The possibility for customers to rate the delivered goods and service is a factor for success in online business that should not be underestimated. Depending on the study, 70 – 80% of buyers use the opinions of other customers and actively include them in their purchase decision. Online merchants thus signal to potential customers that you work openly and have nothing to hide. This creates trust, which is especially important in anonymous and supra-regional online trade. However, many online retailers, especially very small ones, shy away from using these systems in their webshops or actively pointing out to customers the possibility of submitting a rating for their purchase. In this article, I want to shed light on what is necessary in JTL Shop 3 to make optimal use of the rating system and whether an external solution with the VERISTORE rating system is an alternative.

Build-In Solution Reviews

The standard functionality of good webshop solutions also includes a rating system for customers. JTL-Shop 3 therefore also has a rating module and recession module that can be called up via the menu item Modules in the backend. After JTL-Shop 3 setup, the customer rating is disabled and must be enabled if it is to be used. However, before using the evaluation module in JTL Shop 3, the online merchant should be aware of the process behind it or, best of all, make it visually transparent with a flowchart. In simple terms, the evaluation should follow the following pattern:

1. customer orders in the online store.

2. goods are delivered to the customer.

3. customer will then receive a reminder email with the link to the item to be able to submit a review.

If the customer is already registered, he logs in and leaves his rating with text. If not, he still has to register before.

5. customer rating is enabled in the backend by store owner/administrator.

The whole thing is Important to set the optimal time for sending the reminder email. In the “Days after sending” field, the number of days after which the reminder email is sent is defined in the settings of the rating module. This period should not be too short, so that the customer does not receive the mail before the goods are there, and also not too long, so that the customer does not have to remember again. Ideal would probably be a value delivery time + 3 days. In addition to the timing of the “reminder email after article purchase”, the mail templates should be adapted to the corresponding needs under the menu item Content – Email templates. If you work with the bonus system, which makes sense here, you should already point out in the reminder email that the customer receives a credit for a submitted rating. Also, the principle applies, transparency increases the conversation rate.

Once the rating module has been set up, the manual workload is limited to activating the ratings submitted and dealing with any negative ratings. To do this, you have to log into the backend of the JTL Shop 3 and call up the rating system in the menu item Modules. Submitted ratings can be edited by the administrator afterwards, but there is no possibility to reply directly to such a rating (unless you write this text directly into the rating text). I find this to be the biggest drawback of this solution. I also find the fact that the customer first has to register in the store in order to be able to submit a rating to be a brake block in the system. Otherwise, the rating module is definitely recommendable for stores with rather low sales, as there are no additional costs here and the setup is done quickly with just a few steps.

External solution VERISTORE

As an alternative to the evaluation module of JTL-Shop 3, the use of a third-party solution can definitely be considered. As a consultant, I am always very critical about the use of additional modules, plugins or services from third parties. I was also rather skeptical about the customer rating system provider VERISTORE. Still think you should take a look at this solution and include it in the planning. This applies not only to Veristore, but also to other providers of comparable solutions. During my research, a number of questions came up, which I addressed to Veristore by e-mail and to which I received answers surprisingly quickly. Therefore here completely unfiltered – and thus hopefully also authentic for you, my questions and the corresponding answers:

1. why should the store owner choose Veristore? In JTL-Shop 3 or also comparable other products this function is often already available and can be integrated very easily.

To 1. the built-in function in JTL-Shop3 realizes product reviews only. While these are also becoming increasingly important for customers – at Veristore, however, you can find reviews about the store itself, customer service, delivery and shipping.

End customers are particularly skeptical when it comes to internal store ratings. Veristore as an independent external service provider focuses only on verified customer opinions.

2) There are many quality labels and customer rating systems on the market. Trusted Shop, TüV Süd, EHI and many more. What makes Veristore different?

Re 2.
As you can see, there is a lot of confusion: seals of approval, customer ratings, purchase insurance, warning protection for store operators, legal texts and so on The development of Veristore is based on 17 years of agency experience in e-commerce. We don’t do bells and whistles, but limit ourselves to what the store owner really needs and what really benefits him. We do not get bogged down, but focus on the area of evaluations. We offer these via a state-of-the-art yet simple system. In addition, there are many additional benefits that you would otherwise search in vain: Ratings as RSS feed for social media use, ratings as structured data on your own website, direct links to individual ratings, rating enclosures for the physical package – we even have a solution for POS and service providers on offer. We see ourselves as an innovation driver and set the bar very high for our market competitors.

