Why are product reviews important for eCommerce sites

Feedback. It’s got the power to make us both celebrate and wince. In modern eCommerce, whether actively collected or organically received, eCommerce product reviews influence buying decisions, improve brand trust, and enhance customer retention. So putting reviews to your advantage, to sell more products, is a good idea.

Product reviews are also a powerful form of social proof — evidence that real customers have purchased and rated an item. When this information is surfaced at the right moment through real-time social proof messaging, it helps shoppers make confident decisions, increases conversion rates and supports a smoother buying journey.

Read on to explore how product reviews can shape purchasing decisions, influence brand perception, and serve as a valuable tool for retailers and brands across the eCommerce landscape.

The importance of product reviews in eCommerce success

Consumers love product reviews because they provide credibility. They’re the evidence that a shopper needs to understand whether the product or service they’re interested in is right for them. As consumers, we are increasingly time poor, and although eCommerce websites continue to improve the customer experience, consumers prefer information that allows them to differentiate a certain branded bag, a dress or a steam iron from everything else on their long list. Reviews help them to do this quickly, making it easier to access third-party opinions.

Beyond building buyer confidence, customer reviews are important for several key reasons:

1. Influence purchase decisions through social proof: When shoppers see many positive reviews, they experience social proof — the psychological phenomenon where people look to others’ behaviour to guide their own decisions. This effect reduces perceived risk and encourages purchases, especially for higher-priced or unfamiliar products.
2. Provide valuable product insights beyond the description: Product descriptions often focus on features and specifications, but reviews reveal real-life performance, durability, fit, and other practical considerations. For example, customers might highlight if a dress runs small or if a steam iron heats up faster than expected. These nuances can significantly influence purchasing decisions.
3. Improves SEO visibility: Search engines favour product pages with frequent, authentic customer reviews because they offer fresh, keyword-rich content. Reviews naturally include language customers use when searching — such as product features, issues, sizing notes or comparisons — helping pages rank for a wider range of queries. This increased visibility attracts more qualified shoppers, who are more likely to convert.
4. Reduce return rates and customer service load: Accurate customer feedback enables more informed purchase decisions, which in turn reduces the chance of mismatched expectations. When buyers know what to expect, they’re less likely to return products or contact support, saving you time and operational costs.
5. Build brand credibility and customer loyalty: Allowing and showcasing honest reviews demonstrates transparency and authenticity. This builds long-term trust and brand credibility. Customers are more likely to buy again from brands that value their voice and show that they care about real experiences.
6. Enable better product and service improvements: Reviews act as a continuous feedback loop, offering insights into product strengths and areas for improvement. Whether it’s packaging, sizing, or delivery time, review data can inform product development and operational tweaks that ultimately enhance customer satisfaction.
7. Helps reduce return rates: Reviews set clearer expectations by highlighting real experiences with fit, colour accuracy, durability and usage. When customers understand what a product is really like before buying, they are less likely to return it. Pairing review insights with social proof messaging can further guide customers toward products with higher satisfaction and lower return rates.

Why are positive product reviews so valuable for eCommerce marketing? And what makes a good review?

Reviews also provide credibility and authenticity. Retailers that take an active part in the feedback process are seen to be honest and transparent. This can be done by welcoming 360-degree feedback alongside other forms of insights from influencers and experts. To most shoppers, a 5-star review placed by the retailer is fairly obvious to spot, and most consumers will weed these out. They’re not worth it in terms of the brand damage and loss of trust, so avoid the temptation.

Volume is also important. The more reviews the better! Consumers are unlikely to buy after reading a single review, they’ll read several and pay attention to the aggregated score across a number of reviews, meaning that you’ll want to build up a bank of advocates over time. A 4.6/5 score from 235 reviews over six months is much stronger than a 4.6/5 score from five reviews over two weeks. According to 2025 research by Capital One Shopping, more than 99% of shoppers read online reviews and reviews influence 93%  of consumers’ purchasing decisions. 

Third-party positive opinion is generally rated more highly than your own marketing messages, and, when customer reviews are positive, they help to sell products better than any of your own website copy or smart imagery ever could. Third-party data is arguably one of your most important pieces of product marketing because people tend to trust these sources the most.

Reviews also lend themselves to simple visual representation via coloured star charts to attract consumer attention and encourage product consideration. Or your branding might lend itself to ranking products according to their review ratings.

How to encourage customers to leave reviews

Encouraging customers to leave reviews is essential for building a robust collection of eCommerce product reviews that boost your brand’s credibility and help future shoppers make informed decisions.

