Live or Die by Customer Testimonials

Customer reviews on shopping engines make or break merchants . ForeSee Results discovered that 25% of shopping engine users want to compare the reputation of online stores, according to a January 2003 survey conducted for Shopping.com. Because many merchants are resellers of big brands, consumers are frequently hesitant about working with a third-party source. What better way to convey integrity and develop trust than by way of happy customer testimonials (Figures 11.3 and 11.4)?

Figure 11.3. Customers can rate merchants on comparison shopping engines. On PriceGrabber.com, click the "reviews" link under products to read customer comments.

Figure 11.4. In the reviews, customers share their experiences with the merchant and the merchandise.

Merchants who receive excellent customer ratings often link to the reviews from their own web sites. A customer testimonial on the merchant's own web site could be construed as contrived, whereas a customer feedback posted on a third-party shopping site is given a higher degree of credibility. Including these reviews on your site with a link to the shopping site is a double winner: You get great site content, plus these testimonials appear as unbiased endorsements.

How can merchants avoid poor customer reviews? Proving excellent customer service is the chief influencing factor. As indicated in the following list from Shopping.com merchant recommendations, customer service starts with the order and ends with the follow-up communication after the product is received.

• Don't hide additional fees or do a "bait and switch," such as lowering the sticker price only to artificially inflate shipping costs to compensate.

• Deliver quality goods and excellent service.

• Update your product listings frequently, while removing out-of-stock items immediately.

• Play an active role in responding to unhappy customers immediately.

• Leverage merchant rebuttal systems on shopping engines to resolve customer concerns and show that you offer "make goods" (which also discredits any fraudulent reviewers).

• Inspire good reviews by offering merchant surveys, providing links in shipping confirmation emails that point to the shopping site, and sending "thank you" emails that invite customers to provide feedback about your store and the products they purchased.

Consumers are not using comparison shopping engines as often as general search engines and directories to locate products, as reported by a Jupiter/Ipsos-Insight Retail Survey (Figure 11.5). Yet, I'm not worried. Jupiter Research notes that although shopping engines currently attract a smaller audience, consumers are highly qualified and intend to make a purchase. Plus, as a greater number of companies become shopping site merchants, consumers gain a wider selection of products and will tell their friends . Shopping engines will draw more visitors with their own promotional efforts, too; Shopping.com launched its first TV campaign in November 2003. Expect to hear more about shopping engines across a myriad of marketing channels.

Figure 11.5. Consumers are not yet using comparison shopping engines to find products as frequently as they use general search engines, but Jupiter Research points out that shopping engine users are highly targeted consumers who intend to buy a product.

As pointed out earlier in this chapter, comparison shopping engines prove to be valuable tools in helping consumers make a purchasing decision. I predict that growth in usage, and subsequent sales, is on the horizon.