Testimonial Talk – Online Reviews Drive Offline Sales
by Brent Haeseker on 26/03/08 at 5:51 pm
This is a repost from my January 2008 eNewsletter:
“Research from online metrics firm comScore and the Kelsey Group, which studies local media and advertising, finds that the online ratings consumers give products and services have a direct impact on people’s offline purchasing decisions, concluding that merchants who ignore their reputation in the virtual world do so at the expense of very real dollars.
The researchers found that 24 percent of Internet users consult consumer-generated reviews online before making their purchases offline. Consumers were willing to pay 20 percent or more for goods that received an “Excellent,” or 5-star, rating than those same products or services that received a “Good,” or 4-star, rating.
Our shopping cart software offers a complete product review system that allows store customers to rate products and post feedback. If you are not using this feature yet, it might be a good time to consider it.”
