Few people would argue with the importance of customer reviews; not only does creating an online review of a product aid future customers, it can help the product’s developer target things that need improvement, and can ultimately benefit the reviewer by making his/her requests for enhancement known.
On the DNN Store, customers are emailed 30 days after making a purchase to request that they review the purchased product(s). However, despite having over 2000 transactions on the Store each month, the average number of product reviews posted by customers in the same time frame is much lower, only about 100.
I presented this information in a session at DNNCon, and it was suggested that the review system could be simplified and improved in order to encourage more Store customers to review their recent purchases.
The current rating systems asks customers to select a star rating (1-5) and enter text to elaborate on their review, as pictured below.
As one might expect, a range of reviews result.
- Some are very brief.
- Others give a little more information.
- While still others give a full explanation of the review and the customer’s experience with the product.
It is these detailed reviews that give future customers the information they need to buy with confidence. However, in today’s busy world, such extensive reviews are not the norm. As we begin to think about how we can improve the review system, we have a few questions for you:
- How can we simplify product reviews, so that you are more inclined to share your experience with a product with others?
- What information do you, as a potential customer, need to see about a product?
Some review systems include scales of particular aspects of a product, as pictured below (from overstock.com). Would you be more likely to select points on a scale, than to create a written review? Do you find these scales helpful, and if so, what features of a product would you like to see rated this way – quality, support, documentation?
Please share your suggestions on how we can improve the DNN Store review system in the comments below!
