WooCommerce Reviews

Welcome to part eight of my 30-part series on improving your WooCommerce site. As I’ve said before, getting WooCommerce installed and configured, loaded with products, and launched is only the beginning of your journey. Then the real fun starts, if you want to build a site that is a business.

After all, that’s what you’re building. Not an eCommerce site but an online business.

In case you’ve missed the earlier posts, here are the first seven.

Each tip is a short tip, focused on helping you think about a single dynamic that maybe you hadn’t considered beforehand. My goal is to convince you that it’s worth thinking about and what you can do to help your site get better.

Today we’re talking about WooCommerce Reviews.

When was the last time you visited Amazon?

If you’re like me, you may visit Amazon at least once a week. But even if you only visit every month or so, you’ve probably used the site so often that you’ve neglected to notice a key dynamic to its success.

I don’t mean to say you’ve not noticed user reviews. I mean to say that I think you’ve neglected how powerful they are on how you make a purchasing decision.

If you scan a normal product page, you’ll notice that something like 2/3 of the page is filled with product reviews. Amazon knows how important they are, even if we don’t always realize it.

As you look at a new product on Amazon that you’re thinking of buying, consider these questions:

Am I willing to purchase it without reading any reviews?
If I read a positive review, do I stop? Or do I keep reading?
If I read a negative review, do I consider it?
How many reviews do I read before making a decision?

If you’re like me, you actually spend a decent amount of time on reviews, even if I don’t think about them overtly when I get to the site. It’s just a natural part of what I do when looking at products.

Have you turned on WooCommerce Reviews?

The last couple of times I jumped onto a store site to help someone with their site, they had not turned on WooCommerce’s review feature. When I asked about it, both times I received the same reply, “I just figured it would be a lot of work to manage.”

WooCommerce Reviews are a lot like blog post comments. They are work. They require oversight and moderation. They work best when both pros and cons are made available to people.

But unlike blog post comments, product reviews can help you close sales.

This one time in Minneapolis…

I found the Chrome store in Minneapolis by chance. But it was a store I’d been looking for for a long time. I’d seen their messenger bags in airports for at least a year or two and really wanted one, but I didn’t know where their stores were and I didn’t even know the name of the store. I just knew the logo and bag.

So when I found the store, by chance, and saw their merchandise in the display window, I knew I had to head back there when I had a free moment.

That moment happened the next day with my friend Colin. We stepped into the store and I started telling him about the incredible bags and shoes they had. I talked to him about the materials, how they were made, what they were good for and more.

Do you know what the sales person said? Nothing.

Because my product reviews were way better than his pitch. He worked there. He had to say nice things. But it was his job.

My nice statements spoke louder and stronger to my friend.

That’s the power of reviews.

When managed well, they are more powerful than the normal marketing copy on the page because we trust these comments as unbiased suggestions.

My suggestion to you? Turn on WooCommerce Reviews.

PS. If you want to support user-uploaded photos and videos, check out this extension WooCommerce Product Reviews Pro.