• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, October 4, 2021

Q&As on product detail pages impact purchase behavior. They may not be the magic key, but a willingness to provide specific details about products is definitely important. That’s according to a PowerReviews survey of 7,500 consumers conducted in an effort to better understand the role of Q&A in online shopping,

Among the main takeaways from this study, according to the data, is a 157.1% lift in conversions when visitors interact with Q&As. Some 94% of shoppers value answers from verified buyers who have already purchased the product in question, and 45% value answers from the brand or retailer selling the product.

Consumers read Q&As for a number of reasons. Some 83% said they read them to gain a better understanding of product performance, while 70% read them to determine whether the product fits their personal needs; 58% do so to get a better sense of a product's size or sizing.

Consumers also ask questions based on the Q&As. In fact, 68% of those surveyed said they have left a question in the Q&A section of a product page. About 71% of shoppers have answered questions submitted by other shoppers via Q&A. Amazon customers do this frequently.

Some 84% of consumers think product quality is the most important information in a Q&A, 73% cite product experience, 66% cite overall services when buying the product, 28% said warranty info, and 23% said shipping details.

Consumers seem to understand that answers come from various sources. About 86% believe answers to questions in the Q&A section of a product page are created by verified buyers who already bought the product in question, and 63% recognize that answers come from the brand or retailer selling the product. About 35% think answers come from other consumers who have not been verified as having bought the product in question.

Regardless of where the answers come from, when product Q&As are missing, this can negatively impact consumer trust and purchase behavior.

About 26% of consumers are more suspicious about the quality of a product or brand if the product page doesn’t have a questions and answers section.

Gen Z shoppers are the group most likely to be suspicious of product pages that do not have a Q&A section. One-third of Gen Z shoppers say the absence of Q&A makes them more suspicious of the quality of the product or brand, compared to 27% of Boomers and 26% of both Gen X and Millennials. 

More than half of consumers say they expect answers to questions in 24 hours, and 21% expect them in four hours.