Customer reviews are important to build trust with new customers.
Often times it might appear easier to use a 3rd party review website to collect and show reviews. They might even promise increased traffic due to their marketplace or the like.
3rd party review websites are a trap.
The list of problems with 3rd party review websites is long but in regards to customer loyalty, by the time a new customer visits one of those websites they are at-risk of bouncing to a competitor.
Those review websites want to keep people on the site so they add navigation and details to entice them to click around. Often that means going to other stores also listed. Your competitors are often just one click away. Some are even shown on the same page as your store.
(Large marketplaces like Amazon have the exact same issue)
Instead of using a 3rd party review website, use a Shopify app that you put into your own website. Not only can you control the links to competitors but you also get to keep your own data (yet another problem).
There's one 3rd party review website that might be worth using: Google. It has the same problem above but Google has the possibility to send so much traffic that you almost have to use it.
For some stores, Amazon might be another you have to use but good luck building any kind of loyalty from Amazon customers. It might be easier to draw blood from a stone.
If you'd like to have your customers analyzed, segmented, and then explore specific advice on how to build their loyalty, Repeat Customer Insights can do all of that for you.
Eric Davis
Discover where your best customers come from
Going beyond simple attribution, Repeat Customer Insights lets you analyze and segment your customers by who first sent that customer your way.
This will let you find the best sources of long-term customers, not just anyone who orders.