PowerReviews: Consumers seek 4 reviews before buying

The study was commissioned by PowerReviews and conducted by the e-tailing group.

Nearly 60% of merchants who responded to the survey said adding reviews enhanced the customer experience on-site. They noted that experience is the most important factor for a good shopping experience.

About 80% of merchants say the product page is the most important for product reviews. The website's home page, usually thought to be most important, was found to be more important than the product page only about 37% of the time.

Meanwhile, customer service seems to have fallen by the wayside. Many merchants are reporting that consumers aren't as concerned about service because the consumer reviews are answering their questions before they buy a product. Because the reviews are posted by other consumers and are seen to be transparent, consumers have shown an increased trust in etailers who use product reviews on-site.

Finally, many merchants have noted that the number of positive reviews has been a welcome surprise. Many merchants, when making the decision to use consumer reviews, were nervous that the reviews would be negative. It seems that consumers, though, are more interested in reporting the good parts of their shopping experiences.

Tags: consumer reviews, ecommerce, social shopping