Evolving online reviews highlight dialogue opportunities for retailers

What this means: Word-of-mouth marketing continues to be a key component of retail influence and purchase conversion, but it takes multiple forms with today’s consumers. Reviews allow consumers to harness their buying power within the online channel and are often the most powerful tool in making a purchase decision. Consumers hold a lot of influence over the retail industry, and their sentiment is key in product, pricing and delivery development. Retailers have long struggled to incentivize product reviews, and today’s consumer is less loyal and less motivated to write a review unless they benefit. At a time when retailers are under pressure to improve their return on investment, the online review stands alone in its potential to impact the bottom line. Reviews directly affect consumer buying habits. Chatmeter’s recent survey found that more than 67% of customers see reviews as an important part of evaluating a potential purchase in terms of pricing, features, options and quality. “Online reviews are critical sources of business intelligence when it comes to understanding what consumers want, need and expect from the brands they love,” Cynthia Sener, president, go-to-market of Chatmeter, told Retail Leader Pro. With reviews as a major source of influence across dozens of industries, hundreds of billions of dollars are potentially at play, including hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single location.” Despite the growing interest in and use of tech, people still trust people. More than 80% of Chatmeter’s survey respondents indicated they trust recommendations from friends and family, although online reviews came in strong at more than 60%. Chatmeter’s survey found consumers have significantly different expectations and requirements across the retail, restaurant, healthcare and financial services industries, and their trust of online reviews varies greatly: Retail: 64% of respondents feel that too many fake reviews exist for retail and brand purchases. Only 52% of respondents trust retail reviews, highlighting a major opportunity for retail brands to improve, Sener said. “Retailers should know that expert advice and influence don’t trump peer reviews,” she added. “Despite the huge uptick in influencer brand promotion, consumers harbor a healthy skepticism regarding influencers, with 38% distrusting them.” Healthcare: Only 53% of respondents trust healthcare reviews. When searching for a new doctor, people turn to friends and family, another doctor and other sources before turning to a healthcare review site. Additionally, 45% of respondents want 11 or more reviews for a doctor or healthcare service before they trust the reviews. Financial services: Financial services reviews are trusted the least – with 66% reporting low levels of trust. Almost half (47.5%) of respondents would first refer to friends or family for financial service advice, and only 9.8% would turn to financial service review sites as their first step. Restaurants: Restaurant goers (69%) place a level of trust in reviews, making food-service reviews the most trusted source of consumer information compared to other industries. Additional key findings include: Reviews are part of everyday decision-making: More than 89% of respondents use online reviews to evaluate quality. Review timeliness is important: More than 56% of respondents feel that reviews need to be posted within the past month to be trusted as relevant; only 6% believe that the date a review is posted doesn’t matter. Details matter: More detailed reviews that include specific details, such as pricing, features, options and quality are considered valuable by 67% of respondents. Review quantity matters: More than 60% of respondents wanted to see at least 6-10 reviews posted within the past two months for them to build trust and have an influence on decision-making. A quarter of respondents want to see more than 20 reviews in the last two-months in order to build trust and have influence; another 20% want to see at least 11 reviews. Engaging with reviews A large aspect of retailer engagement involves responding to customer reviews online and comments on social media. “A business that actively and appropriately responds to both positive and negative reviews sends a much different message than a business that maybe responds to one or two reviews here and there,” Sener said. “The former shows that they are listening to their customers, care about their feedback, and are willing to make any necessary changes, whereas the latter sends a message of being unaware or disinterested.” Consumers want to have and will reward positive brand experiences, Chatmeter found. Most respondents (76%) reported that if they posted a negative review and the business responded to their satisfaction, they would return and upgrade their review, while another 11% would go back and delete the negative review. In regard to addressing negative online reviews, 58% of consumers want brands to acknowledge their comments and fix problems quickly. “Brands must consider review response as an essential part of creating a stellar customer experience,” Sener said. “Online review response is how brands build stronger, more authentic relationships with consumers.” “Great service drives more reviews,” she adds. For example, consumers indicated that they usually post reviews when they have had a great experience with a company (73%) versus a terrible experience (63%). Consumers can be enthusiastic brand ambassadors as well, as 74% of respondents who rarely leave online reviews said they would consider doing so after a great experience. Platforms for reviews Chatmeter’s survey found the most popular platforms for consumer reviews are Amazon (77%) and Google (62%), followed by social media platforms, with 51%. Almost 25% of respondents have tweeted a compliment or a complaint about a company, while 36% have written a compliment or a complaint and shared it via text, Slack or in a group chat. Other social media channels like TikTok also continue to gain popularity for retail consumers, as Gen Z leans into the world of sponsored content. Additionally, technology will play an increasingly important role in online reviews as platforms where reviews aggregate continue to evolve. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, such as ChatGPT and the metaverse, have sparked interest across multiple demographics. According to the survey, 39% like the idea of ChatGPT for review information and that number jumps to more than 46% for those aged 18 to 29. More than 30% of respondents like the idea of brand reviews through an engaging metaverse experience, and are most preferred by consumers aged 18 to 29 (46%). For those consumers in the 45 to 60 age range, 40% are open to AI and metaverse tech, while only 30% over age 60 indicated that new technology would affect their purchasing choices. Millennial and Gen Z consumers do look to emerging platforms for the next wave of review response trends. However, their heightened interest lies more in TikTok and gaming platforms, such as Roblox and Fortnight. More than 30% of Millennials reported using gaming platforms for reviews, and 18% of respondents ages 18-29 posted a review on TikTok about a product they purchased. In general, almost 12% of total respondents use gaming platforms, such as Roblox and Fortnight, for reviews, and more than 20% use chat tools. “Don’t expect review-related innovations to slow down anytime soon,” Sener said. “People across demographics are excited about the next generation of brand and product discovery through online reviews.” What’s next: While reviews are helpful in post-purchase and sharing information, product recommendations still hold more weight with consumers. Word-of-mouth social media vehicles like TikTok take product recommendations and reviews to new heights. Retailers, especially those trying to build loyalty with consumers, need to listen to online and social discourse in order to stay up-to-date on trends and consumer satisfaction.

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