It’s a neverending quest to find ways to boost conversions. But what about a method that puts your customers to work?

We’re talking about customer reviews — those little bits of words and ratings that add social proof to your products and urge your customers to buy your services.

It’s one of the easiest ways to get the word out about your brand, so that’s why we want to show you some of the best WordPress review plugins.

Benefits of Putting Reviews on Your WordPress Site

The benefits of customer reviews somewhat depend on what type of business you’re running. For example, an online clothing store may want direct customer reviews that show up underneath each product. On the other hand, a local hardware store may want to share Google Reviews and show other customers where to post those reviews.

Regardless, there are a handful of common benefits that all companies should know about:

  • Reviews serve as free advertising. Whether on Google Reviews or on your product pages, your customers are spreading the word about your company. According to data from Spiegel Research Center, nearly 95% of shoppers read online reviews before making a purchase.
  • You receive feedback from customers and form a relationship – Some reviews will provide useful information that you can utilize to change things about your business. In addition, people like when you respond to their reviews.
  • Social proof – Research shows that consumers are more likely to buy when they see that friends or other people approve of the product or service.
  • You improve your SEO. Google can show rich snippets, where are interactive visuals in the search results. They’re often favored by Google. In this case, your search engine listing would have star ratings.
  • You start to achieve full transparency. Online reviews can fill in the blanks with information that may not be shown on your website. For instance, you may have missed some specs on your product description, but maybe a helpful customer talks about it in a review.

What To Look for in the Perfect WordPress Review Plugin

Some of the plugins have different functionality, but you can typically find similar standard features in all of them. So, what are some of these features to look for:

  • The ability to embed the reviews on your website and provide a form for customers to write their reviews.
  • A rating system, such as stars or thumbs up/down.
  • Options for uploading more visual content, such as pictures or videos.