Display user-generated reviews to build trust

1. Allow users to vote reviews as helpful or unhelpful.

Not only does this increase user engagement, but it allows users to focus on the reviews that are likely to help them the most. Most review plugins, like StarCat Reviews for WordPress, include this feature by default – but ask your web developer to add it if you use a different platform.

2. Organize reviews by Most Helpful instead of by Most Recent.

The most common way sites display reviews is chronological, which leaves it up to chance which review a user sees first. Your most recent review may not be your most positive or most helpful, which could influence sales.

3. Display the Most Helpful Review above the rest.

Displaying the most helpful positive and negative reviews first assures users your reviews are genuine, helps build trust, and could potentially help them find what they’re looking for without sifting through hundreds of reviews.

4. Show users a representative sample of the variability in star ratings.

For example, if 50% of the reviews are 5-star reviews, show users a list of 10 reviews, 5 of them with 5-star ratings and 5 with different star ratings. Having a wide range of star ratings influences sales more than the star rating itself. Despite the fact that doing this means more negative reviews are visible, displaying a wider range of star values actually increases conversions.

5. Test showing the most positive reviews from each star rating first when users sort by star rating.

In other words, show the 1, 2, and 3-star ratings that reflect the product most positively first. This might not work for your specific business, but it’s worth experimenting to find out what works best for you.