A major drawback that all online shoppers experience now and again is the uncertainty that comes with making an online purchase. Questions like “Will these shoes I’m going to purchase fit right or feel comfortable?” or “Is this piece of furniture going to fit well in my apartment or house?” frequently arise during the online buying process. Often, these questions can be the “difference between a completed transaction and an abandoned shopping chart” as Trustpilot CMO Jan Vels Jensen points out in his recent article about the importance of online reviews.

It’s this very uncertainty that makes online reviews so crucial for online shoppers. Jensen points out that the obvious benefit online reviews provide for shoppers is the ability to learn from others’ mistakes, preventing them from making the same one’s and allowing them to feel confident in their online purchases. What’s not so obvious though, is their benefit to marketers and their businesses.

According to Jensen, online reviews benefit businesses by building trust with customers, allowing them to use critical reviews to improve operations, prioritizing word-of-mouth marketing, and improving click-through rates.