Peer Reviews Significant To Shoppers in Consumer Brand Trust

So I wrote a brief piece about why customer reviews "can" be very important tools to decrease shopping cart abandonement earlier this week.  Well today I came across a piece from experts at "The Center for Media Research" that reinforces what I was saying. Get the hint? I hope this helps. -- Ed

"A recent survey on current attitudes towards customer ratings and reviews by Bazaarvoice and Vizu Corporation, shows that about three out of four shoppers say that it is extremely or very important to read customer reviews before making a purchase, and they prefer peer reviews over expert reviews by a 6-to-1 margin.

The summary notes that Shop.org and MarketingSherpa report usage of ratings and reviews nearly doubling in the US over the last year, while the Bazaarvoice and Vizu survey revealed that 44 percent of US shoppers consider ratings and reviews to be the most useful eCommerce site feature. Product comparison (15 percent), product navigation (12 percent), and privacy information (11 percent) followed in the distance.

Bazaarvoice founder and CEO, Brett Hurt, says "Customer ratings and reviews have moved beyond a site feature to become an important part of brand identity... In the... future, shoppers will not only have more trust in brands that offer reviews, but will actively demand this level of participation in the social commerce experience... "

Ratings and reviews by UK consumers were important for over 50 percent of online shoppers in the UK. In contrast to US shoppers, privacy and security information took center stage when making a purchase by over one-third of UK shoppers rating this as the most important site feature. The report finds that there are a relatively low number of UK sites offering a ratings and reviews facility compared to those in the US.

Sam Decker, Chief Marketing Officer at Bazaarvoice "Research shows that UK consumers actively seek out reviews, and the dependence on customer-created content will increase as UK retailers adopt this strategy."

Polling for the report was conducted via the Vizu Answers online market research network from May 16, 2007 to June 6, 2007. Multiple votes were restricted, no artificial incentives were employed and a geographic audit was performed to ensure unbiased and valid results."