The power of Product reviews for your Lazada & Shopee Store

Product reviews passively encourage your potential customers to buy your products. They talk on your behalf. In today's time, customers choose to browse through reviews before deciding to purchase a product.

They contribute to establishing your brand and help new customers put their trust in your products.

In this article, we'll look at how product reviews can make or break your odds of success on any e-commerce platform, specifically on Lazada and Shopee.

What are product reviews, and how do they work?

When you upload your products on either platform and get your first purchases, the buyers can leave a review for your product. They can leave a review on both platforms within the first month of the purchase.

Based on how much the customer likes or dislikes your product, they can leave a star rating between 1-5; these will accumulate over time and then be aggregated to give your product an overall rating between 1-5, with 1 being "Terrible" and 5 being "Excellent." If the customer chooses, they can leave a written review, along with a star rating.

The star ratings will appear just below the product image, as shown in the Image above, along with the number of reviews left. All of the above give consumers a greater understanding of your product, which has a powerful effect on purchases. So you will want to keep your product reviews largely positive. We say "largely" because it is virtually impossible to have a 100% positive rating depending on the product, but the goal is to get the highest possible product ratings.

Below we will discuss how to use product reviews to improve your store's outlook.

How to leverage reviews (Positive or Negative)

From the written reviews, sellers can derive snippets that shed a positive light on your product. These can be added to product images, ads and promotions. It is important to note that positive reviews aren't merely a means to advertise your product or how good others find it. It helps the seller identify your product's selling points, thus making marketing more accessible. Finding keywords to use in your SEO is also another great use of reviews.

Having highly rated products is a boon as your products will appear higher up on the search results due to an increased rating. Thus, putting your brand first in the consumer's eye and replying to positive reviews contributes to your brand/store appeal as it shows your responsiveness and interactions with your customers. It also boosts your brand perception on the platform.

At the same time, negative reviews turbocharge the effects mentioned above. Responding to negative reviews in an understanding, helpful and non-confrontational manner will wow review skimmers (people who read reviews before a purchase decision), which can help turn the tide in your favour. It shows that you are still willing to be kind and ask the right questions despite the negative review left by an unsatisfied customer.

Beyond client perceptions, negative reviews help you identify which aspects of your product to improve and how to do so. Whether it's the taste packaging or build quality, you need to pay special attention to the negative comments as they are often brutally honest and will point you towards improving your offerings and sales.

How to deal with negative reviews?

Here are some templates to help you deal with Negative and Positive responses :

• We're sorry about your experience with the product [Insert Customer name]. Our intention is always to try and give you the best possible product and service. However, we stock much more, and we would like you to please give them a try and let us know your thoughts on them too. Here's a discount voucher to say we are sorry
• We're glad you're enjoying the product [Insert Customer name]. We'd like to send you a voucher to say thanks for choosing [Insert store name]. Just reach out to us in our DMS, and we'll help you redeem your voucher. Remember, there are lots more products you may be interested in. Check out our storefront for more great stuff!

P.S.- Always be sincere and try to personalize each reply sent out. i.e. Include the customer's name. You don't have to give out vouchers if you can't afford them, but if you can, they go a long way in customer retention.

Product reviews work well because they aggregate thoughts and feelings from a general public that the individual identifies with and believes are an accurate representation of the product's good or bad. Whether the reviews reflect the actual reality of how good or bad your product is; is entirely relative to how well you control the narrative through product reviews and responses.

If you want more informative tips on handling your e-commerce venture and the multiple facets of it all, head to The E-commerce Blog by Leap, and you will find dozens more informative and helpful articles to guide you and your store up the value chain to greater profits!