About This Webinar
This eStore Academy session examines how COVID-19 transformed consumer behaviour and created unprecedented opportunities for brands to harness ratings and reviews strategically. Our expert panel from Bazaarvoice and eStore Media reveals how a best-in-class ratings and review strategy can increase share of search, turn customers into powerful influencers, and unlock valuable consumer insights to drive sales growth.
As today's customers increasingly seek endorsement before purchasing, understanding how to collect, manage, and leverage ratings and reviews has become critical for e-commerce success.
Key Insights
COVID's Lasting Impact on Shopping Behaviour
Research across 8,000 global shoppers reveals three permanent shifts:
E-commerce Acceleration: 49% of shoppers are now shopping online more than ever before, with 30% planning to continue shopping online weekly even post-lockdown. This represents a 3-5 year acceleration in customer maturity compressed into just seven months.
Brand Trial Willingness: 39% purchased from different or completely new brands during lockdown, with 83% planning to continue buying from newly discovered brands. Brands have an unprecedented window to win new customers who were previously loyal to competitors.
Hybrid Shopping Preferences: Despite online growth, 55% still prefer in-store experiences when given a choice. However, 63% research purchases online before visiting stores, creating opportunities to influence offline sales through digital content.
Strategic Category Prioritisation
Not all categories benefit equally from ratings and reviews. Focus investment on categories with:
- High Involvement: Categories shoppers research extensively
- Risk Factors: Health, social, or financial risks if wrong choice made
- Low Brand Awareness: Challenger brands benefit most from social proof
- Low Purchase Frequency: 3-10 year purchase cycles create unfamiliarity with current offerings
- High Price Points: Expensive purchases require more reassurance
Example: Baby food scores high on involvement and risk factors, making ratings crucial. Coffee machines benefit from low purchase frequency and high price. Chocolate bars score low across all factors, making reviews less critical.
Competitive Benchmarking Requirements
Setting universal review targets is a strategic mistake. Analysis across thousands of retailers reveals massive variations:
Smartphone Category Examples:
- Top 10 on Amazon France: 12+ reviews needed
- Top 10 on Amazon UK: 500+ reviews needed
- Top 10 on Amazon Germany: 1,200+ reviews needed
Beauty Category Variations:
- Amazon US top 10: 1,800+ reviews
- Amazon Europe top 10: 200+ reviews
- Specialist retailers: Often under 50 reviews
Success requires retailer-specific competitive analysis, not blanket targets.
Feature-Driven Rating Optimisation
Improving star ratings requires understanding which features drive satisfaction. Analysis reveals:
Smartwatch Category Drivers:
- Customisation: +1.4 star impact when positive
- Battery life: High impact, frequently mentioned
- Integration capabilities: Strong positive correlation
Coffee Machine Insights:
- Durability emerges as biggest unmet need
- Quality issues consistently drive negative reviews
Understanding feature-rating relationships enables targeted product improvements and communication strategies.
Essential Takeaways
- Prioritise High-Impact Categories: Focus ratings and review efforts where they'll have maximum shopper influence based on involvement, risk, awareness, frequency, and price factors
- Benchmark Locally: Set retailer-specific targets based on competitive landscape analysis rather than universal benchmarks
- Analyse Content for Insights: Mine reviews to understand feature satisfaction drivers and identify product improvement opportunities
- Align with Marketing Calendar: Time content generation campaigns to ensure reviews are available before promotional pushes
- Leverage Offline Touchpoints: Use in-store interactions, receipts, and packaging to drive review generation from your largest sales channel
- Create Omnichannel Experiences: Make user-generated content available at physical touchpoints where 63% of shoppers research before buying
The future belongs to brands that can harmonise online and offline experiences, using customer-generated content to build confidence across all channels whilst mining insights to continuously improve their offerings.
Speakers
James Russell
Senior Manager, Client Success EMEA, Bazaarvoice
Lukasz Stebelski
Head od Business Development, eStoreBrands
Marc Baker
Founder, Tyde