Here are some proven strategies to motivate your customers to share their honest feedback:

1. Ask promptly after purchase: Timing is everything. Send a friendly, personalised email asking for a review shortly after the customer has received their product. This ensures the experience is fresh in their mind and increases the likelihood of a detailed, genuine review.
2. Make reviewing easy and accessible: Simplify the review process by minimising the steps required. Provide direct links to the review page in your emails and ensure your review submission forms are mobile-friendly. The easier it is, the more customers will follow through.
3. Incentivise reviews (carefully): Offering small incentives like discount codes, loyalty points, or entry into a prize draw can motivate customers to leave reviews. However, be sure to emphasise that honest feedback is valued to maintain authenticity and trust.
4. Highlight the importance of their feedback: Remind customers that their reviews help others make confident purchasing decisions and improve the quality of products and services. This sense of contribution can encourage more thoughtful and engaged reviews.
5. Use multiple channels: Don’t rely solely on email. Encourage reviews through your website, social media platforms, and even post-purchase SMS messages, creating multiple touchpoints for customers to share their experience.
6. Responding builds trust: Engaging with both positive and negative reviews shows transparency, accountability and a genuine commitment to customer satisfaction. Acknowledging issues and explaining improvements reassures future buyers and demonstrates that feedback leads to action.

By actively encouraging customers to leave reviews, you’ll steadily grow a valuable repository of eCommerce customer reviews that enhance your product pages, build trust and ultimately increase sales.

Leveraging product reviews for key insights

1. To measure the quality of a product. Real customer feedback provides valuable insights for both consumers and retailers. Positive reviews build trust, attracting potential buyers, while constructive criticism helps companies identify and rectify product flaws. This two-way communication fosters a continuous improvement cycle, ensuring that products meet or exceed customer expectations, ultimately elevating overall product quality and customer satisfaction.
2. To reduce returns. Reviews don’t have to be solely about quality, there are many more aspects they can shed light on. For example, you can invite buyers to rate a product for fit (e.g., “100% of people rated this 5 stars for fit true to size”), supporting prospective buyers who are wavering between size choices. Reviews, coupled with social proof messaging, can further increase consumer purchasing confidence and reduce potential returns. Read more on how to reduce returns using social proof messaging.
3. To improve customer experience. Genuine reviews offer a first-hand account of product performance, aiding customers in informed decision-making. Positive feedback builds trust, while addressing concerns in reviews demonstrates commitment to customer satisfaction. Good and bad feedback helps overall performance if we listen to it, and are prepared to accept the good with the bad reviews. Tackling the bad can turn around a poor customer service experience, whereas fighting the criticism is dangerous. Accept feedback, to the point of saying sorry if things are below the standards you have set and use the feedback to make changes to a product or process, telling customers what you’ve done to show that you’ve listened.‍
4. To identify issues with, and streamline, shipping. For retailers and brands with multiple product releases each year, insight from real customers on the shipping process can be important operational feedback, to cascade throughout your business and maintain your edge. This can also be beneficial to identify and resolve any repeat issues being experienced by customers..

Take advantage of customer product reviews to boost your eCommerce growth

Taggstar works with eCommerce review providers to aggregate positive, summarised shopper review data in our social proof messages. Taggstar integrates with leading providers of product reviews and user-generated (UGC) solutions, combining two powerful conversion rate optimisation technologies. The integration of reviews and ratings with social proof messaging brings valuable information to the forefront and helps shoppers make more informed and better buying decisions.

Interested in learning more ? Contact Taggstar to speak with a social proof expert. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Product Reviews in eCommerce

Why are product reviews important for eCommerce sites?

Product reviews build trust, reduce uncertainty and provide social proof, helping shoppers make confident buying decisions. They also improve conversions and offer brands valuable product insights.

How do product reviews help increase eCommerce sales?

Reviews reassure customers that others have purchased and rated a product positively. This boosts customer confidence, reduces purchase hesitation and leads to higher conversion rates across product pages.

Can product reviews help reduce return rates?

Yes. Reviews set clear expectations by sharing real customer experiences about fit, quality and performance. When shoppers understand what to expect, they are less likely to return an item.

What types of product reviews are most effective?

A mix of star ratings, written feedback and user-generated content such as photos or videos gives shoppers a complete, authentic view of the product, helping them evaluate it more accurately.

How should retailers encourage customers to leave reviews?

Retailers can request reviews shortly after delivery, simplify the submission process, and explain how customer feedback helps future buyers. Incentives can also be used carefully to increase participation.

How do product reviews support social proof messaging?

Reviews provide trustworthy data that can be used in real-time social proof messages — such as highlighting top-rated items or popular choices — helping shoppers make confident decisions at critical moments.

Do negative reviews hurt eCommerce performance?

Not necessarily. Balanced feedback increases authenticity and helps shoppers understand trade-offs. How a retailer responds to criticism can also build trust and demonstrate strong customer care.