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User Generated Content Attracts Shoppers

According to a new study from PowerReviews, collecting and displaying user-generated content, such as ratings and reviews, photos, and videos, can improve your business’ bottom line. On average, when a product adds one or more reviews, that product experiences a 108% lift in traffic, a 65% lift in conversion and a 92% lift in sales.

Based on a representative sample of 14,000+ products across 100+ retailers in the PowerReviews Network Traffic, impressions, sales and conversion were measured and averaged daily for each product, then averaged by merchant and across the network. 86% consider reviews an essential resource when making a purchase decision.

The report explores ways to start amplifying the reach of your user-generated content (UGC) in order to break through the noise and reach more consumers in more places.

PowerReviews research found that 45% of shoppers will turn to a search engine if there aren’t reviews (or enough reviews) on the path to purchase for a product on a brand or retailer site. An additional 25% will head to Amazon to find this content.

Avoid hiding your review content behind tabs or requiring your visitors to aimlessly click around to find what they’re looking for. eMarketer predicts that mobile-based purchases will increase by more than 50% this year, so make sure your review content is easy to find and read, regardless of the device shoppers are using to consume it, recommends the report.

There are many opportunities to feature User Generated Content on your website, beyond the product page. A best practice is to display star ratings next to each product so consumers can quickly determine which products rate well among other shoppers like them.

Analyze your review content and use that information to build additional landing pages that you can use for different targeted campaigns, such as:

  • Customer Favorites
  • Top Rated Gifts
  • Top [Category] Items

The research found that 21% of shoppers start their online purchase journey on a brand or retailer website, so feature UGC on the home page, says the report. Develop ways to enhance your homepage with ratings and review content and entice visitors to stay on your site. Include a selection of top rated products on your homepage, or highlight a seasonal product alongside its average star rating and the text from a recent customer review.

According to data from SalesCycle3, during the second quarter of 2017 77.3% of retail consumers added items to their online shopping cart, but left the website before making the purchase. Cart abandonment emails are an effective way to bring shoppers back to your site to complete the transaction.

If you’re running any print advertising campaigns, integrate user-generated content into these ads. And, include consumer-submitted photos and videos into your advertising campaigns.

Ecommerce continues to grow rapidly, says the report. The National Retail Federation predicts that online retail will grow 8-12% in 2017. But today, the majority of transactions happen within the four walls of a brick-and-mortar store. The research found that 70% of shoppers want access to product ratings and reviews while shopping in- store. If you have physical store locations, catch your shoppers’ attention by including ratings and review snippets on your in-store signage, concludes the report.

For additional information from the complete report, please visit here.

 

 

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