'Net Features : consumer reviews

5+ User Review Websites Critical to Small Businesses

Allison Howen — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 17:15:00 GMT

Thanks to the Internet, word-of-mouth reviews spread like wildfire – which can be both a good and bad thing for merchants.

Since consumers tend to trust the opinions of their peers more than anything else, user reviews are a very influential factor in a customer’s purchasing decision. In fact, a 2012 BrightLocal study reveals that 72 percent of survey respondents claim that they trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations, while 52 percent said that positive reviews make them more likely to use a local business.

That said, it is important for businesses to keep an eye on their consumer reviews, as it will provide them with some insight of how customers perceive their business. Moreover, by monitoring review sites, businesses can learn what areas of their enterprise need improvement (customer service, product selection, cleanliness, etc.), as well as share their most favorable reviews with fans and followers. In order to do this, however, merchants must first know which user review websites are the most critical to their business. This will allow them to monitor the consumer feedback, and in some cases, even give a response to the reviews. To get you started, Website Magazine has compiled a list of five user review websites that are critical to small businesses, regardless of industry:

Yelp

Yelp is among the most popular user review websites. In fact, this site received more than 1 million new reviews in January 2013 alone. That said, the best part about Yelp is that business owners can claim their establishment on this site and not only monitor their reviews, but also interact with their customers through the platform both privately and publicly. Moreover, Yelp provides tools to its business users that allow them to track how many people visited their page, create deals to attract customers and view other stats and charts to measure the performance of their business page.

Google+

Google’s acquisition of Zagat has user reviews not only incorporated in the search results, but also on the search giant’s social network. In fact, when a consumer conducts a search and then clicks on the business’s Zagat review score they are automatically directed to Google+. This is one of the many reasons why businesses should maintain a presence on this site.

Facebook

Every social network’s newsfeed sees some sort of word-of-mouth advertising from its members, and Facebook is no exception. In fact, Facebook Business Pages have a recommendation section where customers can leave reviews that business owners can monitor. Moreover, these reviews, along with likes, comments and other interactions, are expected to increase a business’s visibility when the social network’s new Graph Search feature comes out of beta and is open to the public.

Foursquare

This location-based social network is all about the reviews. Upon checking-in to an establishment, consumers have the option to rate the business and leave tips (reviews) about their experience. Businesses can monitor these user reviews by claiming their establishment on Foursquare, and can also leverage the platform’s business tools, including engaging customers with updates, attracting customers with specials and measuring success with analytics.

BBB

While consumers typically don’t go to the BBB (Better Business Bureau) website to write positive reviews, the platform does allow consumers to do so on its accredited business pages. That said, accredited businesses aren’t the only ones who should monitor this platform, as any business can receive complaints through the BBB website. Businesses are notified from the BBB about their complaints, and have the opportunity to respond and close the complaints to maintain or improve their BBB rating.

And More…

The aforementioned are among the most influential user-review sites, yet they are far from the only platforms where customers go to review the products and services they receive. Here are a fifteen more sites to keep on your radar:

Citysearch

This popular listing site features user reviews for a variety of industries, including arts and entertainment, construction and remodeling, financial services, food and dining, health and medical services, home and garden, personal services and retail stores.

Yahoo! Local

Yahoo! Local enables users to discover, rate and review local establishments and events.

Local.com

Consumers can use Local.com to discover, rate and review nearby businesses, events, deals and activities.

Insiderpages

Insiderpages provide local reviews for the health and medical, home and garden, hair and beauty, auto services and pet industries.

MerchantCircle

Consumers can use Merchantcircle to find local businesses and deals, as well as rate and review businesses from a multitude of industries.

Judy’s Book

This website calls itself a “social search tool.” It allows consumers to search for local reviews, recommendations and revies, as well as share places and recommendations with friends.

Angie’s list

Consumers can go to Angie's list to rate and review service providers, including home, outdoor, health and auto services.

