Product Review Scripts

[gabrielcrowe]

nice code, thanks.

i'll make something pretty out of it.

[Marci]

Had a feeling you would d00d...
We used to use it back with v6, but when we upgraded to v8 I simply couldn't be arsed implementing it again - didn't like having to use iframes, and didn't have the time to give to it to sort it into anything properly useable.

[gabrielcrowe]

actually, lol, i take that back. its dire html and awkward to customise, but its a good start.

the prodref problem is a serious one, any ideas on a fix? i'm toying with a few.

[Marci]

Custom PHP page with "reset this product's rating: [insert prod ref]" that updates the SQL record with 0's for everything (other than the ID field) or ensure customer uses manual product ref's and never duplicates (even if previous prod has been deleted).

[gabrielcrowe]

thats what we were discussing.

[Florian]

Hi Andy,

Had a go with your Review System - looks really promising!

Two issues though:
There seems to be a problem with duplicates - When a review gets written by clicking on a duplicate product only the original product gets the review displaid, not all the duplicates also.

If a reviewer unticks the box 'Display your email address with the review' their email still shows on the review page once Actinic has been updated. Surely it should be omitted?

Please let me know what the status is regarding these problems before we decide whether to purchase.

Many thanks
Florian

[Andy@codepath]

Thanks for the feedback Florian. I will look at these issues and come back to you tomorrow.

Regards

[Andy@codepath]

...both issues addressed Florian. Many thanks for pointing them out. Have sent full details to you via email.

regards

[Florian]

Thanks Andy, have replied by email.
Regards
Florian

[Ginnys Attic]

Had a look at the Codepath product review system and it's ok but what would be really cool and make the whole process a little more idiots posting rubbish proof is if customers were only able to post reviews on items they had actually purchased (using the order number and postcode as a login system to stop the fools who go round posting all sorts of rubbish where ever possible) and if there was also a way for customers to rate the service and site similar to say eBay feedback and this could be displayed in a testimonials section or something.

[Andy@codepath]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Adrian. A version 2 of this plug-in is planned for early in the new year (free upgrade from version 1) with some additional features like an auto-generated 'top rated' section (similar to the existing Actinic Best Sellers list) and follow-up emails to buyers to invite reviews with convenient direct links to the review entry page. Your thoughts will definitely go into the melting pot.

To clarify the issue re the junk reviews you refer to, there is an Admin interface where you approve reviews for publication so nothing gets published that you don't want. However, if there is a significant volume of them then obviously if the software could save you the hassle of sifting through them then it would be a benefit.

[Florian]

Hi Adrian,
I think your idea of a general rating for the whole site (customer service, delivery, etc) is great, a 'feedback' style of review would soon separate the good sites from the not so good ones.

I would be a little concerned though of putting too many obstacles in front of people who are kind enough to review individual items on my site. Having to find the order number and log on to the system before reviewing a product may put some off. We're all getting busier and busier it seems and after all, they're doing us sellers a favour really, by hopefully promoting our products with good reviews.

Recent studies have shown that positive product reviews have a huge impact on potential customers (myself included) and I'd hate to make it too difficult for people to give some of their own time when reviewing one of my products. As Andy says, you can vet all reviews before they go live and the mechanism for this is really simple and effective.

Adding follow-up emails to customers with hotlinks to review purchased products are a brilliant idea Andy, combined with maybe a little incentive (small discount of next order, monthly prize draw for reviewers, etc) should really increase the amount of reviews on a site.

Regards
Florian

[Ginnys Attic]

good call guys about the getting the order number etc, maybe just use the customers postcode or something just to ensure no spammers etc and to also only allow people to review products they have actually purchased which was also one of my concerns.

As you say Florian people are very busy these days and that goes for us all also no doubt and checking reviews to ensure no spam is posted and that people only review products they have actually purchased would be essential for me and version 2 with the email invite etc is sounding very interesting and i'll be keeping an eye out for release for sure.

[gabrielcrowe]

The problem with posting reviews on your site, is that someone might review them down.

It's as simple as that.

Where someone may be encouraged to buy an item simply becasue it has a high rating, i'd think that more people will be put off, simply becasue an item has low ratings.

This can actually be used in your favour, if you are fielding the reviews (an essential process). All products will at some point receive good reviews and all of them will recieve bad reviews. It's how you use them on your site that makes items seem more appealing than others. You can, for example, deliberately badly rate an item that you dont want to sell, but really should have on your site.

Simple star ratings can usually be sufficient. But a customer is usually savvy enough to understand the 'fake' nature of ratings. especially if the ratings are all 4 and 5 stars. A spread of stars is essential to make your ratings system work. No one has a perfect set of products in stock.

So, using other peoples words, is really the way forward, this gives your site some power with the people. Letting them know that you arent a hard sell customer disenchanted terror to deal with. Using nevative reviews is quite a different point here, becasue a single bad review in any product can lose a sale. Literally. If each individual can be seen for their opinions, then the whole game breaks down.

This kind if intimacy between the customer and your products would only work if you sold thousands of products, and the performance of any single product was not important. Customers would notice if all your reviews were good reviews.

[Andy@codepath]

Soapbox for Actinic v7

Just wondering whether this is nearer to being available yet? Also is it only suitable for V8 or will the add-in work on V7 too?

Just I'm looking for some way of adding either a product rating script and/or a review script to a V7 site.

Cheers.

Graham

Soapbox, our Product Review plug-in, is now Available for use with Actinic versions 6 and 7. If you would like more information please contact me off-forum or see http://www.codepath.co.uk/soapbox_info.htm