How do reviews affect your sales on bol.com

Reviews. Laudatory, snarky or a little bleak. You can't directly influence them, even if you'd like to. The reviews and ratings people leave for your product can have quite an impact on the number of sales. But whether you really only want positive reviews? That remains to be seen. From Bol.com, not much is known about the influence of reviews on sales. Fortunately, there has been plenty of research on the subject. In this blog I list the highlights for you, so that after reading you know exactly what influence reviews have on the sale of your product.

Highlights blog

• Positive: More online reviews are written to show that people are satisfied (31%) than dissatisfied (18%).
• Reviews are read en masse: 71% of consumers often or always read customer reviews before a purchase.
• Review quantity over star rating: 82% of consumers prefer a product with many reviews and a moderate star rating to one with a five-star rating and few reviews.
• Dutch are brand loyal: After a good buying experience, Dutch are less susceptible to good reviews from another provider.

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Human nature

You've probably heard of a review platform. Visitors decide which restaurant they want to eat at, for example, based on the reviews on this platform. Entrepreneurs have a love-hate relationship with this review platform; on the one hand it increases sales, but at the same time it can also scare off potential customers. You too will soon have to deal with the influence of reviews or perhaps you already have. Read why we buy what we buy.

Capterra conducted research on the influence of online customer reviews. As many as 220 Dutch respondents participated in this. This research showed that 25%of the respondents always read online reviews before a purchase, 46% do it often and 22% do it with regularity. Only 0.5% said they never read a review. In fact, reviews are so important to Dutch consumers that 50% of respondents would rather make their choice based on reviews than on the advice of experts.

However, it is important that the reviews are written by real users who do not benefit from the sale. No butcher inspecting his own meat, in other words. In addition, the reviews should highlight different aspects of the product or service. Friends or family may recommend a product, but they are not necessarily experts in the relevant field or do not come from the same industry. That explains why buyers also trust experts more than friends' recommendations.

Reviews have the following purpose, according to Harvard Business School. Every customer has questions in mind when they review a product. Reviews should ensure that these questions are answered so that the customer can make an informed choice."

Capterra' s study on the influence of online customer reviews found that 69% of those surveyed have left an online review at least once. And it doesn't stop at just once. Once someone has written a review, he or she tends to do so more often.  

When people leave reviews, it is mainly to advise potential buyers about a product (31%). 18% of people said they leave reviews to express their dissatisfaction with a product. In addition, with our good intentions, we also appear to be quite critical. For example, we don't blindly assume that a product is good when it only has five stars. We want to see a proper balance between positive reviews and neutral reviews so that we don't feel we are being manipulated. It's all about removing the uncertainty of online shopping.

In general, we find negative and positive reviews equally reliable. The most important thing in a review is that it highlights both the positive and negative sides of the product. We find this to be the most reliable. Rather a few reviews with five stars and a few with three stars, than just reviews with five stars.

Besides looking at what the reviews say, we Dutch also have a preference in what form the review is given and to what extent. For example, we have a greater preference for a product that only has an explanatory text than, say, only stars. Furthermore, an article needs about 5 to 20 reviews to have a positive effect. Reevoo found that, on average, a product with 50 reviews or more can provide 4.6% conversion. In addition, products with reviews have 18% more conversion than products without reviews.

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We are very brand loyal

Imagine you sell mainly products in the pet segment and have set up a private label. Then after a good experience with your product and brand, the customer is not very susceptible to but a better review at a competitor when he or she wants to make a new purchase. Reviews are therefore especially useful for Dutch consumers when they are not satisfied with a product they have purchased or because they are purchasing a specific product for the first time. This is according to research by Simon-Kutcher. We Dutch trust our own judgment when we first purchase a product and read through reviews.

Conclusion

Make sure your product (obviously) is in good quality so that you have the minimum number (at least 5) of reviews as soon as possible. This will improve your conversion rate. Only laudatory reviews of your product are not the most effective. A healthy ratio of positive and neutral reviews is most effective so that all sides of your product are properly highlighted. If you have all of these in place with a good mix between explanatory text and ratings, you will make it very difficult for the competition.

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