The Importance of Ratings & Reviews

 What are Ratings & Reviews? What are the Key Components?

Let’s start with the basics. 

Ratings and reviews detail customer’s experience with a product, made available to the public as they consider the product for themselves. Sometimes called online reviews or customer reviews, this public and documented feedback of a product can make or break a business and/or product.

There are several factors that a comprehensive and complete review can flaunt.  

1. Product Rating
   The most common form of online review is the product rating. Consumers give a numerical assessment of the product, most commonly through a star-level rating of one through five. The average feedback is taken and displayed with the product, and this average can usually be filtered across all products on a website. Higher ranked products will come up higher on the page, and products with low or no reviews are often stuck at the bottom.
   
2. Written Product Review
   A written product review is the user-generated content portion of the review that allows consumers to publicly share their experience and feedback regarding the product. Authentic reviews with a high word count and descriptive language help potential customers in the decision-making process. 

3. Verified Purchases, Verified Reviews
   A verified purchase label on a product review informs shoppers that the review was written by a consumer who has purchased the product—ensuring validity and reliability in their opinion. Verified reviews can often be found on both retailer and brand websites, and it boosts credibility in the overall product rating. 

4. Product Photo Reviews, Product Video Reviews
   As an additional bonus of user-generated content, reviewers can also choose to add one or more photos and videos to the written portion. Potential buyers can filter reviews by those with the photos and videos. These can add an eye-catching component to the review and show a real-life comparison of product characteristics.
   
   

Each portion of the review builds on itself and creates richer user-generated content. Some other elements that may be included are pros & cons and user information like the writer’s name, location, and occupation. This helps other potential buyers make purchase decisions based on similar qualities or important relatable components. 

Readers sometimes have the ability to “like” or “dislike” reviews based on helpfulness or share the review. The retailer or brand site also have the ability to highlight useful reviews. This is key to driving trial for your products—getting nearly live feedback from the consumer. 

Why Product Ratings & Reviews Matter

In the grand scheme of product development, marketing, and sales, product Ratings & Reviews may not rank first in your mind in terms of importance. Here’s the kicker, though: major brands have teams dedicated to curating ratings for their products.

Why? Ratings & Reviews can make or break your total sales. Our partners at Field Agent US surveyed 1,174 online shoppers and found that a whopping 9 out of 10 said that product reviews sway their purchasing decisions (“influential”), with over half saying that reviews are the real VIPs of the online shopping world (“highly influential”).

Our reviews start as low as $12.50 (plus product reimbursement)! Ready to level up your product game with on-demand Ratings & Reviews without the hassle?  Reach out to us and then sit back while Field Agent does the heavy lifting.

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Did you know that Field Agent can also help you gain even deeper insights? Field Agent harnesses the smartphones of over 290,000 shoppers across Canada for custom retail audits, shopper insights, mystery shops and more. How can that help your business grow & succeed? Let’s chat!