A few days ago, I was looking to order a birthday present for a friend who loves fashion jewelry. Lost in the ocean of countless designs, it was difficult to make a decision.
Then I started looking at product reviews in hopes they would help me narrow down my choices. This one about a colorful stack of bracelets really caught my eye:
Bingo! That’s exactly what I needed to hear to make my decision.
You typically won’t find these sort of details in product descriptions, which focus instead on materials, colors and other technical details.
But the realism captured in the voice of customers is exactly what most shoppers want to know before they decide to buy. It can be a turning point for improving conversion rates.
Why are customers’ voices important for eCommerce conversion rate?
The voice of the customer works in conversion rate optimization because of its originality and authenticity to earn consumer trust.
It helped Pura Vida get 8,000 more purchases by allowing existing customers to voice their opinions about the brand’s artisanal jewelry.
At the same time, it helped prospective customers learn more about the quality of the products and set expectations for the brand.
Yotpo eCommerce data revealed that 41.5% of shoppers won’t purchase from a site that doesn’t offer insights into a customer mindset, such as product reviews, while 27.5% state lack of trust in the brand as an obstacle to converting.
Assurance from existing customers can really make or break a sale, especially for products or eCommerce brands that haven’t yet established a steady following.
The voice of the customer is important for conversion rate because it helps shoppers visualize the product through relatable experiences of others, which conversely drives the desire to purchase.
How to Improve Conversion Rate Using Customer Voice
There are no precise rules as to what constitutes a good conversion rate in eCommerce. The average rate typically falls in the 1-5% range, depending on the seasonality, geography, product category, and browsing devices.
For instance, brands and stores selling hip consumer products such as fashion clothing and accessories might enjoy higher eCommerce conversion rate than those offering items less frequently bought on impulse, like DIY tools.
If your conversion rate has been stagnating for some time now, your customers can help you turn it around. Here’s how the voice of customers can work on your product pages.
1. Add reviews to your product pages that tell a story
Product reviews are one of the most effective ways to get visitors to convert.
The reasons are simple: 61% of consumers read online reviews before purchasing.
They want to know whether others who have bought the same product were happy with their purchases or whether they had any unpleasant surprises.
This sort of candid insight helps shoppers feel better prepared to buy. In fact, adding customer reviews can improve conversion rate 10-35%.
Reviews work best when they they tell a story. Opinions are more trustworthy when they are backed up by a narrative about real-life situations when a product truly excelled.
While the first review is useful in assuring shoppers that a tent offers plenty of room and great design, it’s the second review that really paints the picture with a real-life camping story when the tent provided all the comfort it promised to deliver.
It really shows how the voice of a customer can change the perception about a product.
The power of storytelling on the likelihood to buy is backed by research. In fact, the most influential user-generated product reviews feature customer personal stories (80%) and product pro’s and con’s (71%).
Top tip: Encourage customers to write reviews. Make it easy and painless for them to share their experiences right there on your product pages. Motivate them to share their stories to help other visitors on your site relate better to your products and ultimately decide to buy.
2. Make people covet your products with customer photos
We all know that a picture is worth a thousand words. It’s a great shortcut to help visitors on your site understand the product with just a glance. After all, we are all visual creatures.
Remember when you were first taught how to read? Your books were full of images and illustrations to help visualize the words on the paper. Images on your product pages work much the same way – they help shoppers picture the experience and decide whether or not to buy.
We’re living in times of visual commerce, when imagery rules in terms of its the power to convert consumers. But not just any old product photo will do to improve conversion rates.
As consumers immerse themselves in social media, they expect the same variety and creativity in product photography in eCommerce. 77% of consumers prefer to see customer photos rather than professional ones when making a purchase.
Whether it’s because of Instagram’s popularity or not, customer experiences captured in photos help increase eCommerce sales. 72% of customers say seeing Instagram photos of a product increases their chances of buying.
MVMT Watches is leading the way on this trend by using an Instagram photo feed to illustrate the versatility of their watches and how they fit with almost any fashion style.
Bringing customer voice to your product pages in the form of beautiful user-generated photos can lead to an increase in conversion rates of 25%, as compared with pages that feature professional product photos alone.
Top tip: Collect examples of user-generated content featuring your products from Instagram and display them on your product pages. Create hashtags specific for your store and brand, and encourage your customers to use them to share their photos with your community.
50% of consumers wouldn’t mind if brands actually hinted at what they should include when they create content. Make it easy and fun for customers to share their creative voice and their personal take on your products.
3. Curate video reviews that inspire confidence
Videos are very efficient at convincing shoppers to convert. 64% of visitors are more likely to buy a product after watching a video online.
We can’t really interact with a product while shopping online. We read reviews and browse through photos, but still miss a big part of the experience such as holding the product, feeling its texture and weight, or seeing it in action.
That’s why videos come in handy as a customer engagement strategy, as they help shoppers fill in these gaps. Product videos increase customer engagement and encourage visitors to stay 340% longer and view 127% pages more.
Some video content, however, works better than others. For instance, user-generated videos where average consumers talk about brands and products enjoy far greater popularity on YouTube than professional content.
Consumers love to engage with the voice of customers through videos, because these videos are informative, down-to-earth, and relatable.
For example, by using user-generated videos from YouTube on its product pages, Tassimo.co.uk achieved 74% increase in conversions.
Curating video reviews on your product pages inspires customer confidence, which in turn makes shoppers more open to placing an order.
Top tip: Like everything in eCommerce, using videos to get more conversions requires testing. Run A/B tests to determine which videos drive the most conversions on your site.
Experiment with different combinations of user-generated videos and brand-made videos to arrive to winning results that improve the conversion rate.
Wrapping it up
The voices of your customers are some of the most powerful elements you can use on your eCommerce site to persuade shoppers to convert.
Use different types of user-generated content on your product pages to breathe life into your site, and to allow shoppers to connect with your brand and products.
Let your customers do the selling for you – give them an opportunity to share their authentic reviews, photos, and videos on your eCommerce site.
Work continuously on your store’s conversion rate optimization and test all your ideas to learn which type of user-generated content works best for your business in particular.
