The Share of Items (SKUs) Without Reviews is a critical Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for ecommerce businesses looking to assess the extent of their product assortment that lacks consumer feedback.
Reviews have become an integral part of purchase decisions in the digital age, making them essential for every product on an ecommerce platform. This metric provides businesses with a quantifiable measure to identify products that may be overlooked or underrepresented due to a lack of customer reviews.
Key Takeaways
- Definition: Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews is the percentage of products in inventory that have not received any customer reviews.
- Calculation: Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews is calculated by dividing the number of products without reviews by the total number of products and multiplying by 100.
- Strategic Importance: Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews helps companies assess the extent of their product assortment that lacks consumer feedback, influencing purchase decisions, product visibility, customer trust, feedback loop, and inventory management.
- Optimization Strategies: Encourage post-purchase reviews, showcase products without reviews, implement user engagement strategies, integrate review platforms, and improve product descriptions and images to reduce the proportion of items without reviews.
- Limitations: Share of items (SKU) without reviews lacks nuance, doesn’t always indicate product performance, doesn’t differentiate between product categories, doesn’t respond to review solicitation strategies, is subject to external factors, doesn’t account for review authenticity, potential misdirection of resources, and lacks depth without additional metrics.
- Complementary metrics: Share of items (SKUs) without reviews should be evaluated alongside metrics such as average review rating, total number of reviews, conversion rate by product, and return rate for a complete understanding of product performance and customer engagement.
Why does Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews matter for your business?
Incorporating the metric of items without reviews into an ecommerce strategy is pivotal for the following reasons:
- Purchase Decision Influence: Reviews significantly sway customer purchasing decisions. Products lacking reviews can be perceived as less reliable or popular, potentially affecting sales negatively.
- Product Visibility: Algorithms of many ecommerce platforms promote products based on their number of reviews or ratings. Without reviews, some products might miss out on visibility or promotion opportunities.
- Customer Trust: Reviews are synonymous with transparency. A product without any reviews might make potential buyers skeptical about its quality or effectiveness.
- Feedback Loop: Reviews act as a feedback loop, helping businesses understand product performance, customer satisfaction, and areas of improvement.
- Inventory Management: Products with fewer reviews can provide insights into inventory decisions. If certain items consistently lack reviews, it might be worth revisiting their stock levels or marketing strategy.
How to calculate Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews ?
Explanation of the parts of the formula:
- Number of Items (SKU) without Reviews represents the count of products in the inventory that haven’t received any reviews from customers.
- Total Items (SKU) signifies the total number of different stock keeping units or individual product variations available in the inventory or catalog. It encompasses all products, irrespective of whether they have reviews or not.
- The ratio gives the proportion of products that don’t have any reviews against the total product range. This value can range between 0 and 1 (or 0% to 100% when expressed as a percentage).
- Multiplying the previously calculated ratio by 100 turns the decimal figure into a percentage, allowing for an intuitive understanding of how many products lack reviews relative to the total.
At its core, the “Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews” offers insights into how many products in the inventory remain unreviewed by customers. A high percentage may indicate potential areas for businesses to solicit feedback, while a low percentage might suggest effective user engagement and feedback mechanisms.
Example Scenario
Consider the following scenario:
- Your online store offers a catalog of 500 different items (SKUs).
- Of these 500 items, 100 products haven’t received any reviews from customers.
Inputting the figures from the example scenario into the formula:
- Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews = (100 / 500) × 100
- Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews = 0.2 × 100
- Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews = 20%.
This means that 20% of the products in the inventory of the online store have not yet been reviewed by any customer.
Tips and recommendations for decreasing Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews
Encourage post-purchase reviews
After a customer completes a purchase, it is important to follow up with them and encourage them to leave a review. Sending an email or notification specifically asking for their feedback can be an effective way to encourage reviews. To further motivate them, consider offering incentives such as discount codes or loyalty points, which can increase the likelihood that customers will take the time to share their thoughts and experiences.
Feature products without reviews
To generate more reviews, it can be helpful to highlight products that have not yet received feedback. An effective strategy is to promote these items on your home page or through special offers and promotions. By drawing attention to products that lack reviews, you can encourage customers to try them and provide feedback, thereby increasing the overall percentage of reviewed items in your inventory.
User engagement strategies
To actively engage with customers and gather their feedback, consider implementing various user engagement strategies. Surveys and questionnaires can be effective tools for collecting detailed feedback on specific products that customers have purchased. In addition, interactive content such as quizzes or polls can create an interactive channel for users to share their opinions. By allowing customers to express their thoughts, you can encourage them to leave reviews and help reduce the percentage of items without reviews.
Review platforms integration
To simplify the review process for customers, integrating popular review platforms directly into your site can be beneficial. By including platforms such as Trustpilot or Yelp, you allow users to easily leave reviews without having to navigate away from the product page. This seamless integration streamlines the process and increases the likelihood that customers will leave reviews, ultimately helping to reduce the percentage of items without reviews.
Improve product descriptions and Images
Improving product descriptions and imagery is critical to building trust with potential customers. Clear and concise product descriptions provide essential information that helps customers make informed purchasing decisions. In addition, high-quality imagery that shows the product from different angles can help customers better visualize the item. By improving these aspects, you create a positive shopping experience that increases the likelihood that customers will purchase and leave reviews for the products they purchase.
Examples of use
Incentivized Review Campaigns
- Scenario: An ecommerce platform for tech gadgets notices a high share of SKUs without reviews for their newly launched products.
