This is how important product reviews are

Customer reviews increase the number of visitors to the store.A survey commissioned by the digital association Bitkom shows how important product reviews are for online shoppers. For example, 65% of respondents look at the reviews before adding the product to their shopping cart. This puts the reviews of other shoppers well ahead of other factors that influence a purchase decision, such as price comparison portals, personal recommendations, the store's website or test reports, and the figures broken down by age group suggest that the trend towards product reviews will continue. In the 14-29 age group, 75 percent already read product reviews before making a purchase, compared to just 52 percent of seniors aged 65 and over. The future therefore lies in customer reviews and an increasingly direct and faster exchange between buyers.Only authentic customer opinions are helpfulHowever, one result of the study gives food for thought: 19 percent of all shoppers distrust customer reviews and suspect that they could be fake. It is therefore particularly important to choose a reputable provider where it is clear at a glance that the customer reviews are authentic. This is the only way to ensure that the reviews are a genuine decision-making aid.Customer ratings as a competitive advantage39 percent of respondents say they have less confidence in items or offers for which there are no product reviews. In plain language, this means that most customers not only read reviews before making a purchase, they are now so used to them that they miss them if they are not available.Five times the benefitProduct reviews are therefore diligently read by customers before they buy. But what specific effects does this have for your company? Five points are particularly important:

• Increase conversion: Product reviews are a decisive factor in purchasing decisions. As the Bitkom study now also shows, products with reviews are purchased more frequently than products without reviews.
• Reduce returns rate: Customer reviews help online shoppers to build up realistic expectations of the goods. The better a customer is informed about the product in advance, the less likely they are to return it.
• More traffic: Product rating stars in text and product ads on Google increase the number of visitors to the store.
• Assortment optimization: Feedback from your own customers helps you to recognize which items are well received, which should be removed from the range or which need a better description.
• Revitalization of the article page: Dynamic, user-generated content keeps the article page alive and is the perfect complement to the static product description.