Ever looked at an independent ratings and reviews platform like Reevoo and thought “That looks pretty easy. Why don’t we just do it ourselves and save money?”
While radical self-reliance might be cool in some contexts (Burning Man, anyone?) here it’s a case of “Stop right there pal, and take a read of this first.”
There are many things to think about when choosing (or building) review software.
Why it’s harder than you think
It takes ages. Building an in-house ratings and reviews system is a slow process. We’ve worked with several companies who have tried to build their own, but run out of time. Or they’ve rushed, and ended up cutting corners. That’s how you end up with a review publish rate below 1% (it happens!) rather than our industry-leading average of 20%.
It costs a lot. A lot of people underestimate the tech required to build their own reviews solution, not to mention the extra staff they’ll need to maintain it. Costs can easily start to spiral.
Keeping ahead of the curve is tough. As well building and maintaining your own system, you’ve also got to stay on top of the latest innovations in a fast-changing industry. At Reevoo, we’re constantly running experiments and optimising our methods to ensure that our systems are cutting-edge and future-proofed.
There’s more to it than meets the eye. You’re going to need more than just the technology for collecting and displaying reviews. A moderation system, a built-in analytics platform, a way of responding to negative reviews… it’s more complicated than you think.
Why third-party review software is better
Greater trust. This is a massive one. 80% of online shoppers put more trust in reviews if they’re displayed by a neutral, credible third party. By using a solution like Reevoo, you’re showing that you’re being transparent and honest with your customers. And trust inspires confidence to buy.
More content. At Reevoo we can harvest huge amounts of content in a short space of time — we collected more in 72 hours than Ebuyer’s in-house solution managed in over four years (60,000 reviews compared to 40,000). And where reviews are concerned, quantity counts for a lot. The more content you have, the more up-to-date, detailed information the consumer has access to, and the higher the conversion rate.
Search benefits. Using Reevoo will increase traffic to your website — we work with external expert SEO agencies to ensure that’s the case. And because we also partner with Google, you’ll get star ratings in your paid ads, which increases click-through rates by 17%. Google only approves certain ratings and reviews providers, and definitely not individual companies, so if you’re using an in-house system you won’t get this benefit.
A fully managed service. We help our clients through every aspect of the process, providing human moderation, ensuring that joint KPIs are met and offering insights into analytics which help you to understand consumer behaviour and make the most of your content. With Reevoo, you’ll get all the benefits of our experience and expertise.
There’s only one winner
Hopefully, it’s become clear by now that pitting in-house review systems against third-party solutions is the biggest mismatch since Germany played Gibraltar at football.
We’ll let you decide which of the third-party review systems out there is right for you. Just don’t try and build one of your own.
For more information on how Reevoo can help, get in touch with us here.
