DCEmu Homebrew, Hacking, Emulation, Gaming and Theme Park News. - How reviews influence the purchase of a service or a product

Do reviews really affect people's choices for purchasing products or services? Let's start with a concept: reviews are similar to the classic word of mouth between acquaintances and friends.

We know that word of mouth is one of the most potent tools, although we cannot limit ourselves to this tool for our business.

Moreover, even if you don't personally know the user who left a review, their opinion about that product or service - primarily if it's well written and articulated - will still influence us somehow. That user took the time and put their name to it to write that review, and that's enough most of the time to have credibility.

What types of reviews exist?

There are two types of reviews a user can read within a website; both types contribute to customer loyalty, trust elements, and feedback on your business, but each is used by the user differently.

Product Reviews

Reviews regarding the individual product found on an ecommerce site, for example, are read by users within the individual product sheets and cover the product's features, quality, and whether they conform to the descriptions provided by the brand. Basically, if the expectations are met, the review will be positive. Conversely, the feedback will be negative.

A great example of this is Amazon. Even though it is the world's most popular e-commerce platform, who would ever buy a product with negative reviews or no reviews at all?

Service Reviews

Regarding service reviews, they refer to the experience felt by the user when buying any service, such as online games sites or online sports betting sites. They mainly concern the usability, the ease of finding information, the types of payment, the ease in concluding the transaction, and the security of the website. 

For example, SBO, one of the most popular online sports betting sites globally, owes its success also to the detailed reviews it has. Online sports betting reviews can help the users identify each site's pros and cons to help them find a site that ticks all their boxes.  That is why users visit SBO: their betting site reviews are highly detailed and cover all the essential factors that bettors need to know before signing up.

Of course, as we mentioned earlier, one of the most important factors considered is the site's legitimacy and security. 

There is no point in having an account with a sports betting site if it is known to withhold funds or engage in unscrupulous practices. It doesn't matter how successful you are as a bettor if you can't get your money's worth.

75% of users trust reviews

According to research by BrightLocal, 87% of consumers in 2020 searched online for business reviews before making a purchase. More importantly, 75% of customers trusted what they read in online reviews.

So here's where positive and negative reviews can make the difference for any online game or e-commerce website. And much more weight will be given to those reviews that don't just say whether the product is good or terrible, but those that also explain why.

Instead, according to Spiegel's 2019 research, 95% of customers read online reviews before purchasing or starting using a service.

But this latest research also shows that reviews influence significantly, but it also depends on the type of product, price, risk, or context. It also affects the presence of negative reviews, the average score, and the total number of reviews.

Reviews grow conversions

Also, according to Spiegel's research, reviews can grow conversions by as much as 270%. But conversions increase the most on higher-priced items and higher-rated products sales. In addition, as mentioned above, the first five reviews viewed by the user in particular play an important role.

Moreover, the probability of purchasing a product with five reviews is much higher than the probability of purchasing without reviews. I

It also shows that reviews had a more significant impact on purchasing higher-priced products than lower-priced ones. And this is also true when analyzing high-priced options versus low-priced options within the same product category (a regular product versus an organic product, for example). If in the first case conversions are 270% higher, and for luxury products, even 380% higher, in the second case - and therefore for cheaper items - a 190% higher conversion is achieved.

In fact, when the price is higher, there is more thinking on the user's part before the purchase, which is where reviews come into play. Having more information, which comes from real customers, helps reduce risk.

Negative reviews increase credibility

In previous research by Spiegel, it was seen that more than 80% of users go for very negative reviews. In fact, an average review score that is too high, bordering on five stars, is often too perfect to be true. It triggers skepticism.

Therefore, it is normal, and even positive, to have some negative reviews. The important thing is to respond to these criticisms constructively and helpfully.

Conclusion

So what can we deduce from this data and information? First, reviews influence users a lot, so the same company or brand should be able to use them in the most strategic way possible.

Do you have your own business? So don't rule out the negative ones regardless; if your response was clear and thorough and kind and accommodating, it might work better than an overly positive review!

It would also be wise not to release reviews anonymously; you would lose some credibility.

But how to increase reviews? You could only follow up through emails.

In fact, it has been shown that 80% of reviews originate from these very emails that prompt the user to give their opinion on the product they just purchased.