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The numbers are in, and user reviews of products have graduated from experiment to necessity. Consumers are relying on them to make buying decisions everywhere from consumer electronics to toys, and from food to beauty products. Moreover, shoppers aren't just checking the reviews to validate a purchase -- they're searching and browsing them to explore what to buy in the first place. As a result, reviews are evolving from window dressing on product detail pages into a central element in the online customer experience.
I wholeheartedly agree with Jesse that product reviews have become a necessity for many consumers. At ExpoTV we’ve found time and time again that shoppers value and rely on the opinions of everyday people like themselves when making purchase decisions. Moreover, consumers today are eager to share their opinions and advice about the products they use. Embracing these changes on retail sites, manufacturer sites and other destinations is the key to unlocking the power of consumers talking to each other.
-Daphne Kwon, CEO, ExpoTV
-Daphne Kwon, CEO, ExpoTV
Searching by star ratings is socail navigation 0.5 at best
Posted by: jayshaffer 2008-04-23 18:41:18 In reply to: Jesse Goldman
Jesse - PowerReviews is the pioneer of social navigation having promoted the concept since the inception of our company more than two years ago. Social Navigation is at the heart of our unique and innovative customer review format and solution.
Social Navigation is the ability for shoppers to browse through products based on insightful feedback from other shopper in the form of tags/content that is generated during the review process. Terms such as soft, easy to assemble, durable and trendy as well as an affinity such as first time golfer, expert camera and single parent can all be integrated into site navigation empowering shoppers to search for products based on their specific interests or affinity. This approach is revolutionary since until now, shoppers were forced to search for products based on how the were marketed to - such as size, brand and price.
Searching by star ratings pales in comparison to such functionality. Allowing the loosest of definitions, search by star ratings is at best Social Navigation 0.5.
Buzzillions.com, our customer reviews portal which Endeca currently has the honor of powering with their guided navigation functionality is the very first application of social navigation in today's online world. After that, Toys "R" Us and Dicks Sporting Goods have also launched with the latter doing an incredible job of bringing such functionality to life in their golf shop. There, customer feedback is directly integrated into their standard navigation, allowing shoppers to click on terms such as Accuracy, Off the Tee and Beginner Golfer to quickly narrow from 91 drivers to 12 drivers which other beginner golfers looking for accurate drivers for use of the tee now recommend to this shopper.
Now that is social navigation.
Social Navigation is the ability for shoppers to browse through products based on insightful feedback from other shopper in the form of tags/content that is generated during the review process. Terms such as soft, easy to assemble, durable and trendy as well as an affinity such as first time golfer, expert camera and single parent can all be integrated into site navigation empowering shoppers to search for products based on their specific interests or affinity. This approach is revolutionary since until now, shoppers were forced to search for products based on how the were marketed to - such as size, brand and price.
Searching by star ratings pales in comparison to such functionality. Allowing the loosest of definitions, search by star ratings is at best Social Navigation 0.5.
Buzzillions.com, our customer reviews portal which Endeca currently has the honor of powering with their guided navigation functionality is the very first application of social navigation in today's online world. After that, Toys "R" Us and Dicks Sporting Goods have also launched with the latter doing an incredible job of bringing such functionality to life in their golf shop. There, customer feedback is directly integrated into their standard navigation, allowing shoppers to click on terms such as Accuracy, Off the Tee and Beginner Golfer to quickly narrow from 91 drivers to 12 drivers which other beginner golfers looking for accurate drivers for use of the tee now recommend to this shopper.
Now that is social navigation.
These are good points. Reviews seem to be used on a wide variety of ecommerce sites now. Here's some more information on how reviews can be integrated with search and navigation:
http://blog.sli-systems.com/2007/05/user-reviews-and-search.html/
I wrote this up about a year ago but I think it's still relevant.
http://blog.sli-systems.com/2007/05/user-reviews-and-search.html/
I wrote this up about a year ago but I think it's still relevant.
