The conventional way to attract customer reviews = do nothing.

Really!

Beyond that, some retailers do follow up after purchases and ask for a review like BlueNile:

Or ask email subscribers to enter a contest like Orvis:

Good ideas, but limited to those who have made a purchase from you (and actually read your follow-up emails) or have subscribed to your email list. That leaves a big pool of potential reviewers, for example:

1. Online shoppers who have seen/handled the product and not bought, or bought from another retailer.
2. Online or offline shoppers who have not seen/handled the products.

Here are some ways to rally these potential reviewers:

1. Provide incentives on product pages. Macy’s asks for a review right on the product page (for a chance to win):

The downside is customers who already own a product, or have experienced the product but decided not to purchase likely aren’t viewing these products again online.

2. Surprise with free samples. Depending on what you’re selling online, you may be able to slip in a free sample into a package. For example, Lush Cosmetics throws in a couple soap samples. Unfortunately, Lush didn’t close the loop by asking for an online review.

3. Use packing inserts. Even if you don’t put in a sample, do slip a packing insert asking for reviews - don’t rely on just follow-up emails. Famous Footwear tried this for their in-store purchases and claim it drove more review participation than any other marketing activity. And that was just for in-store, imagine if online orders were included.

4. Provide in-store access. If you have retail stores - why not set up a kiosk or even just a laptop and ask customers to review products right in the store? And give them access to others’ customer reviews online to help them make purchase decisions in your store.

5. Explore multi-media You could even get creative and allow in-store customers to record their own audio or video reviews for playback on your site. There are services that will also transcribe audio.

6. Throw a customer appreciation party. Why not throw a special customer appreciation party, inviting customers to come to eat good food, try products, write reviews, receive freebies and enter to win a big prize? This could work very well for children’s clothing, footwear, cosmetics stores and specialty food / wine sellers.

7. Recruit sampling teams.

You could offer passionate customers access to an exclusive “review team.” One approach would be to offer customers samples on a regular basis in exchange for reviews. If, like Lush Cosmetics, you frequently add new products to your offering, sending advance samples help you launch the product with customer reviews already submitted. Advance samples also make the reviewer feel part of an exclusive club, which could increase loyalty and evangelism. Naturally, this wouldn’t work for every e-tail category.

8. Free return shipping with conditions

I expect this to be controversial — but you may consider offering free return shipping as a courtesy for helping customers like them understand the shortcomings of the product. You’ll need to be sensitive how you word it on your Returns Policy page.

Pros:

• Greater transparency means greater trust with your e-store
• Will reduce future returns for that item if customers understand why an item is returned (shoe fits short, had to exchange for larger size or product irritated sensitive skin)
• Gives you backup if you want to return your stock to the manufacturer (customer testimonials the product is poor quality or has common bugs)

Cons:

• Adds to negative review pool for a product, may make this product harder to sell
• May not be received favorably by customers (they may assume they’re entitled to free return shipping, especially if your competitors also offer it

Would be interested in hearing your thoughts on any of these ideas, especially #8.

Last week I wrote about how to think positively about negative reviews.

I just came across a site that embraces the negative and has created a product comparison matrix that shows both the pluses and minuses of its products. The Allergy Buyer’s Club also includes its own experts’ rating system, including “Best in Category” badges.

Though all this information may be overwhelming for some, this is a huge trust builder. This retailer is not trying to conceal the shortcomings of product, and has taken the time to lay out all the facts for a customer to make an informed decision. And it makes nice work of explaining benefits, not just features.

Bad pun alert: Allergy Buyers Club really “clears the air” on its products’ short-comings.

I can hear crickets chirping.

Side-note: I think a “filter by room size” option would be helpful. (I’ll spare you an air filter pun).

Sucharita Mulpuru and Forrester Research recently released a report called Myths And Truths About Online Customer Reviews. The report covers a lot of ground, but I want to hone in on customer behavior after reading negative reviews. Many retailers have avoided adding reviews for fear negative reviews will hurt sales, despite the proven conversion benefits they deliver.

From the report, here are 7 actions consumers take after reading not-so-shining reviews (customers may take more than one action)

“After reading negative customer ratings/reviews about a specific product on a retailer’s Web site, how do you respond?”

