In the modern digital world, where the tangible experience of products is missing, online reviews have become a key influence on consumer behavior and the success of e-commerce businesses.
Here, we deeply explore the importance of online reviews for e-commerce stores, investigating their impact on consumer choices, brand credibility, and search engine visibility.
The Transformative Role of Online Reviews
As the digital realm continues to evolve, the reliance on online reviews as a pivotal element of the purchase decision-making process has intensified.
The exponential growth of review platforms such as Yelp! and Facebook has democratized access to opinions, making it effortless for consumers to seek feedback on virtually any product or service. The ubiquity of reviews has fundamentally altered how businesses are perceived online.
Renowned businessman Chris Anderson aptly captures this paradigm shift, emphasizing, “Your brand isn’t what you say it is – it’s what Google says it is.” In this context, online reviews wield immense power, acting as the collective voice that echoes a company’s offerings, customer service, and overall credibility.
The Ubiquitous Appeal of Online Reviews
The reach and influence of online reviews span across all demographics, with an astounding 91% of individuals actively reading reviews, while 84% trust them as much as personal recommendations. These figures underscore the tangible impact of reviews on consumer behavior. The influence of reviews goes beyond mere perception and translates into measurable outcomes.
Notably, consumers are inclined to spend approximately 31% more on retailers with excellent reviews. Intriguingly, negative reviews hold substantial weight, as 82% of review readers specifically seek out negative feedback.
However, this propensity towards negative reviews doesn’t imply doom for businesses; it actually presents an opportunity. Research reveals that users spend five times more time on sites when engaging with negative reviews, contributing to an impressive 85% increase in conversion rates.
The significance of review volume should not be underestimated. While a solitary positive review can offer an opinion, the aggregation of numerous reviews sharing similar sentiments forms a consensus.
Studies indicate that a minimum of 40 reviews is preferred by consumers to establish trust in an average star rating. However, even a handful of reviews can significantly impact sales. Products with as few as five reviews are 270% more likely to secure a purchase.
Online Reviews: A Cornerstone of E-commerce Success
For e-commerce businesses, online reviews represent a dynamic cornerstone for success.
Let’s delve into how online reviews can substantially enhance an online store’s performance across multiple dimensions.
1. Driving Sales Through Social Proof
Social proof, a psychological phenomenon, drives decisions based on collective actions. Positive reviews from fellow consumers affirm the value of a product or service, instilling confidence in potential buyers.
This effect goes beyond the realm of biased advertising, as reviews are trusted 12 times more than other marketing materials. The potency of social proof is palpable, making it a compelling catalyst for increased sales.
2. Establishing Trust in a Competitive Landscape
The modern e-commerce arena boasts an overwhelming array of choices. Amidst this sea of options, the ability to differentiate through quality and reliability is paramount.
While physical interaction with a product is ideal, reviews bridge the gap for online-only businesses. A multitude of positive reviews cultivates a trustworthy online reputation that resonates with consumers.
Ascending the search engine ranks is a universal aspiration for businesses. However, building a robust SEO foundation can be time-consuming. Herein lies the relevance of customer reviews.
Many reviews feature keywords related to products, expanding your online presence and enhancing your chances of appearing in relevant search queries.
The intertwining of your brand with positive reviews can significantly augment search engine visibility, a pivotal facet in attracting potential customers.
4. Guiding Customer Decision-Making
Online shopping necessitates intricate decision-making processes. Consumers invest substantial time evaluating products, comparing options, and scrutinizing reviews before making a purchase.
Reviews provide nuanced insights into products, addressing aspects such as material, size, and shape. The information gleaned from reviews guides customers, eliminating uncertainties and fostering a more informed buying process.
5. Unveiling Areas for Improvement
Negative reviews, while daunting, offer invaluable opportunities for growth. They pinpoint pain points requiring attention. Multiple negative reviews conveying similar grievances highlight systemic issues that demand resolution.
Addressing these concerns reflects a commitment to customer satisfaction and can yield significant benefits. Notably, a staggering 94% of online consumers have refrained from making purchases based on negative reviews, reinforcing the imperative of addressing problematic trends.
Unleashing the Potential of Online Reviews
The transformative potential of online reviews can be harnessed by adopting strategic approaches that amplify their impact. Below are actionable strategies that e-commerce businesses can employ to maximize the benefits of online reviews:
1. Amplify Brand Awareness
Ubiquity is key in the digital landscape. To establish your brand’s presence, encourage reviews across a multitude of platforms. Positive reviews on influential platforms like Yelp! can elevate your visibility, making your brand the top choice when consumers search within your industry.
