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PowerReviews released a whitepaper entitled “Merchant and Customer Perspectives On Customer Reviews and User-Generated Content.” The whitepaper surveyed dozens of online retailers for their insights on how online reviews have been implemented and used, as well as analyzed the measurable business results. The paper is the follow-up to “Social Shopping Study 2007,” which was released in November 2007.

Findings to take note include:

• 59% of merchants interviewed cited the customer experience as the most important factor in the addition of customer reviews to their site.

• 79% said the product page is very successful as a product review hub. In contrast, the home page had varying degrees of success with 37 percent reporting strong successes.

• Merchants indicate that there is less reliance on customer service as the reviews answer some of the questions that otherwise must be handled on a one-off basis.

• The unbiased nature of reviews (where they are more transparent and trustworthy) engenders customer trust and that trust translates into loyal, lifelong shoppers.

• Merchants were generally surprised by the number of positive reviews, another hidden truth. Initial fears of heavily negative reviews never materialized for any of the merchants interviewed.

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