Clicks 'n Conversions Blog

This article was first published  December 12, 2008 on the Tatum Marketing blog

You have a great software or technology product, right? You’ve built much of your business on customer referrals. You use testimonials and case studies in your marketing program.

So why not post customer reviews on your website?

Consumer reviews have been big with online retailers for years. A variety of research indicates that they really work – with no downside unless you have a lousy product and then you have bigger problems than deciding whether or not to put customer reviews on your website.

Dave J at B2B Blog has some interesting thoughts about why so few B2B marketers use this tactic. His list of six reasons can be summarized in one word – fear.

• Fear that someone will say something bad about your product.
• Fear of losing control of the message.
• Fear on the part of marketing people that it will be too hard to convince executives and salespeople this is a good idea.
• Fear of needing and not having alternate products to offer.
• Fear that the user may unintentionally misrepresent a custom feature as being part of the basic package.
• Fear that the reviewer may write about an unsuccessful application that is actually the fault of the user and not the product.

Have Dave J. and I given you enough reasons to avoid putting customer reviews on your website?

Oh, come on.

The online retailers will give you some darn good reasons for posting customer reviews including:

• Increased site traffic (from better search engine optimization).
• Increased online conversion rates.
• Increase in average order value.
• Improved customer retention.

Together those benefits add up to increased revenue!

To me it seems worth it to get over the fear and give it a try – or at least some serious consideration. What do you think? Would you post user reviews?