2. Refining Keyword Strategy
Consumer language might differ from your initial keyword assumptions. Scrutinizing reviews offers a direct window into the vocabulary your customers use. This insight can refine your SEO campaigns, ensuring alignment with the language that resonates most with your target audience.
3. Showcasing Positive Reviews Strategically
Instead of making lofty claims about your products, let your reviews substantiate their excellence. Incorporating reviews into your website, press releases, marketing content, or even influencer-advertised campaigns enhances your reputation authentically and far more persuasively.
4. Employing Smart Tactics for Generating Reviews
While organic reviews evolve over time, proactive measures can expedite the process. Employ these tactics to encourage reviews:
a. Directly Request Reviews:
The simplest method is often the most effective. Request reviews at different touchpoints, whether it’s after a purchase, checkout, or product delivery. A simple ask can yield significant outcomes.
b. Simplify the Review Process
Ensure that leaving a review is effortless for customers. Provide links to review platforms and consider adding submission forms directly on your website, streamlining the process for users.
c. Incentivize Customer Feedback
Incentives like discounts or free shipping can motivate customers to leave reviews. The investment in incentives is dwarfed by the advantages of amassing a robust collection of reviews.
d. Deploy Customer Surveys
Surveys offer a holistic approach to feedback collection. Beyond reviews, they encompass multiple aspects of your business, yielding insights that can be curated into valuable review content.
e. Engage with Customer Feedback
Responding to reviews showcases your commitment to customer engagement. Positive acknowledgments and constructive responses can enhance brand loyalty. Addressing negative reviews demonstrates a proactive stance toward improving customer experiences.
f. Implement Automation
Streamline review collection by automating email requests post-purchase. Utilize cookies for strategic pop-ups that prompt review submissions. These tactics minimize effort while maximizing results.
Leveraging Authoritative Review Sites
Not all reviews are created equal. Third-party platforms like Google, Yelp!, and Facebook hold unparalleled credibility due to their independence from business influence.
Here’s a breakdown of these valuable resources:
1. Google Reviews
Given Google’s prominence, Google reviews hold immense weight. The integration of reviews into its algorithm underscores their significance, with reviews contributing around 9% to the search engine ranking formula. Engaging with Google reviews is pivotal for robust online visibility.
2. Yelp! Reviews
Despite controversies, Yelp! remains a trusted name in reviews. Its algorithm emphasizes authenticity, elevating reviews from users with a substantial presence. Positive Yelp! reviews can lead to substantial revenue boosts, while negative ones can hinder growth.
3. Facebook Reviews
With a considerable portion of Facebook users engaging with reviews and recommendations, Facebook reviews wield significant influence. Recent changes, such as feedback integration, provide an additional layer of insight into businesses, aiding customer decision-making.
In Conclusion
Online reviews wield a transformative influence in the digital age, functioning as a potent word-of-mouth marketing strategy. Their impact extends beyond perceptions, influencing consumer decisions, brand credibility, and search engine rankings.
Recognizing the profound importance of online reviews and strategically leveraging them can propel e-commerce businesses to the forefront of their competitive landscape. By embracing the power of reviews, businesses can establish an indelible competitive advantage, positioning themselves miles ahead of their rivals.
Quite recently, the eCommerce industry has had quite a significant expansion. As a matter of fact, it has been showing significant growth since 2014, but the COVID-19 crises only served to expedite it.
With so many companies going out of business, closing down their brick and mortar offices, and switching online, eCommerce is going through its Renaissance. Therefore, it is no wonder that you would want to try and see what it is all about. And this is exactly what we are here to help you with today.
Running an eCommerce business on a budget can be tough. It will take a lot of planning, managing – and a little luck. But with these five tips, you will have a strong basis and be ready for success!
1. Plan your business carefully
There is a lot of talk about planning a business – but no one really mentions the importance of planning it well. What’s more, new business owners might not even be aware of how to create their plan, or what goes into it.
The thing to remember is that your business plan doesn’t need to be a hundred-page novel. Sometimes, a simple one-page business plan will do the trick just as well! It can even help you shape up your focus on what’s important.
What you will want to find on a business plan is your vision and your goal. Answer these two questions:
Where do you see your business in a certain time period – like six months or a year?
How do you plan do get there? What resources will you need?
Just by focusing on these two things, you should be able to create the gist of your business plan. From there, you can come back and edit it as much as you need – and this becomes easier the shorter the plan is!
2. Use the right tools for your business
Picking a tool you are going to use for a certain task can make or break your business. This is true in the mortar and brick world – but it comes to the forefront when talking about eCommerce.
