Product Review Software for Small Business Ecommerce Sites

Today's s Internet shoppers spend a lot of time researching a product before making a purchase. A new survey released by PowerReviews in conjunction with the e-tailing group indicates that one-in-two respondents (of the 1,000 shoppers surveyed) spent 75 percent of their overall shopping time researching products, compared to just 21 percent in 2010.

User-generated reviews make up a big part of consumer research.  A detailed product shot and description can build interest for your products -- but nothing says "buy me" more than knowing that others have purchased and tried the product with positive results.

What are PHP Product Review Scripts?

Many product review systems and software are PHP-based scripts that provide a form-based process for customers to rate your products and add comments on your ecommerce product pages.

PHP is a server-side scripting language that can be embedded directly into HTML Web pages. When the page is viewed, the Web server executes the code automatically; visitors don't need to install anything for the PHP script to run.  Most review scripts also use MySQL for the back-end database.

To work, PHP must be installed on your Web server. Each review script will list all Web server requirements for the software. If you are unsure what is installed on your Web server, be sure to check with your ISP or ecommerce Web host for availability and version information.

PHP Review Scripts for Ecommerce Websites

Five Star Review Script: The Five Star Review Script can be used to let users read and write reviews for your products or services. It is a PHP-based script that provides functionality similar to that of Amazon’s user reviews. Shoppers can rate a product on a scale of 1 to 5 stars and submit comments review for site visitors to read.  

Website owners can manage Five Star Reviews through a single file that controls the entire site layout. Other features of note include a bad-word filter that administrators can modify, an option for users to recommend a specific product to their friends, and more. Pricing starts at $50.00 for a leased license for one domain.

Star Rating System PRO:  Star Rating System PRO is a template-based solution offered by GraFX Software Solutions. It is a commercial PHP program for ecommerce product pages or community discussion forums. Star Rating System PRO is a simple forum where users on your site can add a rating based on Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor or Very Poor. It provides fields to enter a name, email address, URL and brief comments.

Star Rating System PRO uses an email system to alert administrators and site owners when reviews come in, and you can even moderate the comments over email. Other useful tools and features include a security verification image to help prevent SPAM, the capability to customize the number of reviews per page, edit comments and more. The pricing for Star Rating System PRO starts at $29.00 for one domain license.

ReviewPost PHP Pro User Reviews: Another option for adding user reviews to your website is ReviewPost PHP Pro by All Enthusiast, Inc. ReviewPost PHP Pro works completely on its own with all functionality included, and it also works with vBulletin, phpBB 2.0, and UBB Threads v5 and v6, to keep your website users from having to register twice.  The program lets reviewers upload product images, search reviews by keyword, rate products on a scale of one to five and provide a pros and cons list in the review. 

ReviewPost PHP Pro can be integrated into an existing site which gives administrators several options to control how it looks by changing color choices, font choices, custom headers/footers and CSS.  ReviewPost PHP Pro offers a robust selection of admin options including an easy Web-based setup, options to approve, reject or edit reviews before they go live on the site, create and rename categories, track user views and more.  Pricing starts at $89.00 for the review software installation on one domain.

More Product Review Tips and Trends

Looking to get a better handle on integrating user-generated product reviews into your small business ecommerce website? Try these tips and guides:

• Capitalize on Customer Reviews
• The Good News About Bad Reviews
• Profitable Product Pages

Vangie Beal is a veteran online seller and frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com. She is also managing editor of Webopedia.com. You can tweet with her online @AuroraGG.