Using customer reviews to increase conversions on your Shopify store

Customer reviews are ridiculously valuable.

Not only do they make you feel great (who doesn’t like a compliment or two to boost their ego?!), they also help you improve your products, create a more enjoyable store experience, and boost conversions while you’re at it. 

In fact, listening to feedback from your lovely loyal customers is the single best way to hone your business. And, when you do this, you can expect more sales to roll in and more happy customers to show up. 

What Are Customer Reviews?

You probably already know what customer reviews are, but let’s quickly recap. Put simply, reviews are publicly shared experiences from your past customers. 

They are either a review of your product written by someone who has already bought said product, or a written account of a buyer’s experience with your brand.  

Reviews are often accompanied with a star-rating, where one star means the customer had a poor experience and five stars means they had a great experience or really loved your product. 

Royalty free photo from Pixabay

Why Are Customer Reviews Important?

Let’s just hit on some cold, hard stats here to kick things off. 

91% of consumers between the ages of 18 and 34 are big believers in online reviews. 

In fact, they love them so much, they trust them just as much as personal recommendations. Add that to the fact that 92% of consumers hesitate to make a purchase if there are no customer reviews and you begin to see just how important reviews are in the buying process. 

The fun doesn’t stop there, though. 

Research has shown that reviews are absolutely vital for increasing conversions. Simply adding reviews to your store can increase conversion rates by a whopping 270%, while 68% of consumers are prepared to pay up to 15% more for the same product or service if they can count on having a better experience. 

And guess what? It’s reviews that help them figure out if they’re going to have a better experience. 

So, to summarize: customer reviews attract more buyers and increase conversions. Without them, you could be missing out on a huge chunk of sales. 

They also help to build trust and provide a safety net for buyers: 

“Customer reviews play a vital role in eCommerce, providing online shoppers with a sense of security that encourages them to make a purchase” says Yoav Vilner on Business.com. 

This is because people can’t touch or see a product that they’re buying online, so there’s often uncertainty around the quality. Reviews help to alleviate this and tackle any objections a customer might have before they hit the buy button. 

How to Leverage Customer Reviews to Increase Conversions

Now you know the importance of customer reviews, let’s dig into the key ways you can implement them throughout your Shopify store to make the biggest impact. 

1. Use Customer Reviews in Facebook Ads

Your customers’ voices are your most powerful marketing tool. Incorporating their experiences into your Facebook Ads creates social proof which, in turn, encourages more people to buy.

According to YotPo, ads with user generated content (UGC) - that’s things like reviews and customer created photos - have a 3x higher click through rate. 

Here are some top tips for getting your review-sprinkled ads just right: 

• Use reviews on your ads that are targeting cold leads. Seeing customer experiences will help warm them up quickly - even better, use reviews of your best selling products to get your foot in the door 
• Use reviews that use “I” and “my” and other personal pronouns as this creates a more personal experience 
• If you can, use reviews that share a story rather than generic praise. This will help new customers relate better to your previous buyers  

LifeBEAM uses a ton of reviews in their Facebook ads to promote their sportswear lines. 

2. Populate Your Homepage With Reviews 

Your Shopify homepage is the entrance to your virtual store, so make it as welcoming as possible for new visitors. You want them to feel like they fit in right away so they can put aside any objections and get down to the nitty gritty - buying your awesome products. 

Do this by adding customer reviews to your homepage. Simply seeing the experiences of past buyers will make your customers feel like part of a community and will press on that all-important FOMO. 

Make like Quad Lock and add a section to your homepage dedicated to reviews. You can add them in segmented boxes or incorporate them into a slider. We recommend posting only your best reviews here, as this is the first impression new customers will get and you want it to be a really, really good one. 

3. Share Reviews on Your Product Pages

Research by Reevoo found that 50 or more reviews per product can mean an increase of 4.6% in conversion rates. Not too shabby, right? 

This is the point where your customers will make their final decision (probably after comparing a few similar products on your competitor’s sites). So, in light of that, you want to make this step in the buying cycle as compelling as possible.

Imagine this scenario:

You’re on the hunt for a shiny new pair of red shoes. You’ve found three styles that you like on three different sites and can’t find much to fault between them. All three of them will probably do the job. 

Two of the product pages have a couple of mixed reviews, but the third has a directory of four- and five-star reviews. Which pair of red shoes do you go for?

If it’s the third option with the slew of great reviews, you’re not alone. 

The product page is one of the most important steps in the buying cycle and having a collection of powerful customer reviews really helps push potential buyers off the fence. As a result, you get more conversions - it’s a win-win situation. The customer gets their lovely pair of red shoes and you get another buyer. 

Two Leaves has 54 reviews on this product page for their best-selling breakfast tea. 

4. Create a Dedicated Reviews Page

Getting more eyeballs on your store means more customers. It’s simple maths. And one of the most effective ways to get more eyeballs is to show up high in search results. 

Cue the trusty customer review. 

Did you know that reviews help shops rank higher in Google search results? This is because UGC boosts SEO by providing fresh content on the regular. 

By having a dedicated review page, you’re providing a space that consistently gets new content and helps build trust and credibility for your store. This can be a powerful tool in the sales cycle.

Think about it: when you come across a store with an entire page dedicated to lots of lovely customer reviews, the trust factor increases. It basically creates a kind of community around the brand and shows just how many customers have bought and enjoyed the products. 

UgMonk has a dedicated reviews page that potential buyers can browse to get a feel for the brand and its products. 

5. Add Reviews to Shopping Carts and at the Checkout

The average cart abandonment rate across all industries is high. Like, really high. It’s averaging about 69.57% at the moment. This means that the majority of people who put your products into their cart aren’t going to buy. They’re going to leave and might never come back. Ouch. 

This stat proves that customers aren’t automatically going to buy when they get to the checkout stage. 

Instead, this is the moment where they need the biggest nudge in the right direction as well as a hearty dose of reassurance. It is, after all, the last step in the buying process and the moment when they actually have to part with their hard-earned cash. 

Make the decision easier for them by sprinkling some customer reviews into their shopping cart and at the checkout. 

This serves to alleviate any last minute objections they might have and reminds them that other customers have had a great experience with your products, so why shouldn’t they get in on the action?! 

Mindful Souls adds customer reviews to shopper carts right before they head to the checkout. 

Customer Reviews: The Key to Increasing Conversions

Reviews are a simple but incredibly powerful way to increase conversions in your Shopify store. 

At each stage of the sales cycle they work hard to reassure potential buyers, build brand trust, and give people the gentle nudge they need to make a purchase.