What it is
Reviews and ratings are the star score and customer feedback shown on a product page. They are the part of the page a shopper did not write and you did not control, which is exactly why they trust it. A visible rating answers the quiet question behind every online purchase: has anyone else bought this, and did it work out for them.
How common it is
Four in five audited stores (81%) show reviews or ratings on their product pages. The audit checks whether a rating or review element is present, not how good or recent it is, so the gap is the roughly one in five with none at all. For those stores, the product page asks the shopper to take the seller’s word for everything, with nothing from another buyer behind it.
Why it costs you
A shopper deciding between your product and the same one elsewhere weighs more than price. Most people pick the page that shows other buyers were satisfied, because the rating lowers the risk of a purchase they cannot inspect in person. A page with no reviews leaves that risk sitting unanswered at the moment of decision, and many resolve it by looking the product up elsewhere, often a marketplace, where you then compete on price alone.
Check it in 30 seconds
Open one of your product pages as a customer would. Is there a star rating or a review section visible without hunting for it? If the page shows none, or hides reviews in a tab a shopper has to go find, the proof that closes the sale is missing from where the decision happens.
Read next: Ecommerce Design: Why Your Store’s Layout Decides Who Buys and Who Leaves
Run the free audit to see whether your product pages show the proof shoppers look for.