We just implemented product reviews onto our site. There's a serious lack of reviews obviously and we believe it's really hurting our sales since we haven't made any other big changes. Our sales were down 10% this month.
What would be the best way to approach this? Should we collect a bunch of reviews and wait to even show the ratings system or should we ditch the idea all together? The content they create is very helpful and good for SEO but we'd really like to sell more.
Do you think people view a lack of reviews negatively or apathetically?
Answer
Lack of reviews certainly looks like lack of activity, I would personally recommend taking advantage of the "0 reviews" situation. Instead of just displaying that you could have a little label that says something like "No reviews yet; be the first to Review!" Or maybe just "Own this product? Write a review!" if you want to not draw attention to the fact that there are no reviews.
Users like leaving feedback and being the "first," I've seen lots of sites attempt to capitalize on empty comments sections by encouraging the behavior (however I haven't done it myself so I don't know how effective it is). Also make sure your review process is as easy as possible for the user, maybe even remove sign-in requirements if users might have a product but not be signed in. Heaven forbid the the dreaded $300 million button is preventing user feedback.
Quality of reviews can be a problem, but you can always remove spam afterwards, it's certainly better to filter 9 unhelpful reviews to get one helpful one than to have no reviews at all (Just don't use this as an opportunity to discard unfavorable reviews). As @Kashyap said, holding reviews to vet them might discourage users by removing instant feedback and making them think you're moderating for unfavorable reviews.
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