Importance of Reviews in Online Bookstores
Online bookstores like TheBookCafe.in provide user reviews for all their titles. Users often read these reviews before deciding on a purchase. A collection of reviews eventually can be the single most important factor that makes them to click ‘buy’ button. Even if someone is looking for a specific book, he would often read the reviews to validate the quality of the book.
Online stores actually actively encourage such reviews so that users are able to have greater confidence in their purchases. Reviews are important for nonfiction books, where buyers compare several books on a topic.
Besides offering information about the books, these reviews focus on their positives and negatives, from the perspective of the customer. The reviews generate a great deal of information such as – the quality of the book, cost and shipping time. Customers can compare prices and offers from several bookstores and choose the one that is best for them as many online bookstores promote their products through attractive offers and reduced prices.
Reviews also help the customer to understand the product better and get a fairly good idea about what to expect even before the purchase is made. Reviews help the customer make an informed decision by sharing both the negative and positive features of the book they intend to purchase.
It is not just customers who benefit from the reviews. Since a lot of customers read reviews before making a purchase, the reviews serve as useful tools that online bookstores use to make their products stand out from the competition. While some bookstores are afraid of getting negative reviews, others believe that getting only positive reviews will affect the authenticity of the reviews. Negative comments are dealt with by clarifying the situation so that potential customers can make a buying decision based on facts as opposed to biases.
However, not all reviews are genuine. Supporters of the author may post positive reviews on important online bookstores to influence sales. To overcome such a situation, online bookstores try to get as many reviews as possible for a title. They also monitor the reviews. Checks are performed to ensure that there is a connection between the reviews and the amount of sales for that title. A title featuring several reviews with a mixture of positive and negative comments has higher trust factor with shoppers, than a book that has just a couple of positive reviews. A few lower rated reviews actually lend credibility to the review process.
