Ratings and reviews drive conversions for apparel retailer

by Matt Hawkins | Marketing Data Analyst & Amy Hardison | Sr. Community Manager

Overview

Retailers are continuously striving for innovative ways to drive sales and harness the consumer voice. In an industry that is extremely competitive, word of mouth marketing plays a key role in converting online sales of apparel. In the case of the Blair corporation, a multi-channel marketer of men’s, women’s and home fashions, the main challenge was to harness and leverage a highly specific, extremely loyal customer base. When Blair teamed up with Bazaarvoice to implement ratings and reviews on their site, the results proved to be outstanding.

Results

Session conversion rate and review volume

• Overall, products with reviews have a 9% higher conversion rate than those without reviews.
• Products with 20+ reviews have a 196% higher conversion rate than those without reviews.

Product views/items sold

• A strong correlation between Look-to-Book ratio (Product Views / Items Sold) and review volume was found. Look-to-Book is 18x lower (better) for products with 21+ reviews vs. no reviews.
• The Look-to-Book (Product Views / Items Sold) ratio is 217% higher for products without reviews. This means that reviews are heavily influencing consumers to purchase the product.

Product views / viewing Sessions

• There is a strong correlation between Product Views / Viewing Sessions and review volume. This metric signifies an increase in time on site from the presence of Ratings and Reviews.
• Site search integration plays a large role in driving product views / viewing sessions.

Conclusion

Implementing Ratings and Reviews has led to significant brand engagement and order conversion improvements for Blair.

Download This Case Study (PDF)

• Case Studies

• Word of mouth increases sales for Zales
• Ratings and Reviews increase conversion rates on figleaves.com UK
• Ratings and reviews increase time consumers spend on site
• High review volumes help decrease return rates
• Paradox of choice
• Customer reviews in email marketing campaigns drive sales
• SearchVoice Microsite quickly increases natural search traffic
• SearchVoice Microsite drives organic customer acquisition
• Use Net Promoter scores to identify solid influencers
• Photo reviews drive conversion, enhance customer experience
• "Sort by Rating" option drives conversion for Golfsmith
• "Customer Favorites" categories drive sales
• Social navigation drives sales at PETCO.com
• Ask & Answer attracts new users, increases conversion
• Ask & Answer™ decreases product-related support costs