How to Read Shopping Cart Reviews

There are a lot of sites out there offering shopping cart reviews. Figuring out which are valuable and which are not can be a challenge. It takes a smart shopper and a keen eye to sort out the shiny jewels from the dull rocks. So what should you look for when reading ecommerce software reviews or visiting a site with reviews of shopping carts?

1. Objectivity. Objectivity is probably the most important thing to look for in a shopping cart review or site. You need to know that the reviewer's words haven't been swayed in any way, either by direct payment or consideration of some other kind (promotion on a website, free merchandise, etc.). Check around the site, look for a description of the reviewer's editorial process. If they don't explicitly say that they never take money in exchange for a good review, or even worse, don't bother describing their review process at all, be cautious! Look for phrases like "unbiased reviews" and "our shopping cart reviews are not for sale."

2. Independence. Independence and objectivity tend to go together. The review site should be its own "third party" entity, not connected to any group that could exert pressure on the reviewers to change their editorials. A good example of this would be a shopping cart review site funded by a shopping cart that appears on the site. If you want an independent, unbiased review of "XZY Cart," then you probably want to look somewhere else besides the "XZY Cart" website. A website that says "This site paid for by XZY Cart" or "Copyright XZY Cart" is also suspect. It's one thing to go to a cart's site to gather information about its capabilities, but it's another thing entirely to just take the company's word that their ecommerce software is any good.

3. Professionalism. Professional reviewers make all the difference. Stick to shopping cart reviews that are well-written and show a firm grasp of the English language (or whatever language they are written in), and look well-designed. They should also be well-researched. A review that is just a rehash of the cart's features is not much of a review. The reviewer should tell you things that you could not know without getting in deep and testing out the software. This is what makes a professional worth it. Look for a description of the review process. It should include some mention of a team or group of trained, experienced individuals (or at least one person, if it's a small site) who focus specifically on trying out the software and reporting their findings. Phrases like: "We tested this feature and found..." or "Our research came back with..." are good signs.

4. Experience. This goes hand in hand with professionalism. Do a little research on the site. How long have they been doing shopping cart reviews? What is their Page Rank? How is the site interface? Is it clear that someone has put some time and effort into this site, or does it just look slapped together? How often is content updated? Is there a blog? How old is the most recent post? A healthy, established site will have a domain age that is old and content that is new. This shows you that the people behind the site have made, and continue to make, it a priority. Phrases like: "We've been at this for a while," or "One thing we've learned during our years in ecommerce is..." Open archives or records of past posts are also good signs.

5. Variety. With experience and professionalism comes variety. A site that only does one type of shopping cart reviews (ie just hosted carts, just open source carts, etc.) is fine, but only if they are reviewing a large amount of them. A site with only a few reviews on it really throws the whole site into question, no matter how well-written the reviews might be. The more variety a site has, the stronger their ecommerce software reviews will be, because the staff will have a broader range of experiences with a number of different carts and types of carts. Look for shopping cart reviews to include phrases like: "We've seen features like this in carts like X and Y, but Cart Z does it really well..." and "Cart B is like a lot of other carts that are adding social media functionality..."

6. Customer reviews, community, and feedback. Although you're on the site for the professional shopping cart reviews, there should also be at least a couple of customer reviews from people who have also used the shopping cart software. Make sure that these reviews don't completely contradict the published reviews. Forums can also be a good place to double check published reviews (people tend to be very candid on forums). Lastly, the site should welcome feedback and be willing to answer questions freely. Beware of sites that try to lure you in with free "reviews," but then either want to sell you a shopping cart solution, hook you into a pricey consulting contract, or both.

These qualities will help you start to weed through the jungle of shopping cart reviews out there, but only your experiences can truly bring these lessons home. Go out and compare a few different ecommerce software review websites and see for yourself. When you place a high quality independent site next to a poorly written spam site, you'll see the difference.