• 47% search for an alternative product
• 37% read professional/editor-written reviews of the product
• 26% continue to shop for the product regardless of the negative ratings/reviews
• 18% look for a retailer/manufacturer that offers a money-back guarantee
• 7% contact the retailer for clarification of the issues raised in the negative review
• 7% contact the manufacturer for clarification of the issues raised in the negative review
• 6% post a follow-up question for the author of the negative review

Base: 2,890 US Web buyers who read and/or post online customer ratings/reviews on retail sites (multiple responses accepted)

Source: Myths And Truths About Online Customer Reviews Sucharita Mulpuru, Forrester Research December 2008

How does your website address the actions customers take after encountering a negative review?

8 Ways to Save Sales from Negative Customer Reviews

1. Add link back to category that allows sort-by-customer-review.

Link to category (Diapers.com):

Sort by Customer Review on category page (Backcountry.com):

2. Include star ratings on cross-sells.

When showing alternative items (cross-sells and similar items), it may be helpful for the customer to sort similar items by star rating if you show more than a few suggestions on the product page.

Before / After:

3. Use Expert / Staff Reviews

Including an official staff/expert review and marking it as such builds trust with the product AND your call center. Make it “sticky” as part of your product page so it doesn’t get lost in the haystack of customer reviews.

If you don’t have an official staff review, you can have staff submit reviews and be identified as such with the Power Reviews product (below) or with your own custom build:

Bonus for expert video reviews, like Crutchfield:

Crutchfield also includes a “Customer Favorite” and the “Staff Favorite” on category pages above product results:

4. Show money back guarantees right on product page when available

Backcountry already links to a 100% Guarantee, but the link is not very conspicuous. The guarantee badge is not so pretty, but it stands out being more proximal to the product image.

Before:

After:

5. Allow customers to ask and answer questions on your page. Like Bazaarvoice offers or Backcountry built in-house:

6. Include manufacturer’s website URL and contact number on the product page.

Before:

After:

Make sure the link opens in a new window so you don’t lose your customer, and warn about the new window.

7. Enable comments on customer reviews.

According to the research, 6% post follow up questions for the reviewer (Amazon allows you to leave a comment on a review which may include a question). But there is no guarantee the review writer will ever come back to answer the question.

If you set up a system in your community where a reviewer gets alerted of comments on their reviews, these may become spammy/annoying — unless your incentives for community participation are attractive enough to that reviewer to come back and answer the question(s).

But there’s still value to comments. With a comment thread, even if the reviewer doesn’t answer the question, other community members can. And even better, a negative review may be clarified by a comment.

For example, a common complaint for GPS systems is slow satellite acquisition. A commenter on a review at Amazon replied: “Our satellite acquisition problems on the [model] were completely solved via a software update, which the CSR walked us through.”

Another responded “Unfortunately, it sounds like the receiver chip in your unit is probably the **** chip (not well received) instead of the *** chip (highly received). Hopefully a firmware update will help.”

Now shoppers reading reviews can understand there is a solution to the problem with the product, and decide whether it’s an acceptable problem and solution.

8. Know when to offer live chat. Here’s where you can get creative. Consider tagging customers who sort by average customer review on the category page with an attribute that associates them with an interest in customer reviews. If they linger on the product page for more than X minutes, invite them to chat.

This can also help you control live chat costs. You don’t want to offer your CSR services to every single customer. Customers who always sort by lowest price are likely A) less profitable and B) not concerned with chatting about the qualitative virtues of a product. They rely on your search and sort features to tell them if a product/price is attractive or not. Pop-ups interrupt this process and may irritate customers.

Think Positively About Negative Reviews

The recent Belkin fiasco is a perfect example of why you should welcome negative reviews - without a few negatives the reviews seem inauthentic. Customers want to see a mix of positive and negative reviews - so offer them, but make sure you support the customer who wants additional information, alternative suggestions or personal assistance.

And don’t forget, accepting negative reviews also helps your copywriting.

I’ve written before how showing products in context with product images can help increase conversion. Showing a product in use, on a model or its relative size reduces customer anxiety about the appropriateness of a product. Of course, video can be even more effective (just ask Shoeline.com who achieved a 44% increase in conversion with video).

But creative manufacturers like Timbuk2 also describe products in context with creativity and humor. A member of outdoor gear retailer Backcountry.com’s community noticed Timbuk2’s unique way of explaining the volume of its messenger bag capacity, and it found its way to Backcountry’s product page for the Timbuk2 Messenger Bag.

Customer question: Whats the volume of the extra large?

Answer:

The extra large bag has a TPRCV of 20.

What is TPRCV you ask?

