The Impact of Customer Review on Conversion Rate

Published on 17.02.2026 by Chizoba T

One factor that affects conversion rate is customer reviews. Statistics indicate that when a shopper finds one or more positive reviews, the conversion rate increases by 52%. If the landing or product page has 11-30 reviews, conversion increases by 2X compared to a page with 0 reviews. When a product has over 100 reviews, the conversion rate increases by 2.5 times.

This is a clear indication that customers affect conversion rates, and social proof is important for social media validation. In this article, we expound more on the impact of reviews on customers' purchasing decisions and guide you on the actionable steps you can take to turn reviews into conversions.

How Reviews Impact Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is the percentage of visitors to your site who desire to take an action. The action could be buying a product, downloading an ebook, subscribing to your email newsletters, and more. This is, therefore, an important metric, as it will be a good indicator of how effective your website content is at turning visitors into customers. Adding customer reviews is among the social media signals to improve your website's trust.

Customer reviews affect several other metrics that influence conversion, such as:

  • Trust and credibility. A brand with many reviews is often seen as credible and trustworthy for a product or service. When your potential customers see the positive feedback from previous customers, they can confidently buy the product.
  • Social proof. Reviews are also a form of social proof, a phenomenon where people assume that if other people bought a product and liked it, they are likely to enjoy it. This, therefore, helps to increase conversion.
  • Product insights. Reviews often provide deep insights into a product, offering more information that may be missed in the descriptions. Customers intending to buy the product can obtain additional information to help them make better decisions.
  • SEO benefits. If your brand receives many positive reviews, this can improve its performance in search engine results. It can improve search visibility, leading to more traffic and higher conversion rates.

Understanding how customer reviews affect conversion rates helps you create a digital marketing strategy that incorporates them.

How to Use Reviews to Increase Conversion

It's now clear that reviews on your site can easily convince your prospects to convert. Here are some top ways to boost conversions with reviews:

Find the Right Reviews

Unless you have enough reviews, you will not be able to leverage them. Therefore, begin by getting ample relevant feedback. If you don't have enough, you can contact your customers and request some. When doing that, make sure you ask for as many details as possible. You can ask questions such as:

  • What value has your product added to your life?
  • Does our product match your desired price point?
  • Are you happy with the level of customer service?

You can also ask questions involving common customer concerns. For instance, if you realize that your customers are struggling to operationalize your software, you can ask: Was this solution completed in time? Or did you complete the implementation within your budget? This will enable you to gather feedback about the customer’s experience.

Find Competitor Displacement Opportunities

Competitor displacement involves luring your competitors' customers away after conducting competitor analysis. So, what do reviews have to do with this? They can help you find those displacement opportunities. If you find that your prospective customers are leaving negative reviews on your competitors' forums, consider reaching out to them to show them how you offer a better solution.

You may also discover a review from a company you weren't following. You can check their credentials and compare them to yours. Then, create a message that discusses the issues the prospects are struggling with. 

When creating content for the displacement campaign, you need a targeted approach that focuses on the problem your prospects identified in their review. Show them the positive reviews you have received from your customers, while mentioning the features, benefits, or services the prospects needed from you.

Handle Negative Reviews Positively

When handling customer reviews, you should never try to hide or fight back against negative reviews. If you try to present your product as perfect, it will raise eyebrows and make your prospects suspicious of the reviews' authenticity.

Having both favorable and unfavorable reviews makes your reviews look more authentic. Prospective customers will see that you aren't creating fake reviews or trying to gag up on the negative reviews. A good idea for handling negative reviews is to respond to them and address the customer’s concern.

Statistics indicate that 45% of consumers are encouraged when they visit a website and find the business has responded to negative reviews. Additionally, 41% believe that when a brand responds to negative reviews, it shows that it cares about its customers.

Minimizing Bounce Rates

When customers bounce off your page, they're saying the site isn't worth their time. One way to use reviews to increase conversion is to add them to your landing page, home page, or product page. Doing so will help prospects see the positive impact of your business and reduce bounce rate.

Add reviews at every stage of the customer's buying journey. However, the reviews with the most significant impact are those placed near the CTAs. This is because by the time customers reach this point, they already have an interest in the product or service. With consumers saying reviews increase their chances of buying a product, placing them close to the CTA can give customers the final push they need to complete the journey.

In Conclusion

There is no doubt that customer reviews play an essential role in increasing conversion. From increasing buyer trust to demonstrating SEO proof and adding SEO benefits, your brand can reap many benefits. Therefore, whether you have a new Instagram shop or are a reputable e-commerce store, you need to start harnessing the power of reviews to increase your conversion rate. If you are wondering how to do that, the above steps will help you get started.