According to an Opinion Research Corporation, July 2008, online product reviews and evaluations were cited by 83% of shoppers as influencing their purchasing decisions at some level.

An October 2008 study by Forrester shows that nearly one half of adults in US read ratings and reviews at least once per month.

A Nielsen Online research study in December 2008 demonstrates that eighty-one percent of online shoppers reported consulting reviews at web site during the holiday season in December 2008.   The research shows that 63% felt that having multiple reviews for products was significant.

Examples how User Generated Content Impacted Conversions

A BazaarVoice Case Study of 30,000 monthly SearchVoice visitors of a  large electronic retailer web site showed that visitors landing on user review pages spent 50% more time on site, viewed 82% more pages, and converted 60% more often than visitors landing on other pages.

User Generated Content for SEO

A report by Nielsen Buzz Metrics shows that 26% of search results link to user generated content.

Enable an advanced User Generated Content Frequently Asked Question hub can increase the number of purchases due to easy to question-response decrease product returns, since customers will know more about a product before they purchase.   Consumers want to find information online.   Offer a full FAQ port where people can not only find answers that are actually frequently asked, post specific questions for publication and follow up by the company.

Use the feedback from customer reviews to add to your Frequently Asked Questions page.   This will provide a more positive experience to the customer and reduce the load for customer support and technical people.

Have a live Question & Answer with a technical specialist who answers all FAQ and support issues should be enabled allowing the option to allow the question published online.