The geniuses at Timbuk2 explain it best:

We know you don’t have time to buy the wrong size bag. We also know you’re imaginative and visually oriented problem solvers living in a three dimensional world where toilet paper is routinely available.

Soft, stackable and building block-like, toilet paper rolls can be easily arranged to simulate the internal dimensions of any bag.

Working in tandem with our R&D department, our marketing team recently completed an assessment of each bag. We have identified, down to the roll, the maximum capacity for each bag we tested. The resulting TPRCV (Toilet Paper Roll Capacity Value) can be used in a simple, at-home comparison of corresponding stacks of TPR, helping you make an informed decision about what size bag best suits your purposes.

You will need a flat, level surface, a maximum of twenty-one toilet paper rolls (TPRs), your imagination, and your design and rendering skills.

For best results, use two-ply.

By: Matt Fuller
August 9, 2008

This is a “cheeky” example of how to put a product in-context. For some, “20 toilet paper rolls” is more helpful than 26.25 x 14 x 9in.

Exercise: For the products you carry, anticipate what kinds of use or sizing questions customers may have, and what information is not made obvious by the current image and description. (Hint: read a lot of customer reviews - from your site and competitors).

PS: Backcountry has a leaderboard for user-generated content to recognize the contributions of photos, reviews, questions and answers. “Gear Gurus” are encouraged to use their real names to build real community. Check it out here.

The final variable in the Marketing Experiments conversion sequence is “a” for anxiety about following through with a purchase.

Some of this anxiety is about the product, some is about you as a retailer. You must address both. And unlike friction (resistance) which must be minimized and balanced with an attractive incentive, anxiety needs aggressive overcorrection on your website.

Ecommerce anxiety comes in a number of flavors, including fears about:

• Quality of the product
• Quality and reliability of your customer service
• Will the item arrive on time?
• Will the product be as described or as appears on screen? Is it the right color or size?
• Will it fit? Is this item true to size?
• What if the product needs to be returned?
• Is this site secure (privacy, credit card information)?
• Is this really the best price?

Today’s post will focus on anxiety on the product page specifically.

Addressing Anxiety About the Product on Product Pages

The e-tailing group conducted a consumer survey last summer and found that product descriptions were the most important to help make a purchase decision, followed by the merchant’s guarantee, stock availability and quality of images. (One can assume for certain categories like jewelry and apparel, images are even more important).

The survey also found:

• 76% believe content is insufficient to complete research or purchase online “always, most often or some of the time”
• 79% “rarely or never” purchase a product without complete product information
• 72% will abandon a site for a competitor or research further online, typically finding what they want elsewhere

Product Descriptions

One of the most effective ways to address customer fears in product descriptions is to research what actual buyers of the product care about by reading customer reviews — including reviews on other sites like Amazon, Buzzillions and competitors.

Product Images

Multiple views and zoom tools are very helpful for customers to get a closer look of a 2-dimensional image. Showing products in context can dramatically improve conversion because it shows the relative size of an item, what it can hold, how it looks on a person and so on.

The increasing use of video merchandising like Martin + Osa’s shop-by-outfit and Tiger Direct’s video reviews/demos are also effective.

Customer Reviews

There are many statistics touting the virtues of customer reviews, even negative reviews, improve conversion because it gives customers more information about a product (that doesn’t come out of a marketer’s mouth) and a better sense of trust.

Beyond just having reviews, the usability of your reviews can improve conversion, like allowing customers to hone in on 1 star reviews or 5 star reviews:

Or allowing products to be rated by attributes:

Amazon also allows customers to vote reviews as helpful and not helpful, and shows the top positive and top negative reviews, and allows search within all reviews:

Pluribo is also an exciting technology that uses natural language data mining to summarize a product’s strengths and weaknesses extracted from a number of product reviews. So far, it’s only available for select categories on Amazon through a Firefox browser extension.

But Amazon doesn’t have all the review-toys, Shoes.com uses Bazaarvoice’s Ask & Answer product, and Shoeline has its own Return-o-Meter to reduce customer fears about products.

Stock Availability

Showing that an item is in stock is good usability, as well as sizes and colors in stock without the customer having to add to cart to find out. Nine West does this well with rollovers and broken outlines:

Overstock creates a bit of anxiety — good anxiety (urgency) on products close to selling out:

Limited Inventory!
Sell out Risk: VERY HIGH
In Stock if you order today: Leaves our warehouse in 1-3 business days.

Note the buying guide link and “you can always remove it later” assurance are appropriately placed as these are other fears customers may have.