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Review Monitoring Quickly identify review trends |
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Review Monitoring Quickly identify review trends |
When was the last time you made a big purchase without doing your due diligence? I bet you can’t remember. Or, perhaps, it has never happened.
Social proof is a key driver in modern commerce, and especially in ecommerce. Prospects want to see what other customers think about a product or brand before making a purchase.
But here’s the thing. Brands can’t simply make up customer reviews. Well, they could, but the impact won’t be the same.
In this article, we’ll look at verified vs unverified reviews and explain to you why you must go the extra mile to collect verifiable customer reviews.
A verified review is a customer review that a platform has authenticated as coming from someone who actually purchased or used the product or service in question.
Platforms like Amazon or Trustpilot use a unique order ID to connect the reviewer to a specific transaction. This is done before their review is published.
These reviews are usually accompanied by a “Verified” badge. Here’s an example from Amazon.
Some platforms take an extra step to make sure that even verified reviews are authentic and were not incentivized in some way. On Amazon, for example, the label "Verified Purchase" appears when the reviewer bought the item and didn't receive a steep discount for their review.
Platforms take these extra steps to prevent brands from gaming the system.
An unverified review is any review that a platform cannot trace back to a confirmed purchase or interaction. There's no transaction record, no invitation trail, and no proof that the person leaving the review ever actually used the product.
Here’s something you should know, though. An unverified review does not mean a fake review. Some unverified reviews can actually come from real users. The only difference is that they may have bought the product in a brick-and-mortar store, but chose to leave a review online. Hence, the lack of a “paper trail.”
That said, the absence of verification does create a door for misuse by bad actors. Brands can use this to “farm” fake reviews to make their products look better or more popular than they actually are.
Stories of competing brands hiring folks to leave fake negative reviews on a competitor’s product are also quite common.
That’s why major platforms discourage unverified reviews. On Amazon, for example, verified customer reviews are usually prioritized ahead of the unverified ones.
The FTC is also cracking down on the use of unverified reviews and customer testimonials.
Verified reviews provide a strong signal that real customers actually engage with your brand. And when those reviews are positive, they help prospective customers who are still sitting on the fence make a favorable decision for your brand.
This is especially critical when the stakes are high. Consider a customer purchasing a luxury item. Or a brand signing a high-ticket service contract with a growth marketing agency.
In these high-ticket scenarios, the 'trust gap' is much wider and the stakes are high. Verified customer reviews, whether on an eCommerce site or review platforms like Trustpilot and G2, would make all the difference. Here’s why:
When a shopper reads an unverified review, several invisible questions hang over it. Is this even a real person or a bot from a review farm? Second, did this person actually buy the thing?
That doubt, even when it's subconscious, creates friction.
Verified reviews get rid of that friction instantly. The badge tells the reader that a real transaction happened, so the opinion is based on real first-hand experience with the brand and product/service.
The reviewer spent their own money. That changes everything about how their words land.
Five stars from an unverified account are taken with a pinch of salt. Five stars from a verified buyer feel earned. This is a critical distinction because inflated, unbelievable praise can actually backfire and hurt your brand.
In fact, lots of positive reviews from unverified customers can make shoppers more skeptical about your brand. You don’t want that.
Verification gives positive feedback its credibility, and this helps win customer trust. Customers know that someone else already risked their money and experienced the product before sharing their opinion.
This is crucial, especially if you’re an eCommerce store selling products on marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy.
The algorithms on these platforms use the Bayesian scoring system to make product ratings more reliable. Instead of a simple average, the algorithm weighs reviews based on trust.
For example, a 5-star review from a verified buyer carries much more weight than one from an unverified customer.
Essentially, to boost the product visibility on marketplaces, you must focus on collecting verified high-trust customer reviews.
This may sound counterintuitive, but negative verified reviews do help with building customer trust.
Take a second and imagine how you would feel if you saw a brand with a sizable number of reviews (let's say 100s) and all of them are 5-star? That’ll look unnatural, right?
That’s why negative verified reviews are still helpful even when they criticize your brand.
Negative verified reviews have two advantages. First, they help demonstrate to prospects that your reviews are not curated or manipulated. Hence, they provide “balance” to customers’ research process, as mentioned by a Power Reviews report we’ll discuss below.
Second, negative verified reviews give you an opportunity to address customer criticism head-on. Since they’re verified, you can track the customer to identify where your brand went wrong and how you can make things right. Next, you can respond to the review in public to show other potential buyers how your brand treats customer complaints.
Several studies show a direct link between customer reviews and conversions.
A study by Power Reviews showed that 96% of customers reported ratings and reviews to be a key consideration when making purchase decisions. Customer photos and videos came in a close second at 78%. That actually goes further to show just how crucial verifiable reviews are. A customer photo/video verifies that the customer bought the item.
The same report explained that conversions increase by 168.2% when potential customers interact with a user-submitted photo on the product page.
Another report from Wiser Reviews explains that 85% of shoppers read verified reviews often, and they trust these reviews more than unverified ones.
Additionally, UGC content like customer reviews, as well as images and videos from customers boost conversions by 166% and reduces cart abandonment by up to 2.5%.
Social proof is crucial for modern commerce. However, the quality of the social proof a brand uses goes a long way in winning customer trust.
Verified customer reviews eliminate any lingering doubts about the authenticity of your brand and whether your products actually deliver on their promise.
Make it easy for shoppers to leave verified reviews. And encourage them to leave detailed reviews, accompanied with images and videos where possible.
Q: 1: What is the difference between verified and unverified reviews?
A verified review is one that a platform has authenticated as coming from a real customer with a confirmed purchase or transaction. In contrast, an unverified review has no traceable link to an actual transaction, so it might be from a real customer or a fake one.
Q: 2: Do reviews affect sales?
Yes, they do. Research shows that conversions increase by 168.2% when potential customers interact with reviews where customers uploaded product images.
Q: 3: Are sponsored reviews or verified reviews more reliable?
Verified reviews are more reliable because they are anchored to a real transaction. On the other hand, sponsored reviews come with a built-in conflict of interest that makes them harder to trust, i.e., the reviewer has received compensation or a free product in exchange for their feedback. That incentive can skew their perspective (consciously or unconsciously).
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