Customer perceptions of value for money outweigh price and delivery as drivers of satisfaction in online shopping, according to a global review of seven million eCommerce reviews by Judge.me.
The analysis of feedback from more than 600,000 merchants, representing USD $80 billion in gross merchandise value, indicates that customers focus less on absolute cost or shipping speed and more on whether a purchase felt worthwhile overall.
Value for money exerts three times the impact on review sentiment than any other factor that the study measured. The research covered more than 100 countries and a range of categories including furniture, electronics, fashion, food and beverage, and health and beauty.
Judge.me runs a product review platform integrated with Shopify and other eCommerce storefronts. The company said the dataset reflects verified customer reviews collected over several months.
“We’ve spent ten years building a platform that captures authentic customer voices at scale,” said Peter-Jan “PJ” Celis, Founder and CEO of Judge.me.
“Opening our dataset to reveal these patterns is how we serve merchants – by showing them what millions of customers are actually saying, not what surveys claim matters. This research helps merchants make smarter decisions about where to invest.”
Value over price
The report states that perceived value for money has three times the sentiment impact of the next strongest factor. The analysis found that this effect outweighs product quality, customer service, and delivery performance when measured individually.
Judge.me said this places value perception at the centre of online retail competition. The company defines value in this context as whether customers feel a product justified its cost once they have experienced it and the wider buying process.
The findings indicate that merchants that focus only on discounts and price cuts do not necessarily improve satisfaction if the underlying experience falls short of expectations. Review data showed that customers assess value as a combination of what they paid, what they received, and how smooth the transaction felt.
Delivery ‘good enough’
The research found that delivery performance functions as a veto for otherwise positive experiences rather than a direct route to higher satisfaction. Product excellence produced nearly twice the sentiment uplift of delivery improvements, with an impact coefficient of 0.77 compared with 0.38 for delivery.
However, pairing high product quality with poor delivery reduced overall sentiment by 15%. Judge.me said this shows that weaknesses in logistics can undermine strong products.
The study suggests that once merchants achieve an average delivery rating of 3.75 out of 5, additional investment in faster or more complex logistics yields diminishing returns on customer sentiment. The data points towards “good enough” delivery as a practical target instead of premium rapid shipping models.
Price as proxy
Mentions of price appeared 4.5 times more often in negative reviews than in positive ones. Despite this, overall price sentiment fell only 0.5 points out of 5 between the two groups.
Judge.me interprets this pattern as evidence that customers use “too expensive” as a catch-all complaint for broader dissatisfaction. That includes late delivery, difficult returns, or disappointment with the product itself, rather than objections to the actual ticket price.
The report states that discounting does not resolve these complaints if the root cause lies in reliability, product performance, or post-purchase friction. The data links many price-related remarks to broken expectations around the experience.
Billing and returns risk
The analysis highlights billing errors as a key trust issue. These incidents appeared in fewer than 0.3% of reviews, yet they caused 40% more negative sentiment than problems with returns.
Customers framed billing mistakes as a breach of trust and a sign of incompetence. The report notes that apologies did not repair the damage effectively when customers felt charged incorrectly or misled on payment terms.
By contrast, returns issues featured in eight times as many negative reviews as billing problems. The research links this to the effort involved in returning items rather than the eventual outcome.
Judge.me said this highlights the importance of clear processes and low-friction experiences when customers seek refunds or exchanges. The findings imply that merchants may reduce negative word of mouth by simplifying returns, even if they cannot always offer the outcome the buyer wants.
Reframing competition
Judge.me positions the research as a challenge to common eCommerce assumptions around price and delivery as primary levers. The company said the patterns across millions of reviews show customers weighing overall worth rather than isolated aspects of the transaction.
“This isn’t about being cheaper or faster,” added Fabrizio Assabese, Chief Growth Officer. “Customers are asking one question: was it worth it? That reframes where and how merchants compete.”
