Online retailers are always on the lookout for ways to improve the online shopping experience and stay ahead of the competition. Adding consumer product reviews is one such way.

As part of the analysis of the Spring 2007 edition of the Top 100 Online Retail Satisfaction Index, we delved into the data specific to consumer product reviews to answer these questions:

• How do customer reviews contribute to satisfaction with the website experience?
• Do customer reviews drive purchase?
• Are there any differences in the effectiveness of customer reviews by product category?