Manta

Consumers can go to this website to review and rate everything from small businesses to products and services across a variety of industries, including business services, consumer products and services, food and berverage, industrial, health, technology and communications.

Yellow Pages

The Yellow Pages aren’t only for finding local businesses anymore, because consumers can also go to this site to look for deals, as well as review and rate businesses and services.

Cityslick

Consumers can visit Cityslick to find coupons and browse local business information, including ratings and reviews, for numerous industries.

localPages

Similar to many of the aforementioned services, localPages allows consumers to discover local businesses, deals and coupons, as well as rate and review businesses and services.

Buzzillions

This user review website focuses on products instead of retailers. It featuers reviews for a wide variety of products, has a robust filtering system and allows consumers to compare products side-by-side.

Epinions

Epinions also focuses on products, however does include some store reviews as well. Moreover, this platform features a robust filtering system as well as numerous review categories.

ExpoTV

Consumers can go to ExpoTV to upload a video user review for new products and earn rewards in doing so.

SiteJabber

If you want to know what people think about your website, check out Site Jabber. This platform allows consumers to discover and review sites across the 'Net.

These are far from the only user review sites that can be found on the Web. If we missed one of your favorites, let us know in the comment section below.

Optimized Product Pages to Check Out

Allison Howen — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:55:00 GMT

Product pages are like treasure chests for serious online shoppers.

These data-rich Web pages contain valuable information consumers need to make purchasing decisions, such as images, pricing, descriptions and reviews. Even so, not all product pages are built with the consumer in mind. In fact, often times the most important product information is either missing or too difficult to find, which results in high abandonment rates and user frustration.

Companies with optimized product pages, however, experience favorable conversion metrics and better engagement from their site visitors. This includes increased time-on-site and interaction with product reviews. Learn from the best by checking out product page examples from some of the Net's top retailers, as featured in Website Magazine’s Web 100.

Nordstrom

Product Page Takeaway: Innovative Images

An online shopper’s first impression of an item is the product images. These are what entice the consumer to learn more about a product, so they can make an informed purchasing decision. In order to leave a good first impression, merchants should include alternate views of their products as well as zooming functionality, just as Nordstrom’s does on its product pages. These features allow consumers to view the details of an item without having to go to a brick-and-mortar location.

Wal-Mart

Product Page Takeaway: Robust Reviews

Product reviews are one of the most influential aspects of an e-commerce website, because these unfiltered opinions provide online shoppers with social evidence as to how a product works. Although Wal-Mart’s product pages follow many best practices (having multiple product views, detailed descriptions and site-to-store pickup options), the company really excels with its product review offerings, which includes key statistics and a filtering option.

Victoria’s Secret

Product Page Takeaways: Suggested Products, Sizing Tool

Suggested products are beneficial for both consumers and merchants. This handy element of a product page helps consumers find items that they weren’t originally searching for, as well as helps merchants increase their average order value. While Victoria’s Secret does a good job at suggesting items to its visitors who are browsing product pages, the retailer also deters returns with its “Size and Fit” link, which appears next to every relevant product. By clicking on this link, visitors can use the chart to determine the correct clothing sizes for their body.

Toys "R" Us

Product Page Takeaway: Up-Front Shipping Information

Shipping rates and times can greatly influence purchasing decisions, so why not be up front with this information? Often times, consumers have to wait until the checkout page to find out how much shipping will be or how long it will take. However, Toys "R" Us offers this information directly on its product pages. In fact, on this retailer’s product pages, consumers can see how much money needs to be spent in order to receive free shipping, if the product is available to be shipped internationally, how long it will take for the product to leave the warehouse and if store shipping options are available.

Ulta

Product Page Takeaway: Detailed Descriptions

A picture might be worth a thousand words, but is it worth its retail price? For online shoppers, the answer to this question is sometimes unknown because a product image doesn’t always provide the details one needs in order to make a purchasing decision. This makes description information useful. Ulta, for example, provides detailed explanations for all of its products, which also includes specifications and access to an ingredient list.