And since you are running your business on a budget, you cannot splurge on a huge variety of tools. So, you will want to pick only the ones that you will really, really need.
One of them is good business modeling software. In the early stages of starting your business, you will want to be able to create forecasts of how much you will be spending versus how much you will earn. Tools like IdeaBuddy, Wrike, or Bitrix24 are perfect for this!
The second essential tool you will want is a project management tool. With it, you will be able to plan ahead and manage all your chores, resources, and your team. Make sure you find a tool that can scope well with your business.
Remember – as you grow, the number of projects will grow too – and thus, it can be harder to grasp them all. So, tools like Todoist, MeisterTask, or Trello are a must! Just ensure that these are included in your budget, and you will be set!
3. Streamline everything for the best results
The next thing you will want to do is to remove as much clutter as you can form your eCommerce business. Go back through everything you already have and try to streamline it all down. This includes your products, your tools – even the chatbots you are using on the website.
This task might seem like quite a chore, but it comes with a set of benefits. First, you will speed up your website by removing clutter. You will only have 15 seconds until a user leaves a website to catch their attention. If your loading speed takes this much time, you will lose them – and your budget will suffer!
Secondly, you will have fewer things over which you need to lose your sleep. Your business will require fewer updates, and there is overall less risk that something can go awry. You will also spend less on the upkeep.
4. Consider outsourcing
Another thing that has grown quite popular with the advent of technology is outsourcing. Nowadays, you can find a person who can help you with your workload with only a couple of mouse clicks.
This is why outsourcing your eCommerce is an obvious choice. Once you are running for some time and you are picking up steam, you can find assistants that will take the workload for you.
This way, you can pay them a reasonable rate for their work, while still making money without lifting a finger! You will also not have to deal with the stress that your huge workload can represent. What’s more, you can put your focus on other revenues in order to turn even more profit. Thus, outsourcing is a win-win-win condition!
5. Don’t be afraid to ask for help
Finally, a thing you should always keep in mind is that it is completely fine to admit you have no idea what you are doing from time to time.
In these cases, you should always turn to a professional. Whether you need help dealing with the taxes, you need accounting, or there are some legal issues that raise concern – turn to someone who can help you. What’s more, you can even freelance these consultants online and save a little money that way too!
Remember – all great business owners were in a position that left them confused. It is how you get out of it that matters – and what you do with your answers in the long run that counts!
About The Author:
Petar Dordevic is a content writer for IdeaBuddy, the best business modeling tool on the market. He is finishing his master’s degree in General Mathematics but is also learning about entrepreneurship, eCommerce, and project management on the side.
Each and every day, millions of transactions take place on eBay. The e-commerce and auction-based website have grown into a household name all over the world, recognized by people from all reaches of the globe.
With billions of products being sold by millions of sellers, you are pretty much guaranteed to find what you are looking for and have it delivered to you very quickly.
eBay started out from humble beginnings as a website called ‘Auction Web’. The website was an instant hit and it very quickly took off, very quickly growing into an internet superstar and becoming one of the internet’s earliest success stories.
Although it started off as a basic auction-based website, it has been expanded on greatly over the years and the website is now very different than it was at the start. Today, there are options such as ‘Buy It Now’ and fixed-price listings which are the most popular features on the site, with 80% of sellers utilizing these features over the auction system.
You can buy literally anything you can think of on eBay, and the site has even been used to sell a private yacht worth over $160 million and a Gulfstream II Jet. Collectors love eBay because the site has a massive range of unique and quirky collectible items on it; eBay is the best place on the internet for buying collectors’ items.
What made eBay very successful in its early days – and continues to do so today – are the various eBay offers which are constantly available; prices you find on eBay will typically be cheaper than anywhere else.
eBay is great for sellers, too. It is a platform known and trusted around the world, so new customers feel confident and safe in making purchases.
On eBay, you will find many major e-commerce businesses and brands; many of them use eBay as their primary trading platforms. On eBay, it is possible to create your very own store and list items for customers to buy… it is highly customizable and very intuitive.
There is a great mixture of new and old items on eBay. Although there are lots of second-hand and collectible items available to purchase, the site also has a massive range of new and unused listings too.
Want to learn more about eBay? There are plenty of interesting facts and figures about the e-commerce giant. Check out our infographic below!
Maximizing the visibility for an e-commerce business is the sole role of SEO for selling products or services online. In this maser guide, we will learn everything required to optimize your e-commerce website from keyword search to technical SEO.
