The Impact of Negative Reviews and the Role of Trust in Online Businesses

The rise of ecommerce has made online reputation management a critical aspect of running a successful business. Negative reviews can have a significant impact on your brand's image and revenue, and cultivating trust with customers is an essential component to preventing them.

The Impact of Negative Reviews


Negative reviews can have a detrimental effect on your online business in several ways:

  • Damage your brand reputation: A negative review can quickly tarnish your brand's image, making it challenging to recover. Research has shown that even a one-star decrease in rating can result in a 5-9% decline in revenue (HBR, 2016).
  • Deter your potential customers: Studies indicate that 94% of consumers avoid a business due to negative reviews (BrightLocal, 2021). Online shoppers often read reviews before making a purchase, and a negative review can directly influence their decision.
  • Affect your search engine rankings: Search engines consider reviews when determining website ranking. A high number of negative reviews can lead to lower search engine rankings and reduced visibility (FibreMarketing).

Building Trust with Customers


Establishing trust is crucial for the success of your ecommerce business, and trust-building measures can help mitigate negative reviews while enhancing the customer experience. One such measure is Norton Shopping Guarantee, which offers a powerful way to build trust with your customers. This tool provides several benefits:


Identity Theft Protection: Online shoppers are often concerned about the security of their personal information. Offering identity theft protection enables businesses to reassure customers and reduce the likelihood of negative reviews stemming from security concerns.


Purchase Guarantee: Ensuring customers that their purchases are protected can go a long way in building trust. If a problem arises with a purchase, a guarantee can help resolve the issue with minimal time and effort on your part, preventing negative reviews from frustrated customers.


Lowest Price Guarantee: Pricing is a critical factor in the decision-making process for many customers. By offering a lowest price guarantee, businesses can prevent negative reviews related to pricing discrepancies and demonstrate their commitment to providing value.

Benefits of Building Consumer Confidence

Why is it so important for your customers to trust you? 

  1. Higher conversion rates. Our customers experience a 7% to 10% increase in conversion rates on average when they start protecting their customers with our shopping guarantee. With most shopping guarantees, consumers don’t see it until they reach the shopping cart, and many are gone long before them. Seeing Norton Shopping Guarantee in the corner of every page of your website gives them the confidence to stick around and purchase a product. 
  2. Improve the customer experience. When a customer is putting down their hard-earned cash for your product, they will have a better experience knowing their investment is covered. Knowing they can trust your brand brings peace of mind and a better customer experience. 
  3. Reduce the incidence of negative reviews. Putting Norton Shopping Guarantee in place will give your customers a plan of action if anything does happen, and that can lead to fewer reviews.
  4. Minimize the impact of negative reviews when they do happen. Negative reviews happen from time to time—even if a customer is simply having a bad day—but it’s not the end of the world. A guarantee can help customers trust you in spite of the occasional grumpy customer. And if any negative reviews about a covered issue show up, you can respond and gently counteract the review by mentioning the coverage. 

Create an Environment of Confidence

To maximize the effectiveness of trust-building measures like the Norton Shopping Guarantee, it is essential to educate customers by immediately showing them what they’ll get when purchasing from your business. Norton Shopping Guarantee provides a trustmark seen by your online visitors from start to finish in their shopping experience. 


By providing clear, concise information about the benefits of such guarantees, businesses can create a more transparent and trustworthy shopping experience.


Negative reviews can pose significant challenges for online businesses, but implementing trust-building measures can help reduce their impact. By understanding the importance of addressing negative reviews and incorporating tools such as the Norton Shopping Guarantee, businesses can create an environment of trust and confidence. 


Sign up for a demo or click to learn more when you’re ready to start diminishing the impact of negative online reviews for your business. 

Stay in the know

Subscribe to the Norton Shopping Guarantee blog and receive the latest in ecommerce best practices.