As peer-to-peer networks such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and others continue to grow, so will the need for similar community features on e-commerce websites. According to MarketingSherpa’s Ecommerce Benchmark Guide 2007, over 58% of online consumers surveyed prefer sites with product reviews. I suspect that we will see this number continue to grow in the coming months as we gear up for the holiday season. Why? Because consumers trust each other more than they trust you.

One of the biggest challenges of any small e-commerce business is trust. Consumers do not trust you because they feel that you are biased (and you are) and will say anything to get their money. You have to go out of your way to change that perception and win them over (and when that happens you have a very valuable customer). But until you do, leverage the trust that consumers have for each other by incorporating product reviews which have been known to help increase conversion rates.

Not only is it a valuable resource for your customers, but it can be an excellent resource for your business as well. By closely monitoring the reviews, you can track any products that are consistently getting negative reviews and make any necessary changes.

So plan on adding product reviews to your Yahoo! Store or other e-commerce website today to increase your conversation rate and gain valuable insight into product performance.

Additional Thought: Before adding product reviews to your website, make sure that there is a control process in place to avoid indecent comments and/or spam being added to your site automatically. Certain programs give you the ability to read each and every review prior to it going public. One spam comment and you could tarnish the whole system.