Consumer Reviews in the Engagement Era

Administrator — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:30:00 GMT

How much influence do reviews from consumers have on the purchasing decisions of other consumers? Turns out, quite a bit, according to the recently released “Buy It, Try It, Rate It” study from Weber Shandwick.

The majority of potential consumer electronics purchases (65 percent) for example are inspired by a consumer review to select a brand that “had not been in their original consideration set” according to the report. “The increasing impact of consumer reviews on sales means that marketers must learn how to effectively manage the flood of online opinion engulfing shoppers,” said Williams. “Online user reviews are transforming buying decisions. Our study sheds new light on why, how and when shoppers use both user reviews as well as traditional editorial reviews in the purchase process.”

Other interesting findings from the study include:

- Consumer electronics buyers pay more attention to other consumer reviews than to editorial reviews by a margin of three-to-one.
- Nearly nine in 10 consumers (88 percent) say they are somewhat or very knowledgeable about consumer electronics, yet still consult reviews, consumer and/or professional (60 percent and 52 percent, respectively), when looking to make a purchase.
- 80 percent of consumers are concerned about the authenticity of consumer reviews.
- Consumer electronics buyers read an average of 11 consumer reviews.
- The most influential reviews are those that seem fair and reasonable (32 percent), are well written (27 percent) and contain statistics, specifications and technical data (25 percent).

The full report is available here (PDF).

20 User Review Websites Critical to Small Business

Mike Phillips — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 19:00:00 GMT

According to an internal analysis of small business search results, Marchex – a provider of small business marketing products – found that more than 80 percent of results did not point to the websites of those businesses. Instead, they pointed to social network results and consumer reviews.

The businesses surveyed were those of restaurants, travel, legal, beauty, plumbing and automotive – all highly susceptible to consumer reviews. These businesses and similar consumer-facing companies need to be aware of where they stand in search results with their own websites, compared to the rankings of reviews and comments from social media users.

"Marchex has seen how consumer reviews are impacting the bottom line of our small business customers, and we wanted to highlight how big the impact really is," said Ryan Fritzky, Director of Small Business Product Development at Marchex.

Increasingly, however, every business is being reviewed by consumers. Oftentimes the reviews and ratings might not even be justified. So, not only is it important to know where you stand on these sites but also to have resources ready to speak out (or type) on your behalf. That means recruiting brand advocates. Of course, the best way to do that is to provide quality experiences for your users and to respond quickly to any problems before they become viral hate campaigns.

Some obvious places to look for your small business reviews are social sites like Facebook, Twitter and Yelp.com, and Google Maps, Bing, Yahoo Local, City Search and Local.com. Below are a dozen more places where your business or products might be getting reviewed.

InsiderPages.com
Mainly focused on rating those in the medical and health care field. Insider Pages also features reviews on restaurants, beauty and home & garden.

MerchantCircle.com
MerchantCircle focuses on promoting businesses by using online user reviews via a pseudo paid advertising system. Businesses can create their own local coupon book.

JudysBook.com
Judy's Book provides review guides to users, such as "Top 10 Auto Mechanics" and so on. Businesses can create their accounts and get help with promotion and SEO.

AngiesList.com
Angie's List is a paid service for consumers to get certified, unbiased reviews of local businesses. It is a large and trusted network, claiming more than one million members.

TripAdvisor.com
As the name suggest, TripAdvisor helps users filter travel destinations via user reviews. A must-know for travel businesses.

OpenTable.com
Because OpenTable.com allows users to make reservations immediately, good reviews on this site can help restaurants take advantage of the convenience factor.

BBB.org
The Better Business Bureau is a relative newcomer to the user review scene but its trusted reputation makes it a must-monitor for every business.

Buzzillions.com
Buzzillions' focus is products -- electronics, computers, sports equipment, clothing, etc. Manufacturers and retailers would be wise to research their products here.

Epinions.com
Part of the Shopping.com family, Epinions solicits reviews on just about anything a person can buy online -- from autos to office supplies.