The strategy that an e-commerce solution company follows is to make sure that the right content is positioned at the right time for the right person to look at. Keeping this in mind, in this post I am sharing the strategies which will help you expand your e-commerce website traffic and turn the visitors into customers. So, let’s dive in.
Keyword Research:
Set your SEO in motion by keyword research because this is the most basic step. By expanding your search engine ranking for as many suitable keywords as possible, you are raising the probability of your website being noticed and visited. Even the site architecture, URLs etc have to take the keywords into account and hence finding the right keywords for your website is a big deal.
Amazon is one of the biggest e-commerce sites, try entering a keyword in Amazon’s search that describes your own product. The Amazon suggested keywords will be the most targeted one. Likewise, you can try on other big sites also. Apart from this, you can also try using tools like Keyword Tool Dominator, to find the right keywords.
Start by finding the best-suited keywords for your product and then put them in the right categories and sub-categories. Amazon is a great place to find category page keywords. They have neatly designed their departments and subcategories:
Hence take a look at your competitors and how they have categorized their products and services and the keywords that they use to describe their categories. There’s even Google Keyword Planner to help with keyword research but it’s not very good for keyword generation.
Website Design:
The way in which your e-commerce website is designed and organized is an important factor for SEO. E-commerce websites tend to have more pages and hence it’s important to design it, simply so that the search engines and the user can find the right pages. Follow the following two promising guidelines for site architecture:
Keep the architecture simple and scalable.
Make sure that every web page is not more than 3 clicks away from the home page of your website.
Let us take two cases to understand how the authority matters for product and category pages. The following case an architecture which is neither simple nor scalable:
While the other case has an architecture which is simple and even scalable:
Looking at the two cases we can clearly make out that the second case has a better chance of keeping the buyer engaged because of the simple architecture. Buyers tend to drop interest if they are made to click 10-20 times to reach the buying page.
The On-page SEO:
Once your site design is ready, you can start with the category and product page optimizations. A person searching for “buy sweatshirt online for 9-year-old kids” is keener to buy rather than a person searching for “kid’s sweatshirts”. Use the primary keywords in your page’s title tag but don’t stop at that. You can add ‘modifiers’ also.
Add modifiers like “buy”, “cheap”, “deals” etc to your title tag to get listed in the more long tail searches. Like if your target keyword for category page is “sports tracksuit”, you can add words that people are likely to use “sports tracksuits in the sale” etc. Similarly, there are quite a few keywords that act like magnets and force the buyer to click, like:
X% off
Guarantee
Shipping Free
Easy Return
Sale
On similar lines, add right phrases in the description tag to tempt the buyer to purchase. You can add phrases like ‘Free Shipping’, ‘All items on X% sale’, ‘Best deal offers’ etc. Here is an example of an amended description tag for a product:
Here are the three paramount strategies most endorsed for on-page SEO:
Write a description in 1000+ words: It is found that descriptions with longer content tend to rank high on Google because Google wants to understand what your page is all about. Apart from this, the buyers can also understand better about the product, they are about to buy.
Scatter the keywords: Now that your description is detailed and complete, it is time to add your target keywords 4-5 times. This is simply to make sure that your keyword is mentioned on the page and Google understands what your page is about. But this is not at all related to keyword stuffing.
LSI Keywords: Latent Semantic Indexing keywords are those words which are closely related to your main target keywords. Like let say your main keywords is ‘frying pan’, then terms closely related to it can be ‘granite coated’, ‘nonstick’, ‘recipe’, ‘with a lid’, ‘nonstick set’ etc. Enter your target keywords on Google Keyword Planner to find what matching keywords it suggests for your ad. Now stuff these to your product or category description.
Technical SEO:
Practically all e-commerce websites tend to have 5000+ pages and this increases the betting odds of technical SEO issues. Technical SEO is at times a “tiebreaker” for the Google’s first page. Hence it is important that you audit your website often for technical SEO issues.
Use site auditing tools like Raven, SEMRuch, and DeepCrawl etc to perform an audit of your website. It can help you determine broken links, links of no use, content issues etc. If a page is not visited at all and is rather costing you money from your pocket, it’s better to delete or hide it.
Other options for fixing are to no-index such pages or club all such pages into a single ‘super’ page. You can also use e-commerce CMS tools to find which pages have generated revenue and which haven’t and then put those in the ‘maybe delete’ list. Such analysis and fixing can help in boosting the website performance and get on the Google’s first page.
Apt Content:
Content marketing is another way to boost your traffic and sales. Narrow down on what your target customers look for online like food, books etc; learn about the keywords that they use most on the web (in comments, etc) for activities other than shopping and create an appealing content blog around those keywords. Maintain a consistency in publishing posts on the blog.
