Cart abandonment leads to significant revenue losses for all brands and is often seen as one of the scourges of e-commerce. Fortunately, there is an effective solution to combat this issue: the strategic use of customer reviews. Customer testimonials play a crucial role in building trust and can encourage hesitant buyers to complete their purchases. ...
Cart abandonment leads to significant revenue losses for all brands and is often seen as one of the scourges of e-commerce. Fortunately, there is an effective solution to combat this issue: the strategic use of customer reviews. Customer testimonials play a crucial role in building trust and can encourage hesitant buyers to complete their purchases.
In this article, we’ll delve into how to utilize customer reviews to reduce cart abandonment rates.
The Impact of Customer Reviews on Online Shopping Behavior
No less than 75% of consumers surveyed consistently check reviews before placing an order, and this figure even climbs to 85% among digital natives aged 18-34.
This is one of the findings revealed in the latest Skeepers Consumer Report.
Why such enthusiasm? Simply because reviews bring a key element to the online shopping equation: trust.
When you can’t see, touch, or try a product before buying it, nothing beats the authentic experience of other users to form an opinion.
BUT displays verified customer reviews on product pages to inform and reassure visitors.
Indeed, recommendations from close friends (79%) and comments directly on brand product pages are most trusted by internet users, far ahead of reviews on social networks which are deemed less reliable.
The takeaway if you are an e-retailer is quite simple: to convince your visitors to convert, focus on prominently displaying customer reviews on your site!
Discover 6 reasons to encourage online customer reviews.
Main Causes of Cart Abandonment and How Reviews Can Address Them
Cart abandonment is the nightmare of e-retailers. You’ve successfully attracted a visitor all the way through the purchase funnel, and at the crucial moment, they leave your site without completing the sale. A nearly systematic scenario since, on average, nearly 7 out of 10 internet users abandon their cart before placing an order. Ouch!
Top 5 Reasons for Cart Abandonment
Why do online shoppers so often abandon their cart at the last moment? The Baymard Institute conducted a survey and reveals the top 5 reasons for abandonment:
- Excessive shipping costs (48%)
- The obligation to create a customer account (26%)
- Lack of trust in the site to share bank details (25%)
- Too long delivery times (23%)
- A complex or tedious payment process (22%)
The observation is clear: most barriers are related to a lack of trust and reassurance. Buyers need to feel secure at every step, from account creation to final payment. And this is precisely where customer reviews can play a decisive role…
Customer Reviews, a Remedy Against Cart Abandonment
Imagine: an internet user hesitates to validate their order because they doubt the reliability of your site. But if they come across glowing comments praising the quality of your products and your service at that moment, their fears will quickly be dispelled. They will think, “if others have been satisfied, I can go ahead with my eyes closed!”
It may be a bit simplistic, but we’ve all had such experiences.
This is the power of reviews: they act as a powerful trust trigger that will push your visitors to take the plunge. Customer reviews boost brand credibility and mechanically reduce the cart abandonment rate.
If you strategically position reassuring reviews throughout your conversion funnel, it is more than likely that your conversion rate (the percentage of visitors who purchase) will increase.
The numbers speak for themselves: according to a Yotpo study, the mere presence of reviews on a product page increases the conversion rate by an average of 3.5%.
Using Customer Reviews to Identify Improvements in the On-Site Buying Journey
But the virtues of customer reviews do not stop there. By collecting post-purchase feedback, you’ll be able to precisely identify the pain points of your buyer’s journey (payment bugs, delivery mishaps, etc.) and remedy them.
Collecting customer feedback is the best way to identify and eliminate customer pain points.
Strategies for Effectively Collecting and Leveraging Customer Reviews
Now that we’ve seen why reviews are essential for reducing cart abandonment, let’s look at best practices for collecting and leveraging them.
Bet on Reliable and Authentic Review Collection
To inspire trust in your visitors, it’s crucial to ensure the authenticity of the reviews displayed on your site. Nothing is worse than biased comments or fake reviews to undermine your credibility.
That’s why we recommend using a trusted third party like Verified Reviews to collect certified reviews from customers who have actually purchased from you. Our recommended approach is to send a review request via email after each order. Only verified buyers can thus share their feedback, allowing the collection of 100% reliable reviews.
This approach has several advantages:
- Reviews collected via post-purchase email are more valuable in the eyes of consumers as they come from real buyers.
- This method reduces the risk of review fraud and manipulation.
- Collection emails result in detailed, quality reviews as customers take the time to respond.
- Email encourages high response rates, thus a large number of reviews.
Opting for a certified review collection solution like Verified Reviews ensures building a solid reputation based on authentic feedback. Your credibility will only be strengthened.
Verified Reviews, the trusted third party for collecting and disseminating authentic customer reviews across all your channels.
Making Reviews Visible and Engaging Throughout the Customer Journey
Once reviews are collected, they must be intelligently utilized. The challenge is to strategically place elements of social reassurance on your site to create a climate conducive to purchasing.
Here are some best practices to apply to maximize the visibility and use of customer reviews:
– Display reviews on product pages. It’s fundamental! Allow your visitors to consult the ratings and comments left by other buyers directly on the product sheets. This will help them form an opinion and envision using the product. Highlight the best evaluations, and provide the option to filter and sort reviews by various criteria (date, rating, type of profile…).
– Reassure during the purchase tunnel. The pages of the ordering process (cart, account creation, checkout…) are strategic because they precede the act of purchase. By placing highly visible review widgets there, you prove your reliability and reassure the customer to the end. This helps to limit last-minute dropouts. A message like “98% of customers satisfied” with recent reviews will have a strong impact.
– Enhance your homepage: The homepage sets the tone for your site and must inspire confidence from the first contact. You might integrate a carousel featuring your best reviews and an aggregated overall rating to showcase your reputation. Visitors will feel familiar and be more inclined to explore your offerings.
The carrier Demeco displays customers on its homepage to reassure potential customers.
Interact with Reviews. Show that you value customer feedback by taking the time to respond to reviews, whether they are good or bad. For positive comments, warmly thank your ambassadors. For negative reviews, show empathy and provide a constructive response to resolve the issue. The challenge is to show that you are attentive and able to learn from your mistakes when they are proven. On this subject, read our article “5 Tips for Moderating Your Negative Reviews.”
Capitalize on the Best Reviews. Use your best customer comments as content for your marketing campaigns: sponsored posts on social networks, testimonials in your newsletter, verbatim on your landing pages. It’s an effective way to reach new prospects by highlighting the satisfaction of your existing customers.
There’s no secret: the more you maximize the display of customer reviews, the more you increase their positive impact.
Conclusion
As you can understand, customer reviews are a powerful tool for combating cart abandonment and optimizing your conversion rate. Because they prove your reliability and reassure buyers throughout their journey, reviews help to remove psychological barriers to purchase.
But to fully unleash this potential, it’s important to rely on an effective and virtuous approach. It all starts with collecting authentic post-purchase reviews from verified customers. This method, offered by trusted players like Verified Reviews, is key to building a solid and credible reputation.
Customer reviews must then be massively exploited on your site and your media to multiply their impact. Placing the right review at the right place and the right time will enhance the positive impact of the comments.
If you also want to exploit the full potential of customer reviews to improve your e-commerce performance, our team will be happy to assist you. At Verified Reviews, we have been driven for over 10 years by this challenge: enabling businesses to build positive, transparent, and value-creating relationships with their customers.
What are your secret recipes for countering cart abandonment? Have you experienced the power of customer reviews to boost your online sales? Share your experiences and tips in the comments!
