Manage & Collect
Why Customers Write Negative Reviews & 8 Ways To Prevent Them
December 1, 2018
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3 min read
The examples we’re about to give come from a range of eCommerce merchants, all selling in different product categories. From food to personal care to clothing, we’ll show you how attributes can be used to support different goals and give you food for thought no matter the nature of your brand.
But first - just in case you’re not familiar with it - here’s a quick overview of the Review Attributes feature itself.
Review attributes are additional questions that you add to review requests. Fully customizable, they can relate to the customer, the product or your company, and allow you to collect very specific information.
A really simple yet really effective way to get more value from feedback, review attributes have multiple benefits:
So now we know what they are, let’s turn to the REVIEWS.io customers putting them to excellent use.
Product Category: Lingerie
Attributes Collected: Customer and Product
For lingerie brand Nudea, customer and product attributes combine to help shoppers find the perfect fit.
This is highly beneficial when buying a bra online, because sizing can vary across different brands and styles. It’s also important because the one thing that guarantees the perfect fit - the ability to try it on - is not available at the point of purchase.
To overcome this, Nudea asks four additional questions when collecting product reviews:
These attributes give context to a review. Future customers can compare their own size to that of the reviewer, along with the size they intend to purchase to better determine how suitable it is. As a result, Nudea sees more happy customers and fewer returns.
This approach can be adapted for any kind of clothing item. For example, instead of bra size we could be talking shoe size and foot width, or inseam and waist measurements. It’s all about giving the customer the information they need to find the right fit for their body.
Product Category: Jewellery
Attributes Collected: Company and Product
Concrete Jungle is a little different from your traditional jewellery brand in that its namesake - concrete - is incorporated into its range of sustainable bracelets, necklaces and earrings. For a lot of people this raises a key question. How heavy is this jewellery?
It’s something the brand addresses very effectively with product attributes, using a sliding scale for customers to rate how easy a piece is to wear in relation to its weight. This is complimented by a sliding scale for quality to really instill confidence in the purchase.
The brand also uses company attributes to gather information on shipping speed. This is valuable for the customer, but also for any business using a third party for shipping. If your delivery partner isn’t up to scratch you need to know about it before it damages your brand reputation.
One thing we particularly like about Concrete Jungle’s use of review attributes is that average ratings are placed right next to the buy now button. It’s a clever use of trust signals at a pivotal point in the buyer journey.
Product Category: Men’s Grooming
Attributes Collected: Product
German based Störtebekker is a men’s grooming brand that aims to deliver the barbershop experience in the home. To convince potential customers that they are in fact getting barbershop quality, the brand collects different product attributes across its shaving and beard care range.
For example, for its shaving soap it asks customers to rate fragrance, foam quality and how gentle a product is on the skin. For its razors, gentle on the skin is again asked as an additional question, as is how easy the razor is to handle.
What Störtebekker has done here is focus on the very things its customers look for in each product, and tailored the attributes collected to suit. This goes a long way towards proving their quality, boosting sales as a result.
It also gives first hand insight on where improvements can be made - data the brand can use to guide product development.
Product Category: Cycling Apparel
Attributes Collected: Product
Catering to both the amateur and elite cyclist, MAAP’s products are very much performance driven, as is the brand’s review strategy. It aims to get maximum value from customer feedback by collecting highly relevant product attributes and displaying them with impact.
The additional questions asked relate to three key indicators of quality - comfort, performance and fit according to size. These are displayed with each individual review, but also incorporated into a custom widget that packs a really persuasive punch.
Whatever product page they’re on the customer gets a host of trust signals in one visualization. They see average star rating and review count, aggregate metrics for all three attributes, and the percentage of reviewers that recommend the product.
When a customer buys from MAAP they’re essentially making a high ticket purchase. They’re investing in a product they hope will improve their cycling experience, so convincing them of the fact is key to conversion.
The same can be said of any high value product. If you want the customer to part with their money, you have to show them it’s worth it.
Product Category: Food
Attributes Collected: Company and Product
The food industry is a great use case for review attributes, particularly when selling products that are relatively new to market like those offered by Jimmy Joy.
For an easy label, the brand sells meal replacements - bars, snack pots and shakes. Though to be more precise they’re not so much replacements as they are nutritionally balanced meals in themselves.
With that in mind, there are two things that really matter to Jimmy Joy about the product experience - how it tastes and how well it keeps hunger at bay - the same two concerns any prospective customer would have.
By addressing both these things through additional questions the brand eliminates those concerns for the consumer. It also gives itself the opportunity to hear directly from its target audience and improve its products based on their opinion. And in an emerging market that puts them firmly ahead of the competition.
Again, this is an approach that can be adapted for pretty much any food product. We’ve seen it work particularly well for things with a historically bad reputation for taste, like vegan chocolate for example.
Product Category: Yoga Equipment
Attributes Collected: Product
Our last use case example of review attributes comes from Lotuscraft, an Austrian brand specializing in yoga and meditation equipment. For these guys, product attributes are the perfect way to address typical customer pain points, which they do very well.
Much like Störtebekker, the additional questions asked are specific to each individual product. Take the yoga mat for example. Through customer research Lotuscraft identified three primary purchase concerns here - slip resistance, quality and durability, and cushioning.
This gave them the perfect set of questions to add to their yoga mat review requests, asking existing customers to rate each product attribute for the benefit of others. While Lotuscraft markets its yoga mats as non-slip, having verified customers rate them as such is far more powerful. In fact, Lotuscraft achieved a 7% increase in conversion rates by introducing product attributes.
There are some attributes that work for every brand, typically those relating to the company like delivery and packaging. They may seem like minor considerations but if these are on point it can really set you apart from the competition (or if they’re not, show you that you need to up your game).
To really leverage review attributes though you need to make your additional questions specific to your products and customers - use them to address common pain points, to help shoppers find items that suit their needs and to inform product development.
And with zero-party data rolling in from customer attributes, you can use our Klaviyo integration for advanced segmentation.
Hopefully the examples we’ve given here have inspired you to collect next level feedback with review attributes - and offered some inspiration on how they would best work for your brand. If you want any more guidance on strategy and implementation, contact our customer success team for a friendly chat.
