A decade ago as the internet was becoming an everyday ressource for information, online shopping was still, in fact, a grey area as users had little faith in spending money ‘virtually’ and did not particularly trust the idea. Nowadays, online shopping has reached new heights and over this last year alone online spending increased 22%.
We still hear many stories of fake or untrustworthy websites, however, so how do you build trust online in consumers’ eyes? Tim Ash’s article The Four Pillars of Building Instant Trust Online is a great source of advice.
There are several ways to help build on this trust, including, for example, payment security assurance and media coverage. For us here at Shopzilla, however, one of the most significant methods of increasing visitor confidence in websites and products is through the visibilty of reviews left by other consumers.
Although long known in the online industry, it has more recently been highly emphasised that merchant/product ratings and reviews help increase conversions and decrease return rates for online retailers. These reviews play an important role in building consumer trust with our retailers. The company has so far seen conversions of between 10-25% on its retailers’ sites thanks to the Shopzilla Product Reviews Solution, an innovative piece of technology which enables merchants to integrate consumer product reviews on their websites.
A few stats on how general consumer ratings are affecting shopping decisions today:
- 77% of online shoppers seek product ratings and reviews
- 92% believe reviews are extremely helpful
- 78% of consumers have more trust for brands with reviews
- 37% of retailers plan to add or replace customer reviews and ratings in 2010
(Sources: Jupiter Media, TechCrunch, Shop.org, Marketing Sherpa, eMarkter, buySAFE, Internet Retailer)
According to a survey carried out by Nielson, “…opinions posted online are the most trusted forms of advertising globally…and seven in every ten trust these consumer opinions..”
Building up consumer trust in your brand and website will take time as well as effort on your part. But if you have a good product or brand, then it usually comes naturally.
If you are interested in learning more about what Shopzilla’s Product Reviews can do for your conversions, please contact us.
