Bad reviews ‘can be good for business’
A new survey has found that when it comes to social commerce, bad product reviews can be good for business.
Data released by social commerce specialist Reevoo has revealed that 68% of consumers trust reviews more when they see both good and bad scores, while 30% suspect censorship or faked reviews when they do not see any bad scores. The survey also found that shoppers who go out of their way to read bad reviews convert 67% more highly than the average consumer.
The survey revealed that three times as many consumers actively seek out and read negative user generated content as look for positive content: negative reviews were even more popular than “most recent reviews”, or “reviews from people like me”. It also found that shoppers who seek out bad reviews are highly engaged with their pre-purchase research, viewing almost four times as many products as the average visitor to a site, and staying considerably longer.
Richard Anson, founder and CEO of Reevoo, said: “Consumers who seek out negative reviews outperform the average visitor to a website: we see a 67% bump in conversion rates for these shoppers. Counter-intuitive as it may seem, negative user-generated content is actually one of the most effective conversion tools.”
