1. Why enable Reviews?
Earn Trust
Shoppers are more likely to make a purchase from an online store that enables reviews. There a few ways in which enabling reviews promotes trust. They show shoppers that you are confident enough in your products to welcome discussion regarding those products. Reviews also allow shoppers to get un-biased information about the quality of your products, so they can be sure they will be satisfied. While positive reviews encourage shoppers to complete a purchase, negative reviews can help point shoppers in the right direction with criticism based on certain preferences.
Let Your Customers feel heard
It’s important for your customers to feel like your company is listening to them. Reviews give your customers a place to voice opinions, which is important, even if they do not utilize the reviews.
Product Development
Both positive and negative feedback from your reviewers can help your store plan it’s merchandising. Well-reviewed products and highlighted quotes from positive reviews can be used in promo areas to encourage shoppers to check out popular products. Negative reviews can highlight problems with your merchandise, so that you can take the opportunity to make important improvements.
SEO
Reviews offer another way to generate content for your website. Because reviews are created by your shoppers, they are a cost effective way to generate important content and to keep your product pages “alive”, which also strengthens your SEO.
2. How to enable and approve Magento Reviews
- Navigate to Catalog > Reviews & Ratings. Select Manage Ratings. You can add or edit your Ratings here.
- To approve ratings, they must be approved by the administrator before they appear on the Front-end. To view and approve new Reviews go to Catalog > Reviews & Ratings > Customer Reviews > Pending Reviews.
- You’ll find a list of all pending reviews here. You can check several reviews to delete or update the status of several reviews at once. Select a Review and you will be able to view and edit the customer’s Review.
3. How negative reviews can help you
You may be hesitant to enable reviews because you fear that negative reviews will hurt business. While this fear is understandable, consider the benefit of embracing the negative reviews and allowing them to help your business.
Negative reviews on a product page ensure shoppers that you are allowing your reviewers to be completely honest, and you aren’t censoring their opinions. A negative review tells shoppers that they can trust that positive reviews are genuine because your review section is genuine. A review section full of only well-written positive reviews can appear suspect.
An honest negative review could also help shoppers avoid negative shopping experiences based on preference. For example, if there are a few reviews that say “These shoes are nice but they were too small! I am usually a size 8, but I needed to return them for a 9”, or “This shade of lipstick doesn’t work well on fair skin so I had to return it”, you as a store owner should embrace these comments, as they can be helpful to other shoppers who value such honest opinions. Other shoppers can learn from the choices of their predecessors, and can select the correct size or shade based on the recommendations of others.
If a product of yours receives consistently negative reviews, you will need to take action to improve the product. It is possible that negative feedback can be addressed by clarifying your product information. If customers are complaining about size or color discrepancy, specific size charts and new images can solve this issue. Alerting shoppers that a product has an unusual fit or material can also help avoid disappointment.
Remember that your team must approve all reviews before they appear online, so you can weed out anything inappropriate or spammy. You can also correct blatant spelling or grammar errors that users submit, to remove distractions. We also recommend using a spam preventing extension like Akismet Spam Killer Extension for Magento to protect your review section from spammers.
Conclusion
The review section of your product page is an excellent way to further instill trust with your shoppers. Reviews, both positive and negative, can let your customers know that you are listening to them and care about their opinions. Reviews can also help your shoppers choose products that they will be satisfied with.
Customer Success Manager
