Customer reviews become a key battleground as AI revolutionizes product discovery

When asked if reviews seem to impact whether his products are recommended by AI agents, Eric Edelson, CEO of direct-to-consumer tile company Fireclay Tile, said, “One million percent.”

“Our reviews are really in-depth, which I think plays super well to [large language models],” he added. A quick test by Modern Retail found that ChatGPT lists Fireclay Tile as the “best DTC tile company in California, based on reviews.”

Now, to better pop up in AI search results, brands are placing a bigger emphasis on getting more customers to leave reviews. In recent months, for instance, dog food brand Pawco started offering customers $20 off if they left a review after their third order. Meanwhile, Fireclay Tile has become “more deliberate” about soliciting reviews, Edelson said. The company sends customers personalized notes asking for reviews, and it holds contests among employees to see who can drum up the most reviews.

This is important, as more people are turning to AI engines as a trusted source for product research. In the U.S., ChatGPT users are making more than 84 million shopping-related queries weekly, per Stackline. “These AI engines are very, very good at doing web search and discovery for you,” Adam Brotman, a former Starbucks and J.Crew executive and the co-founder of the applied AI company Forum3, told Modern Retail. “They present you with an answer to your shopping questions — price and features and reviews — and save you time.”

Reviews provide a trove of crucial information to LLMs. But some platforms are more open than others about giving AI engines access to reviews. In 2024, OpenAI signed a deal with Reddit to “bring Reddit data to ChatGPT,” which would include users’ posts about products and services. But, as Modern Retail has reported, Amazon has quietly blocked OpenAI-related bots from crawling Amazon.com content, including reviews.

Reviews as trust drivers

Pawco, which was founded in 2021, tends to earn new customers from paid advertising, as well as Google and customer referrals, said Ryan Bouton, vp of growth for Pawco. Pawco sells fresh-food subscription meals and treats and is known for its salads and protein bars for dogs. It’s launching a new sub-brand called Genius Dog, which curates products around monthly themes, such as “movie night” or “tea party.”

As Pawco looks to capture more market share, sourcing reviews has “definitely grown in importance,” Bouton said. “People don’t just switch their dog’s food unless they really trust [the product],” he explained. “So, reviews in that realm have become important to us. … And, in the last six months, AI search optimization has become a big focus of what we’re trying to unlock, especially as a smaller brand who’s fighting against bigger brands.”

Pawco, though, is also finding that the timing of reviews is important. The company doesn’t ask for reviews right away, knowing that pets and their owners need weeks to adjust to its products and see the benefits. Pawco usually solicits reviews after two weeks for a standalone order, or, for a subscription product, after three reorder cycles.

Pawco’s $20-off-for-a-review deal only applies after a customer receives their third order. “We figure if someone has stuck with us for three orders, it shows our investment and their loyalty,” Bouton said. Two or three years ago, Pawco “definitely wouldn’t have been offering that $20 off,” he said. But now, he explained, “We’re a lot more focused on reviews as being a core part of our strategy.”

Nik Kacy, who owns their own gender-free footwear and accessories brand, also finds that reviews are helpful for brand reach. “We send out automated requests for reviews,” they told Modern Retail. “I definitely try to tell folks [to write a review], because I don’t really have an ad budget. Everything’s by word of mouth.”

At Pawco, customers are sharing that they’ve learned about the brand by searching terms like “best food for dogs with allergies” on AI search engines. “We’ve seen our first orders coming in and growing month over month, from ChatGPT and other AI search platforms,” Bouton said. “That’s where consumers are discovering brands now, the same way they used to be discovering brands on Google.”

Incentives and encouragement

Customer reviews are crucial, but not common, in the design world, said Fireclay Tile’s Edelson. The company serves clients from Starbucks to Salesforce to home owners.

“Reviews are insanely powerful, and they add credibility and assurance,” Edelson said. But compared to, say, the restaurant industry, reviews “don’t happen as much” with interior design and construction, he explained. “Professionals [like contractors or interior designers] are less likely to leave reviews,” he said. “And for homeowners, [a remodel] is such a drawn-out experience that, by the time they finish, … it’s the last thing on their mind. We have to encourage people to post reviews.”

Knowing that AI engines are pulling from reviews, Fireclay Tile is now stepping up how it sources reviews. “I’m kind of obsessive about asking for the review,” Edelson joked. The company has a Slack channel called #ClientSuccess, in which salespeople share positive customer anecdotes. “My response is, ‘Awesome! Please ask for a review,'” Edelson said. Edelson writes notes to every customer, soliciting reviews, and Fireclay Tile periodically makes donations on a customer’s behalf, in exchange for a review. In the past, it has given money to support national parks.

Internally, Fireclay Tile is providing incentives for employees to solicit reviews, too. It runs different contests around who can get the most and best reviews. Recently, Fireclay Tile acquired Fox Marble, a countertop installation company, and offered team members $25 if they got a five-star review from a customer. Edelson also maintains a spreadsheet of ratings and reviews from competitors, to see how Fireclay Tile stacks up.

However, brands are finding that it’s not just reviews that are important — it’s also where customers are posting them. While companies are featuring reviews on their websites and social media channels, AI search engines are increasingly pulling from reviews on public forums like Yelp or Tripadvisor. It’s a bit of a return to where things were 10-15 years ago, Edelson said. His company asks people to write reviews on all types of forums, to up their odds of getting surfaced.

“We have this incredible rich content on our site that LLMs are seeking, but also, the Reddits and Googles are very powerful again,” Edelson explained. “So, we’re always bouncing back and forth trying to get people to leave multiple reviews in different places. We’re just trying to find the wins, where we can.”