3. safe purchase is important for the customer. According to which criteria is the store checked by Veristore?

To. 3
Veristore’s core competence is user reviews. Of course, we check whether our contractual partner is who he claims to be and verify the authenticity of the information. Unlike other providers, however, we do not tell store operators how to design their store or how to formulate their terms and conditions. We can’t and we don’t want to. For this, the store operator has his agency and his lawyer, both of whom certainly know what the state of the art is.

4) How many store owners are currently using Veristore?

To. 4
Veristore launched in November 2014 – actually at an insanely stupid date, in the middle of the Christmas shopping season. Nevertheless, we have already succeeded in acquiring numerous stores during this time. Now in the spring, enrollment numbers are picking up significantly. As a newcomer, however, you naturally have a hard time, even if the advantages are obvious.

4. in JTL-Shop 3, the customer can receive a credit for a submitted rating in a variable amount, depending on the length of the text. Does this possibility also exist with Veristore?

To. 5
The current legal position on this approach is not clear. A widely perceived ruling by the Higher Regional Court of Hamm in November 2010 declared this approach to be inadmissible. In this respect, we cannot advise store operators to offer such a reward (even if they could easily implement it semi-automatically via Veristore).

However, we will soon offer Veristore review customers the opportunity to sign up for a special coupon newsletter, through which they can regularly receive updated coupons from all Veristore participating stores.

6. it can be read in the FAQ that the store operator can use the data. Who owns the ratings and what about if the customer wants to change the rating system. Does this then give the possibility to transfer the ratings into the new system?

To. 6
Both the rating texts and rating stars belong to our customers. There is a unique possibility to export the ratings. He can, of course, take these with him to another provider.

7. in order to submit a rating at JTL-Shop 3, the customer must register in the store with his email address. Do customers have to register as buyers with Veristore before submitting a review in order to prevent abuse through fake reviews, for example?

To. 7
Prior registration of the end customer is not required. The rating submission requires a valid mail address and invoice number. In the case of automatic evaluation prompts, this data is pre-filled. The rating submission must be confirmed again via link.

8. payment methods such as Amazon Payment offer almost optimal consumer protection through the money back guarantee, since the store operator is also obligated here to accept the terms and conditions of Amazon. What benefits or advantages does the consumer get from a Veristore Quality Seal or when submitting a review about Veristore?

To. 8
Veristore is a specialist in customer reviews and not a store insurance. A few years ago, such purchase protection might have made sense. Nowadays, the legal issues surrounding online purchases are comprehensively clarified and the customer knows about his rights and how to claim them. If there is a problem with the store, a possible bad rating by the customer is more likely to settle a situation in the customer’s favor than a money-back guarantee by a third party – possibly with many conditions attached. Ultimately, it is also much more in the interests of the store operator to receive the unvarnished – possibly also negative – feedback of its customers than for the customer to simply turn to an uninvolved guarantor without communicating with the store.

Interesting to me was a point that came up only after this email in conversation with Daniel Tischenko of Veristore:

“The consumer” gives a negative rating. He has also verified this via the Veristore confirmation email, so the rating will be published immediately. If it claims false facts, the store owner must take action and contact Veristore. If he can prove that, for example, the customer has not placed an order at all, Veristore will intervene.

Our idea is to provide the merchant with an easy way to defend themselves against unauthorized reviews. It is very important to ensure the authenticity of the rating system.

Our customers can respond to reviews at any time.”

As a merchant, Veristore gives me the opportunity to respond directly to a negative review by means of a reply. Prohibited or illegal statements are – as far as possible – automatically filtered and end up with the Veristore administrator, who makes a case-by-case decision. If the review contains false claims or vituperative criticism, I as a merchant must intervene and contact Veristore.

As a conclusion, I can state that the use of an external solution for a customer rating system under JTL-Shop 3 can make sense. The Veristore solution presented here takes the burden of checking all reviews off the merchant. Through honest and verified reviews, the retailer strengthens the trust of its customers in the long term. This can be unlocked very easily via a JTL plug-in.

A disadvantage, of course with the associated costs of such a system, is the missing interface to the rating module of JTL-Shop 3. Thus, credit notes for incoming ratings are not possible. If you want to learn more about Veristore you can do so here by clicking on the banner.