It’s no secret that product reviews are an invaluable resource for ecommerce brands today. They add legitimacy via social proof to products and companies, and they improve the customer experience by offering additional information that may not be available in higher-level descriptions. While basic star ratings and text reviews are essential, they often skim the surface of what’s possible.

Rating Subdimensions Combined With Customer Profile Attributes Ensure You Get the Most out of Product Reviews

Customer reviews allow your audience to express their product experience in their own words. This can be very valuable as customers often address topics that aren’t commonly considered by brands, such as alternative uses for a product. However, the free text of a review also has its limitations. Customers may choose to use this space to talk about any number of topics, leaving the shopper sifting through a large number of reviews to find the basic product information they’re looking for.Rating subdimensions are the solution to this problem. You can maximize the amount of useful customer feedback you get by asking questions in your ratings and reviews collection such as “Did this item fit true to size?” or “Was this mattress as firm as advertised?” In the “fit” example, you would offer a spectrum of choices for the subdimensions such as “Runs small — True to size — Runs large.”

Rating subdimensions provide structured data that can be summarized from a large number of reviews. This means shoppers get the most relevant, distilled and aggregated information without having to read every review. And of course, the more informed your customers are about a product before purchasing it, the better their experience is likely to be.

Collecting Product Rating and Customer Profile Subdimensions

Product Rating Subdimensions

Focus on real-life customer experiences with the product as they compare to the product’s description. The type of information you collect will depend on the type of products you sell. For instance, a sporting goods store might gather information about how well a waterproof tent performs. Be sure to phrase your questions in a way that will provide the type of quantifiable information you really want. For example, if you sell running shoes and want to learn about the item’s durability, don’t simply ask, “How durable was it?” Instead, ask, “How many miles did you run before they showed wear?” This will give you data that’s easy to summarize and display for your shoppers

Customer Profile Subdimensions

Consumers put so much trust in online reviews because they see other shoppers as being “people like them.” You can increase your audience’s trust in reviews even more by providing customer profile attributes that allow buyers to filter reviews to find the people most like them. In addition to establishing more trust, this feature also adds another layer of helpfulness to the available review information. For example, if you’re shopping for a dress, it’s informative to see that the average reviewer thinks the dress runs small. But it’s even more helpful if you filter for reviewers with your exact physical dimensions and see that they all say the dress fits true to size. Collecting customer attribute subdimensions allows shoppers to customize review information to fit their needs, resulting in better shopping experiences and more informed purchase decisions.

How Should you Display Your Review Data?

Collecting and aggregating subdimensions means you have the most relevant product information to offer your customers, however, collecting this data is only half the battle. How you display this structured data will determine how helpful it is to customers. Structured review data is usually displayed in the review summary, the list of individual reviews, and the review filters, but not all aggregated data will be useful in all sections.

For example, customer profile attributes are most helpful within individual reviews and the review filters. Within individual reviews, it provides important context, and using it in the filters allows customers to sort reviews to find people most like themselves. Similarly, subdimensions that describe the performance of a product (e.g., durability, assembly time) are most useful in the summary section. For performance details, it’s more important to see an aggregate rating instead of viewing it in the isolation of individual reviews.

Collecting Review Subdimensions is a Win-Win Scenario

Give your customers the best possible shopping experience by collecting relevant subdimensions for ratings and customer profiles. The more relevant product information you can provide customers, the more informed they will be about their purchase. This leads to more satisfied customers and fewer product returns, which means a better reputation and more revenue for your business. TurnTo can help you create and display effective review subdimensions that result in happier customers and more sales. Get started today with a free demo!