2023 UK Reviews Consumer Survey

Our survey went out to 550 eCommerce shoppers across the UK, ages 16 and up. After reviewing the results of our survey, it was evident that user-generated content and visual user-generated content — including reviews, star ratings, photos, and videos — all play a huge role within the buyer’s journey. In fact, 64% of shoppers stated that UGC always influences their purchase decisions.

User-generated content is equally important when it comes to product and brand discovery for new and returning customers. Per our survey results, when customers are interacting with their favourite brands, about 10% will read one or two reviews and nearly 58% of shoppers will read between three and five reviews before making a purchase. This is likely due to brand loyalty — loyal customers visiting your site for repeat purchases already trust your brand and know the quality of your products. Therefore, they only need to read a few reviews before making a purchase.

However, when it comes to brands that shoppers aren’t as familiar with, almost 84% of consumers will typically read five or more reviews before making a purchase. This is why reviews are so important to building trust with new shoppers. With your most relevant reviews displayed directly on your site, you can turn casual shoppers into loyal customers.

Reviews can be very influential for shoppers along the path to purchase. When shoppers are searching for a particular product, reviews can help them decide whether that product will meet their needs. From there, they’ll either make a purchase or keep shopping around, and there are a few key factors within this decision-making process.

Photo and videos reviews inspire more trust

When photos and videos are included alongside written reviews, they can influence a purchase decision. Customer content, such as photos and videos, show new site visitors that you’re a reputable brand they can trust. In fact, about 66% of shoppers stated that they trust product reviews more when photos or videos are included.

And when shoppers see positive reviews from people who look like them — with similar body, skin, or hair types — it can also sway them to purchase the item. Our results showed that 45% of shoppers say that it will always impact their purchase decision.

Positive and negative reviews help to showcase authenticity

Our survey also indicated that about 32% of shoppers always search for negative reviews before making a purchase and 50% of shoppers will actively search for negative reviews from time to time.

This may be because bad reviews can make your good reviews look more authentic, which will lead your customers to trust your brand more. Actively searching for negative reviews also allows customers to weed out any negative details that may not be relevant to them. For example, let’s say that someone left a negative review about the colour of a pair of shoes. If the shopper reading the review is more concerned about comfort than colour, reading those negative reviews will help them make the purchase decision that best fits their needs.

But when it comes to seeing both positive and negative reviews on a brand’s site, 23% of shoppers are very likely to still trust a brand while approximately 68% are somewhat likely to still trust the brand. Because of this, responding to your negative reviews is vital to reinforcing trust with your shoppers.

However, simply responding to your reviews is not enough as consumers are still a bit wary. While almost 48% of the respondents stated that responding to negative reviews would positively impact a purchase decision, 44% stated that it might positively influence a purchase decision. Because of this, in addition to responding to your negative reviews, it’s also important to analyse the negative feedback and act on it in order to improve the customer experience.

When health brand Ruohonjuuri receives negative feedback, instead of seeing it as a misstep, they see it as additional insights that could help them improve the quality of their products. And while making changes to their products, they’re also improving the overall shopping experience for their customers.

Outdoor apparel brand ACAI Outdoorwear has also made strides to turn customer feedback into actionable insights. For example, when their loyal customers submitted feedback about the length of their Trek Shorts, the ACAI team took action and created longer shorts. Details about the length of a pair of shorts, colour preferences, and the fit of items are all valuable to ACAI as it allows them to make the kind of improvements that strengthen their customers’ trust in their brand.

Our survey also showed that as customers are engaging with your reviews, there are a few areas within your reviews widget that they’re focusing on most.

• Review recency: Over 58% of shoppers surveyed stated that review recency affected whether or not they’d purchase an item. Approximately 9% of shoppers look for reviews to be no older than a year, 45% of shoppers expect reviews to be no older than a month, almost 28% expect no older than a week, and about 18% expect to see reviews from a few days prior.
• Review volume: When it comes to how many reviews you have posted for a specific product, nearly 90% of consumers like to see when an item has anywhere between 50 and 500 reviews. If products have no reviews, 40% of consumers stated that it would deter them from purchasing the item.
• Star ratings: Star ratings remain important to consumers when making a purchase decision as they provide a quick snapshot of how the product has been perceived by past shoppers. Nearly 54% of shoppers stated that star ratings were very important to their decision-making process, and 44% stated that it was somewhat important.