Wize.com
Wize reports "the best & worst products" by matching products based on consumers' needs. The main focus is electronics and appliances.

PowerReviews.com
In tandem with Buzzillions, PowerReviews looks to connect consumers with reviews about the producty they care about, through SEO, mobile, social networks and more.

SiteJabber.com
SiteJabber provides reviews of websites as a whole. Obviously, every online property should make sure good things are being said about them, or find a brand advocate to get the ball rolling. They claim more than 450,000 people search websites for reviews every month.

Be sure not to miss Website Magazine's May edition, where we tackle the subject of crisis control for online businesses! Subscribe or renew now and get a free copy of our new book, Web 360!

Consumer Reviews in a Video World

Administrator — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:37:00 GMT

Customer review and social commerce solution PowerReviews has partnered with EXPO, a video community where consumers share opinions about the products they buy. The companies are buddying up to offer a platform that delivers video and text content created product owners to brands and retailers worldwide.

“Teaming with EXPO, who pioneered the video market for unbiased product reviews, allows us to empower brands by bridging critical opportunities to leverage this fresh, authentic content, created by their own customers," said Pehr Luedtke, CEO of PowerReviews. "By combining best-in-class review technologies, we’re delivering the most comprehensive shopping experience to consumers, while creating new possibilities and value for consumers and merchants alike.”

EXPO has essentially just chosen PowerReviews as its primary provider of text reviews which will act as a complement to its video platform, leveraging PowerReviews' review engine. PowerReviews will in turn be able to accelerate its distribution to brands by leveraging the EXPO brand network, and offer its retail partners access to EXPO's video reviews – of which there are already over 300,000.

E-Mail Your Reviews to RateItAll

MaureenA — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 09:00:00 GMT

RateItAll.com makes posting online reviews easier by allowing Web users to simply e-mail reviews to RateItAll. Reviews are published instantly on RateItAll’s website.

With the growing popularity of online reviews among Web users, allowing for a faster and easier way to publish them online might entice even more people to share their thoughts on business and products.

Reviewers send e-mails to reviews@rateitall.com and put the item that’s being reviewed in the subject line. Reviewers are also encouraged to include a one to five star rating. Reviews are categorized by: movies, TV, celebrities, Internet, games, electronics, automotive, travel, food, drinks, health, pets and more.

If you operate a local business, you can also add it to RateItAll’s database.

Do you publish online reviews? Will this new feature encourage you to write more reviews?

Importance of Consumer Reviews

Pete Prestipino — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:48:00 GMT

According to a survey conducted by Kudzu.com, 86% of consumers are checking out online business reviews before making purchasing decisions. The survey aimed to gain insight into online behaviors of consumers who search for local services.

That number might be misleading, as primarily local-based sites are routinely featuring reviews (only the best of course) on their sites, but all things equal, 90% of the 600 users polled said they trust reviews they read online and more than half place a high value on online reviews when looking for "trustworthy" home service professionals.

Consumer Reviews: An Ecommerce SEO Friend

Pete Prestipino — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:07:00 GMT

Customer review and social merchandising provider PowerReviews and SEO provider YourAmigo annouced a partnership that will enable e-commerce sites to leverage online reviews to increase sales and imrpove the customer experience. The actual terms of the relationship were not discussed or disclosed but the first benefactor of the partnership is specialty retailer BrookStone, who is already reporting a significant uptick in product page traffic.

Today, 70% of online shoppers actively seek out customer reviews before they buy, and 92% of all shoppers find customer reviews "extremely helpful" or "very helpful" in making informed purchase decisions. Customer Reviews have become a key resource for shoppers to make their final purchasing decisions with enough confidence to complete the transaction.

“The combination of YourAmigo and PowerReviews has yielded terrific results for us,” said John Lucey, Brookstone’s Internet Marketing Manager. “With the two technologies working together, we’ve seen our optimized product reviews drive a 33.4% increase in product page traffic with a resultant 29.1% increase in revenue via organic search.”