Recently, a study was posted on MarketingSherpa.com that revealed just how intensely customer-generated reviews can affect a site’s conversions, reporting that a 58% majority of consumers prefer online store with the user reviews. Not only that, but the addition of such reviews can drastically and dramatically increase a site’s conversion rate, such as in the instance of AWineStore.com, where the addition of customer-reviews increased his eCommerce sales over 80% in a single year, 60% over the industry average of 20%. Such statistics are hard to ignore, especially when adding these review systems are such an easy way to bring your site into the Web 2.0 age of consumer-driven content. InternetRetailing.net also supports these numbers, noting that in the 18-34 demographic, these user-generated content sites are becoming more trusted forms of advertisement than those they see on television. How can you take advantage? The article concludes,

My suggestion: you don’t need to be an ecommerce marketer to take advantage of the review factor. If you’re selling to consumers offline, use the Web to collect real-life reviews for repurposing offline. If you’re a B-to-B demand generation marketer, consider adding reviews to your white paper and/or webinar offers. The psychology is the same — fans love to write them and prospects love to read them. Everyone can steal an idea from Amazon.com’s book — review away!