Beauty reviews found less influential than other sectors

Product reviews in the beauty industry are having less impact on search trends than other ecommerce sectors, according to a new report by Remarkable Commerce and Trustpilot.

The report analysed over 7,246 Google reviews and over 250,000 popular health and beauty products, finding that reviews seem to have less overall impact on search demand in the beauty space.

Items that had the highest number of four and five star reviews saw an average search growth of 9%, compared to 34% in fashion and 248% in electronics.

Some products with 100% four and five star rating experienced a drop in searches over the past year, which the report attributes to users taking interest in social media instead of Google.

Reviews of beauty and wellbeing businesses make up an estimated 5% of all reviews on Trustpilot’s platform. Research by Trustpilot, conducted by London Research, found that 87% of beauty consumers claim they find ratings and reviews useful, 5% higher than that of fashion and apparel.

The beauty products sampled with the highest volume of growth were the NYX Cosmetics Jumbo Eye Pencil with 73.66% four star+ reviews on Google Shopping and a 122% increase in searches year-on-year. Along with Mitchum Powder Fresh with 92.97% four star+ reviews and an 88% increase in searches.

Other products listed include The Body Shop Camomile Cleaning Butter, Clinique Chubby Stick and La Roche Posay Suncream.

Brad Houldsworth, Head of Product at Remarkable Commerce, said: “We’ve worked with Trustpilot on the Ecommerce Reviews Report to really highlight the value of ratings and reviews in the ecommerce industry in 2022.

“Reviews not only help people to understand the pros and cons of a product, but they also encourage customers to look outside of the box and consider a brand or product that they might not have been familiar with before. For ecommerce sites, it’s no longer a situation of if you have product reviews on your site - it’s when you start to implement them.”