\ Putting Conversion Insights to Work 5 FOCUS ON FIRST FIVE The first five reviews for a product have the biggest conversion impact. Focus on collecting a baseline number of reviews, What This Means for Brands especially for higher-priced products. EMBRACE NEGATIVE REVIEWS The power of online reviews to influence Allowing negative reviews on your site helps build credibility with shoppers. Rather than trying to eliminate sales means that retailers have powerful negative reviews, monitor them and respond to them. incentives to develop effective strategies for collecting, displaying, and monitoring FOLLOW-UP BY EMAIL reviews on their websites. Reviews that are Prior research from PowerReviews shows that up viewed as representative and credible can 80% to 80% of reviews originate from follow-up emails be a significant competitive advantage. urging shoppers to review their purchases.* PRODUCT SAMPLE NEW ITEMS In addition to email prompts, product sampling can be an effective way to generate initial reviews, particularly for new products among first-time purchasers. STREAMLINE PLATFORMS Make the process of posting a review as simple as possible by allowing shoppers to submit reviews with just a few clicks. Also, *PowerReviews Internal Data make it easy for shoppers to read and post 12 \ How Online Reviews Influence Sales \ spiegel.medill.northwestern.edu reviews across all devices and platforms.