How important is customer feedback?

Customer feedback is the comments, opinions, assessments and reactions left by buyers after making an online purchase. This feedback can take many forms, from simple notes on product quality to detailed comments on the purchase and usage experience.

Customer feedback is essential for online businesses for several crucial reasons:

What do customer returns represent?

Customer feedback is information provided by consumers after interacting with a product or service online. This information is generally shared publicly on e-commerce sites, social networks, forums, blogs, marketplaces, dedicated platforms, etc.

Customer reviews are a valuable source of direct, authentic feedback for companies. They offer an external perspective on the quality of their products, customer satisfaction, and the operation of their site. By analyzing customer feedback, companies can identify strengths to highlight, as well as areas for improvement to optimize the shopping experience and build customer loyalty.

Feedback and satisfaction

Customer feedback is closely linked to customer satisfaction. By expressing their opinions and sharing their experiences, customers help shape brand image and influence the purchasing decisions of other consumers. Companies that actively listen to their customers, respond to their concerns and take action to resolve reported problems demonstrate their commitment to customer satisfaction, thereby building trust and customer loyalty.

Customer returns and conversion

Customer feedback has become a powerful lever for shaping consumers' purchasing decisions:

What influence do they have?

Customer feedback acts as a guide for consumers looking for products or services online. They offer authentic insight into other users' experience with a specific product, helping potential buyers to make informed decisions. 

By reading reviews, consumers can assess the quality, reliability and relevance of a product before making a purchase. This transparency helps build trust between companies and their customers.

Social proof

One of the key mechanisms by which customer feedback influences purchasing decisions is the social proof effect. This psychological phenomenon states that individuals tend to adopt the behavior of others when faced with a situation of uncertainty. 

So when consumers see that other customers have been satisfied with a product, they are more inclined to follow their example. Customer feedback thus acts as a social stamp of approval, reassuring potential buyers about a product's quality and reliability.

Trust is a key element in the online purchasing process. Customer reviews play a crucial role in building this trust. Consumers are more likely to trust the opinions of other customers than the marketing claims of companies.

Customer feedback and UGC

User Generated Content (UGC) refers to all types of content created by users of a product or service, and published online.

Why is UGC important for product sheets?

UGC plays a crucial role in improving product sheets for several reasons:

• Credibility: UGC is perceived as authentic, credible content, better than that created by brands. Reviews and testimonials from real customers reassure new visitors, who perceive this content as honest and unbiased;
• SEO: UGC has a strong impact on organic referencing, with comments and reviews enriching the textual content of product sheets, with a variety of keywords and expressions;
• Engagement: UGC encourages engagement and interaction on your site and its product sheets. Customers who notice that their opinions and comments are taken into account feel valued, and are more likely to return to your site and build loyalty.

How to stimulate UGC?

First of all, you need to make the submission process easy. It needs to be quick and easy to understand. Forms that are too long and complicated should be avoided. You should also offer the possibility of including photos and videos directly via the mobile device of your site's users.

Secondly, you can offer incentives to encourage customers to leave a review. These can include discounts, loyalty points, etc. This can be communicated via post-purchase emails, sent automatically during the delivery process, and afterwards.

To stimulate reviews, you can also organize contests and communication campaigns on your social networks and other communication channels. Competitions will encourage customers to leave reviews in order to enter a contest.