In the physical world, we often use our senses to help us make purchase decisions - what does a product look like? Is it well made? How does it make you feel?

Online, however, we lose a lot of that, and it can feel like we’re in the dark. That’s why many of us look for ratings and reviews by people who have used a product - either experts or other customers, just like you and me.

These first-hand accounts can be found just about anywhere, for anything, and they offer a sense of social proof - “If enough people like it, it must be good!” - which can be pretty persuasive. And businesses that don’t take notice of this are likely to get left behind!

Right now, we’re not talking about how to gain or manipulate ratings and reviews. Instead, we’re looking at how you can get the most out of the ones you’ve already got - it’s all about maximising visibility.

Let’s start by clearing up what ‘ratings’ and ‘reviews’ actually mean.

Ratings, simply enough, allow customers to assign a score to a product or service. They’re instantly visible and recognisable, enabling other shoppers to easily compare similar offerings.

Reviews, on the other hand, are written testimonials. Shoppers usually have to invest a bit more time and energy into this level of research, but if they are clicking through, that might suggest that they’re seriously considering making a purchase. Some sources estimate that over 90% of shoppers are influenced by reviews when making purchase decisions - so where do you come in?

Customers share both good and bad experiences. Obviously, if your product isn’t good enough to start with, you’re unlikely to get many of those coveted 4 and 5 star ratings - but it’s important not to shy away from any negative comments about... issues with your website, a substandard product feature or even your customer service.

Customer reviews are an opportunity to start a valuable feedback conversation - potentially identifying issues that could be easily fixed. Are negative reviews a one-off example of something gone wrong or do they indicate a bigger issue?

It does take time and effort to really make the most of the reviews you’re collecting, so you’ll need an effective process for managing and moderating them.

Ideally, you’d respond to every review, but for the negative ones it’s especially important to respond quickly, politely acknowledging the complaint and giving users the chance to discuss the matter further.

Reviews containing inappropriate language or content can also be damaging for your brand, so keep an eye out for any of those as you’re sifting through.

Ratings and reviews are a great way of finding out what existing customers think about you, but they also play a valuable role in the customer journey.

Imagine a shopper in the market for a product. There are two main ways they might reach a site where they can buy that product - they might click on an ad from a marketing campaign or they could carry out a search.

Let’s tackle search first.

A shopper enters a search query and is served a set of results. Where your listing appears - relative to your competitors’ - is determined by complex algorithms. They assess a huge range of factors, including… review content - especially product reviews containing relevant keywords, which could boost your ranking.

Scrolling down, the shopper’s attention is caught by a few listings with a star rating. This is known as a ‘rich snippet’, and it’s another way for brands to improve their visibility on search engines.

The most popular of those, Google, is pretty secretive about which listings will include these ratings, but to be in with a chance, you’ll need to add something called ‘structured data’ to your pages. This lets Google analyse the content of your pages and pick out details it thinks will be relevant to a user’s search.

The thing with organic search, though, is that you can never guarantee the success of your efforts, so paid search ads could be an option. You’re still up against your competitors here, so including review content in your ad copy could help to influence shoppers before they even click on a link.

Okay, But what if they don’t search for the product? Adding ratings or review content to display advertising can also be a great way of attracting new customers - just be sure that you understand your target audience, and test variations of content to see which ones have the highest engagement and click-through rates.

Making the Most of Ratings & Reviews