- Use Case Application: The business initiates a campaign, offering a 10% discount on the next purchase for users who leave reviews on these new products. The incentive drives a spike in reviews, reducing the overall share of items without feedback.
Featured Product Sections
- Scenario: A DTC fashion brand identifies that a new line of summer dresses lacks reviews.
- Use Case Application: The brand creates a “Summer Spotlight” section on their homepage, featuring these dresses prominently. The increased visibility results in more sales and, consequently, more reviews.
Email Marketing for Feedback
- Scenario: An online bookstore finds a large segment of books from indie authors without reviews.
- Use Case Application: The store sends out tailored email campaigns to buyers of these books, nudging them to leave reviews and share their reading experience. This not only fetches reviews but also promotes lesser-known titles.
Social Media Engagement
- Scenario: A DTC fitness brand releases a new line of protein supplements but notices a lack of reviews on their ecommerce platform.
- Use Case Application: The brand runs a social media challenge, encouraging users to share their experience with the new supplement line in exchange for a chance to win monthly supplies. The social buzz generated brings in a multitude of reviews.
Loyalty Program Enhancements
- Scenario: An online cosmetics retailer observes that several new lip shades lack customer reviews.
- Use Case Application: The retailer updates its loyalty program, offering double points for reviews on newly launched products. Loyal customers flock to share feedback, eager to accumulate more points and benefits.
Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews SMART goal example
Specific – Reduce the share of items (SKU) without reviews by 40% (from a current percentage of 20% to 12%).
Measurable – The percentage of products without reviews will be tracked and compared before and six months after implementing the review solicitation strategy.
Achievable – Yes, by implementing strategies like incentivizing customer reviews, sending follow-up emails post-purchase, highlighting the importance of feedback in product descriptions, and introducing a user-friendly review system.
Relevant – Yes. This goal aligns with the broader objective of enhancing customer trust and engagement. Having more products with reviews can positively influence purchase decisions and increase sales.
Timed – Achieve the reduction within the next six months post-strategy implementation.
Limitations of using Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews
While the Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews is a useful metric for understanding product engagement and potential trust issues in an ecommerce setting, it has its limitations when used in business analysis:
- Lacks Nuance: This metric only indicates the number of products without reviews but doesn’t reflect the quality or content of reviews for products that have them. A product might have a few negative reviews, which can be more damaging than having no reviews at all.
- Not Always Indicative of Product Performance: A lack of reviews doesn’t necessarily mean a product is underperforming. It might be new or targeted at a niche audience who might not typically leave reviews.
- Doesn’t Differentiate Between Product Categories: Different product categories might inherently have different rates of review generation. High-involvement products might get more reviews than low-involvement ones.
- Unresponsive to Review Solicitation Strategies: Some products, despite the best efforts to solicit reviews, might inherently receive fewer reviews, especially if they cater to a demographic less inclined to provide feedback.
- Subject to External Factors: Reviews can be influenced by external factors such as industry trends or public relations incidents. A lack of reviews on certain products might be due to broader market sentiments rather than product performance.
- Doesn’t Factor in Review Authenticity: The metric doesn’t consider the authenticity of reviews. An influx of fake or incentivized reviews on other products might make genuinely good products without reviews look unfavorable.
- Potential Misdirection of Resources: Overemphasis on increasing reviews might lead businesses to neglect other crucial product-related metrics like return rates, defect percentages, or customer satisfaction scores.
- Lacks Depth Without Additional Metrics: The share of items without reviews in isolation doesn’t provide a holistic view. For instance, a product might have no reviews but might still be selling well and satisfying customers.
In summary, while Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews provides valuable insight into areas of potential improvement, it should be used in conjunction with other metrics to gain a more complete understanding of an organization’s ecommerce performance.
KPIs and metrics relevant to Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews
- Review Rating Average: Understanding the average rating across products can give insights into overall product quality and customer satisfaction.
- Total Number of Reviews: Indicates the overall engagement of customers and their willingness to provide feedback.
- Conversion Rate by Product: Review metrics correlated with conversion rates can indicate the direct impact of feedback on sales.
- Return Rate: Products with high returns but few reviews might indicate quality issues that customers aren’t explicitly mentioning in reviews.
By considering Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews alongside these metrics, your company can gain comprehensive insight into product performance and customer engagement.
Final thoughts
The share of items (SKU) without reviews is not only a reflection of customer feedback, but also an indicator of product visibility, trust, and engagement. In an ecommerce landscape where reviews are paramount, addressing items without feedback is critical. With the right strategies, businesses can reduce their share of items without reviews, increasing overall trust and sales.
Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews FAQ
What is Share of Items (SKU) without Reviews?
It signifies the percentage of products in the entire product range that have not received any customer reviews.
Why should I be concerned if a large share of my products lack reviews?
Reviews heavily influence buying decisions. Products without reviews can be perceived as less trustworthy or of lower quality by potential buyers.
How can I motivate customers to leave reviews?
Encourage post-purchase reviews through emails, offer incentives for feedback, and engage users through various channels like social media.
Can I integrate third-party review platforms to my ecommerce site?
Yes, platforms like Trustpilot or Yelp can be integrated to streamline the review process and encourage more feedback.
Should I be worried if only a few products dominate the reviews?
It’s essential to have a balanced distribution of reviews across products. A concentration of feedback on a few items might mean other products are underrepresented and need attention.