Like the popular cookware e-commerce site, Williams-Sonoma.com has an amazing blog featuring recipes, cooking tips etc; their blog has a Page Authority of 66. If you don’t have the resources, you can hire SEO services in India or anywhere across the globe to do the right content marketing for your e-commerce business.
Take Away:
Look for opportunities to build more pages, optimize keywords and create appropriate categories and sub-categories. With a well-designed website and least technical SEO issues, you can definitely increase the traffic and sales of your e-commerce business.
Also, make sure that you are doing the right content marketing for your e-commerce business.
About The Author:
Hasel Smith is an enthusiast writer, working as a content writer for Vipra Business. She works closely to demand and provide Blogs and Articles on services giving by Vipra Business The company basically is an IT firm and e-commerce solution company Providing SEO Services India, Mobile App Development, E-commerce Development, Web Development, and Design. She has been lucky enough to work as a reporter and writer for a Web Online Portal, which has helped her to enhance writing skill. Vipra Business is known for proving cheap SEO service and Digital Marketing services to their clients.
The Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council established PCI compliance standards over ten years ago to protect businesses and the sensitive data they deal with. Still, because different PCI standards apply to different types of businesses, vary based on the size, type and volume of their transactions and change often to keep pace with cybercriminals’ latest schemes, interpreting and implementing them can be a challenge for any size business.
Despite that task, the cost of confusion around PCI compliance can be astounding for a business. If a business is a target of a cybersecurity breach and is found not to have been PCI compliant at the time, fines can be imposed by credit card issuers and financial institutions in amounts as much as $100,000 a month. Additionally, a breach could result in any number of fines and lawsuits brought on by customers and other parties who suffer damages connected to it.
In this presentation, we’ll take a closer look at what it means to be PCI compliant, and why it matters for the security of your company and your customers. We’ll also address some of the most frequently asked questions businesses have related to PCI compliance, including:
How to determine which standards apply to your business model, specifically if you accept payment in multiple channels and different locations
How to determine whether you are PCI compliant, and what it means to conduct an audit
How to test frailties to ensure you remain PCI compliant as cybertheft and security challenges grow
We’ll also disperse some of the most common myths regarding PCI compliance, including the size and type of businesses it pertains to, how the vendors you work with impact whether your business processes are PCI compliant, and which departments and employees in your company must understand the scope and impact of PCI compliance.
PCI compliance can be a complicated topic for any business to address, but it’s a safety provision your business cannot afford to ignore when it comes to protecting your business’s exposure to risk. With these guidelines, your business will be empowered to use PCI-compliant standards to help manage exposure to the risk of cybersecurity issues.
Author bio: Kirsten Gramigna is Chief Marketing Officer for BluePay, a credit card processing firm. She has more than 20 years of experience in the bankcard industry in direct sales, sales management, and marketing. Follow her on Twitter at @BluePay_CMO.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. Likewise, you can lead customers to your e-commerce site, but you can’t make them check out. You created your e-commerce business to make it easier for you to reach out to customers, but there’s no guarantee that online shoppers will become customers. In fact, nearly 70 percent of all online shopping carts end up being abandoned, meaning seven out of every 10 online shoppers build orders they never complete. There are many reasons for this, and fortunately, many of those reasons are factors you can control.
For example, ugly web design can turn customers off to your site. Investing in professional web design can make your e-commerce site more appealing and attractive, making it more likely customers will stick around long enough to complete their orders. Another big turn-off to online shoppers is when sites ask for too much information or require them to create an account before buying. This can make many shoppers uncomfortable, but eliminating just one unnecessary data field from your online forms can streamline the process for shoppers and make them more likely to buy from you. Online shoppers also get frustrated by sites with confusing navigation, so utilizing a cleaner page design that makes shopping easier can result in more sales.
The guide below lists these and many more reasons why shoppers may be abandoning your e-commerce site. By following the quick fixes outlined below, you may be able not only to lead customers to your site but get them to take the crucial step of clicking the “checkout” button, as well.
We love to create awesome websites for small businesses! It is our passion and goal to help as much as possible people with a beautiful online presentation that represents who they are and what they stand for.
![eBay – The World’s Leading E-Commerce Site [Infographic]](https://www.technicalmindsweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/infographicsTMW.png)
![Why Your E-Commerce Business May Be Losing Customers [Infographic]](https://www.technicalmindsweb.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Why-Your-E-Commerce-Business-May-Be-Losing-Customers.png)
We love to create awesome websites for small businesses! It is our passion and goal to help as much as possible people with a beautiful online presentation that represents who they are and what they stand for.