The number of reviews earned has increased significantly and sales have doubled! Custom questions have helped us to understand the needs of our users in detail!
Case Study Interview
Last Drip Designs Co., Ltd. manufactures and sells products made from "genuine vegetable-tanned leather." The company identified a challenge in the low review acquisition rate on its own e-commerce site and implemented U-KOMI to address this issue. As a result, the number of reviews—including those for past purchases—increased significantly, and the company achieved double the sales revenue compared to before implementation. In this
article, we spoke with 池田様, who is in charge of U-KOMI operations at the company, to learn about the reasons behind the implementation and the results achieved.
Manufacturing and sales of products made from "vegetable-tanned leather"
First, could you tell us about your business?
We are a manufacturer and retailer specializing in leather goods. Our main products are bags and wallets made from "genuine vegetable-tanned leather" (leather tanned with vegetable tannins and finished with minimal dyeing or surface treatment), which we sell online.
We felt the low review acquisition rate was an issue, so we implemented U-KOMI
What challenges did you face before implementing a review tool?
We were originally using the default review feature built into our online store platform, but we weren’t able to acquire reviews as we had hoped. Specifically, we were only getting about 20 to 30 reviews for every 300 to 500 purchases, which was a very low acquisition rate compared to typical e-commerce sites.
I believe the main reason we struggled to gather reviews was that the default review feature was difficult for users to navigate and the user flow was poor. Specifically, regarding the user flow, the content of the review request emails wasn’t linked to the products customers had purchased, so customers had to go to the product page themselves and manually enter the review—there was significant room for improvement.
Additionally, something we realized after actually collecting reviews was that our customer base consists largely of older adults and families. Users with these demographics often have experience shopping on major e-commerce platforms and are accustomed to review features with intuitive navigation. Consequently, I believe that because our review feature required users to manually search for where to post—a rather cumbersome process—many found it too time-consuming and ultimately abandoned the process.
I’d also like to ask what prompted you to consider implementing a review tool.
As I mentioned earlier, the process leading up to posting a review was complex and required customers to complete many steps on their own, so we wanted to improve the review system. Additionally, since few companies in our industry had adopted Google’s star rating system, we believed it would help us stand out—this was another reason we began considering a review tool.
Cost-effectiveness and the ability to set custom questions were the deciding factors
Among the various review tools available, what was the deciding factor in choosing U-KOMI?
We compared and evaluated tools from overseas as well, but the deciding factors were that it is a service offered by a domestic company, that integration with our current online store platform was seamless, and that there were numerous implementation case studies. Additionally, the cost-effectiveness was excellent—we felt it would be profitable even for a small business like ours—and the comprehensive implementation support, along with the fact that it already implemented the star rating system mentioned earlier, were also attractive features.
Furthermore, the ability to set custom questions was another key factor. While 5-star ratings and text-based reviews are standard, we were very impressed by the option to include multiple-choice questions addressing specific details, such as “Was your purchase motivated by design or functionality?” and “How was the actual user experience and product quality?”
U-KOMI improved our conversion rate and doubled our sales. The
star rating feature also allowed us to differentiate ourselves from competitors.
What results have you seen since implementing U-KOMI?
After implementation, we first focused on collecting reviews from past customers. With 300 to 500 purchases, we were able to gather approximately 100 reviews (over 20%).Since we gathered 100 reviews all at once, the site’s ratings became visually clear, and as a result of the increased conversion rate, annual sales have roughly doubled compared to before implementation. We are currently aiming to collect 800 to 1,000 reviews. As time has passed since implementation and the number of reviews has increased, the conversion rate has continued to improve, so we expect further improvements in the future.
Furthermore, since very few companies in the leather goods industry have implemented a star rating feature on their own websites, the star rating allows us to stand out in Google Shopping search results, which is another benefit of the implementation.
We’ve also seen tangible benefits from the ability to set custom questions.For example, due to the nature of our products, we receive a certain number of reviews stating that “the leather feels stiff.” However, if a user who prioritized design over functionality answers the question, “Did you prioritize design or functionality when making your purchase?” we can interpret their feedback as, “Even though the leather feels stiff, the design is excellent.” This creates a virtuous cycle where other customers who value design see these reviews and decide to make a purchase. I believe this ability to provide information tailored to user needs through custom questions is a major benefit of implementing the system.
Finally, please let us know if you have any requests or expectations for U-KOMI.
Currently, we face the challenge of not seeing an increase in Google reviews. We include a letter in our shipments encouraging customers to post reviews, but the reality is that this hasn’t led to many Google reviews. Therefore, I would appreciate it if there were a way to integrate U-KOMI with Google Reviews (Note: It is possible to include a request for a Google review in the thank-you email sent after a review is posted).
Additionally, I think it would be even better if there were a recommendation system for products that generate sales through reviews, or the ability to display top-rated reviews by category.
