Peer reviews are most important for online shoppers

A recent study from BazaarVoice and Vizu Corporation indicates that allowing space for peer reviews is more important than ever for online shopping hubs. In a survey, 75% of consumers said peer reviews are more important to them than expert reviews.

by Kristina Knight

In fact, peer reviews are preferred by a 6 to 1 margin!

More than 40% of consumers said peer reviews were the most important ecommerce site feature. Peer reviews beat out product comparisons (15%), product navigation (12%) and privacy information (11%) as the most important feature for a shopping hub.

Bazaarvoice founder and CEO, Brett Hurt said, “In the near future, shoppers will not only have more trust in brands that offer reviews but will actively demand this level of participation in the social commerce experience."

As more etailers increase technology spending to help make their shopping sites more attractive to users it seems, then, that including peer review features would be a good investment. According to research from Internet Retailer, ecommerce site owners will increase spending on software and technology spending by about 50% in the coming year. Order management systems have been reported to be the hot buy, but perhaps site owners would be better served to invest a bit more in review features.

With more shoppers logging on every day, and many of them wanting peer reviews of products, including this type of feature within a website is a good way to invite shoppers in to an online store and a great way to increase return visits.