’s important to weight the good with the bad before making your decision, not just focusing on only the negative (or positive) reviews.
I agree with Jen – reviews are good, but it’s sometimes difficult to gauge how much you can rely on the review itself. Perhaps the solution is a third-party review system that can be plugged into a site itself, with reviewers themselves given something akin to a Google Ad Score. “This reviewer gave this site two stars – and you can trust this, because they’ve reviewed about 100 other sites as well.” That way the people who are writing a review for the first time – because they want to promote their own site, or because they’re still angry at the company for something – won’t have as much pull as someone who completes reviews all of the time.