Product reviews – content opportunities for retailers
Posted by Hitwise | Posted in Case Studies, Web Analytics | Posted on 27-11-2009
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Retail players, like in any other industry, need to develop strong online content to attract high traffic volumes, and ultimately earn the trust of consumers through the integrity of information provided on websites.
Consumer product reviews are an excellent example of content that retailers can host on their own web properties. ‘Review’ search variations appear frequently for example in the traffic to the Shopping and Classifieds – Appliances and Electronics industry, as consumers seek advice from the source they are often most likely to trust: other consumers.
This type of comparison activity is increasing – a search portfolio of ‘review’ search variations sending traffic to Appliances and Electronics websites increased 5-fold during the 4 weeks ending 21 November 2009, compared to the same period last year. Many Appliances and Electronics retailers have caught on to this trend, with the average rate of paid search traffic accounting for 16.41%.
Mobile phone reviews dominated the top 20 clicks, with the term ‘nokia n97 review’ sending the most traffic to Appliances and Electronics websites. Leading non-branded terms included, ‘mobile phone reviews’, ‘laptop reviews’, ‘gps reviews’, ‘camera reviews’ and ‘digital camera reviews’.
Who’s receiving organic clicks on product reviews?
While PPC is obviously an important tactic in attracting customers, organic search results provide one proxy for the ‘usefulness’ of an online information source, and can be an important benchmark when reviewing which websites get the most traffic from product-related search terms.
It was no surprise to see that tech publications dominated the list of top websites to receive traffic from electronic related ‘review’ terms. CNET.com.au received the most organic traffic, with 13.28% of clicks. Comparison websites also featured prominently, with Product Review Australia receiving 3.46% of clicks.
JB Hi-Fi Australia Online Shop featured as the top bricks and mortar website to receive organic clicks from ‘review’ terms. It was also interesting to see the new Dick Smith Electronics – Customer Reviews website appear recently in our fast moving website listings, debuting at 5th position in the Shopping and Classifieds – Appliances and Electronics category, during the week ending 31 October 2009.
