Integrating Customer Reviews into our Cart
Several months back I built an email follow-up system for Detailed Image that sends an email to our customers two weeks after their purchase. In addition to checking in with them to see if they received their products in a timely manner, it also asks them to write a product review for each product they ordered. The email provides direct links to the product review pages for the specific products.
However, the reviews were intentionally buried a bit on the site. We wanted to have a substantial amount before making them part of the buying process, as so many successful e-commerce sites do these days. In addition to the reviews, we also needed a way to convey any detailing packages we sell that included the item the customer was looking at. For example, if you’re buying a wax it’s helpful to know the various packages we offer that include that wax and other supplementary items. It makes the customer more aware of what we have available in relation to the product they’re looking for, which hopefully leads to them making a better purchasing decision.
So we mimicked the “tab” format that sites like CircuitCity.com and Newegg use so well:
We’re hoping that changes like this improve the buying process for the customer and in turn increase our conversion rate. I’ll be implementing the same feature - with a few modifications - tomorrow on Tastefully Driven.
Certainly not a major overhaul, but just another example of micro-innovating, constantly improving our sites and our business. It also helps lay the groundwork for the complete shopping cart overhaul that we’re looking to do at some point in ‘09.