Because of this, eCommerce brands should ensure that their reviews provider makes it easy for them to collect as many high-quality reviews as possible.

With Yotpo Reviews, eCommerce brands can access features that allow them to meet the needs of their customers.

Automatic and Manual Review Requests

Our survey showed that 72% of shoppers prefer to receive review requests via email. We also found that consumers appreciate personalised requests — 37% of respondents stated that personalised email review requests increase their likelihood of leaving a review.

Yotpo Reviews make it easy to send customisable Automatic Review Requests that match the look and feel of your brand. Or, Manual Review Requests, to gather feedback from past shoppers or to request reviews for products that may not have as many. Brands that partner with Yotpo see a 6 to 8% review response rate versus the industry average of 1% thanks to our customisable email capabilities.

Photo and Video Review Requests

After studying our survey results, it was clear that shoppers really like to see photos and videos alongside reviews. And incentivising shoppers to add photos and videos to their reviews increases their chances of doing so. Almost 53% of consumers stated that discounts and coupons would incentivise them to leave a review, and about 59% stated that discounts or loyalty points would incentivise them to include photos or videos with their reviews.

Our Photo and Video Review Requests allow brands to collect photos and videos seamlessly from their shoppers to further impact the path to purchase. One business that found success with Photo and Video Review Requests is pottery brand Emma Bridgewater. After partnering with Yotpo, the brand collected well over 2,000 customer photos and they’ve displayed these customer photos for more than half of their products. Collecting photos with their reviews has allowed the Emma Bridgewater team to make an impact on both customer engagement and their conversion rates.

Smart Prompts

Looking to push past generic reviews like “Love this jumper” or “Great trousers”? Writing prompts could help. About 56% of consumers stated that writing prompts and topic suggestions about shipping, quality, fit, and colour make it easier for them to write a product review.

And Yotpo’s Smart Prompts feature does just that — it gathers high-converting topics from past reviews and suggests the topic as a prompt when customers are writing new reviews. This process adds a gamification element to the review process to boost engagement, and it generates a wider range of user-generated content.

Reviews Carousels

When shoppers see a display of reviews and other forms of user-generated content throughout a brand’s site, it increases the likelihood of purchasing an item for nearly 50% of consumers.

The Reviews Carousel feature allows brands to fill this need by importing a revolving display of customer reviews and/or photos to high-conversion areas such as their homepage, checkout pages, and product detail pages. Here’s how clothing brand ASKET has displayed their customer photos onsite.

If these shopper insights have shown us anything, it’s that the time to take action on impacting the path to purchase is now. Here are four key takeaways to consider when collecting, displaying, and amplifying customer content.

1. Collect as much UGC as possible

Review volume and review recency are important to eCommerce shoppers. Therefore, you should make sure that you’re collecting enough reviews for each of your products. Not only is this a best practice, but it’s a great way to keep your customers engaged and returning to your site for repeat purchases.

2. Incentivise photo and video reviews

Customers like to see photos and videos of people with similar characteristics as them, especially when shopping online. If you’re looking to collect photos and videos within your reviews, consider incentivising this additional customer content with coupons or loyalty points, which can be used towards a future purchase.

3. Display, respond, and act on negative reviews

Remember to post all of your reviews — even the negative ones. Some shoppers are actively searching for negative reviews during their path to purchase. And in addition to displaying those reviews on your site, respond and act on them to help build trust. Your shoppers want to see you take action to improve both their experience and your products.

4. Showcase your customer content

Customers like to see positive reviews and customer photos on your site and on social media. Identify ways to ensure that your best customer content is front and center to impact the buyer’s journey in a more positive way. Seeing UGC can inspire shoppers to visit your site and see what else you have to offer.

The value of UGC in eCommerce

Collecting, displaying, and amplifying user-generated content allows brands to build community and boost buyer confidence. And when you pair your UGC with a tool like Yotpo Insights, you can analyse feedback alongside your customer photos and videos to further understand the true sentiment behind your reviews.

During the decision-making process, user-generated content and visual user-generated content play a huge role in whether or not shoppers will buy from you. Because of this, understanding how you can use UGC and VUGC to your brand’s advantage and make the most of it during the buyer’s journey can help your brand grow. Schedule a demo with us today!