Having an engageing product questions and answers (Q&A) feature on your WooCommerce store can provide tremendous value for both customers and your business. According to statistics:
- 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase when Q&A is available
- Answered questions increase conversion rates by 10-30%
- Sites with Q&A have 26% more organic traffic on average
But how exactly can you go about actually implementing this functionality in WordPress?
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll explore everything you need to know as a WooCommerce store owner, from the benefits of product Q&A to a step-by-step walkthrough of set up.
Why You Should Add a Q&A Feature
Here are five key reasons why adding a questions and answers section can benefit an ecommerce store:
Increases Sales
According to research by Trustpilot, 63% of customers are more likely to make a purchase when Q&A is available. It helps answer questions immediately to recover abandoning visitors.
Improves SEO
User-generated questions and answers improve engagement metrics. This leads to better search engine rankings since answers directly target informational keywords.
Reduces Support Tickets
Instead of contacting support, customers can get answers directly on the product page itself from previous Q&A. This frees up your team.
Builds Trust
By transparency answering customer questions publicly, you demonstrate expertise and authority around your products.
Fosters Community
Encourages customer-to-customer engagement and brand advocacy via Q&A participation.
Clearly there is tremendous upside, but how exactly can you implement this? Let‘s explore the two main methods next…
Method #1: Using a Specialized Q&A Plugin
The easiest way to add a Q&A functionality is by using a purpose-built WordPress plugin. This handles all the complex programming behind the scenes.
Based on testing various options, we recommend YITH WooCommerce Questions and Answers.
Key Features
- Lightweight yet robust
- 40,000+ active installs
- Free and paid plans
- Moderate and manage questions
- Mobile-friendly responses
- Voting, reporting, attachments
Here is an overview of how to set it up on your WooCommerce site:
| Step | Details |
|---|---|
| 1. Install Plugin | Search for "YITH Q&A" and install from the Plugins > Add New page. |
| 2. Activate License | Enter your purchased license key under YITH > Licenses to unlock premium features. |
| 3. Adjust Settings | Enable product tabs, notifications, etc from the YITH > Q&A settings. |
| 4. Moderate Questions | Review and respond to questions from the Questions menu. |
| 5. Engage Customers | Allow user-generated content to accumulate over time. |
And that‘s it! With just a few clicks, your products will now have a dedicated user-generated Q&A section populated over time.
Let‘s compare this method to manually building it next…
Method #2: Manually Coding Q&A Functionality
Alternatively, developers can manually code a custom questions and answers system by inserting forms into theme templates.
This involves:
- Registering a
product_questionscustom post type - Adding custom meta fields for responses
- Building an AJAX submission form
- Creating notification logic with hooks
- Displaying Q&A via
get_posts()
Pros
- 100% customized
- Fine-tune functionality
- No recurring fees
Cons
- Technically demanding
- Higher initial time cost
- No support system
Therefore, while coding your own Q&A platform allows extensive customization, it requires strong PHP developer skills, use of REST API, and many development hours.
Our Verdict: Start with YITH Plugin, Evaluate Custom Build Later
Given the significant technical barriers with a custom build, we recommend store owners start with the YITH Q&A Plugin. It can be installed and working on your site literally within 5 minutes.
Down the line once you validate the benefits of product questions and answers, you can re-evaluate undertaking a custom development. This will allow even deeper personalization if worthwhile.
But don‘t take our word for it. Here is what James McKinney of WidgetsGalore says about adding Q&A functionality…
"Putting a Q&A feature on product pages with the YITH plugin was a total game changer. Our volume of support cases dropped over 30% after visitors started getting answers instantly. Plus it really boosted authority to showcase expertise for common customer questions."
Clearly there is immense strategic value beyond just the technical implementation. Now let‘s recap what we covered…
Recap: Key Takeaways
To summarize, here are the critical aspects to know when it comes to adding questions and answers functionality in WordPress:
- Compelling benefits include higher conversions, improved SEO, less tickets, more community
- Easy configuration with purpose-built plugin vs advanced custom development
- Recommend starting with YITH Q&A Plugin due to faster setup
- Functional right away but options to customize down the road
- Allows self-service and builds expertise around products
We hope this comprehensive guide has provided tremendous clarity when it comes to the value of product questions and answers along with practical steps on implementing it.
Please reach out with any other questions! We‘re happy to lend additional WooCommerce-specific guidance as longtime WordPress experts.
