How Far Can You Trust Online Reviews?
Bazaarvoice recently released the findings of a study that surveyed over 1,300 online reviewers in an attempt to uncover what got them to share their opinions online. The result - reviewers are motivated by goodwill and positive sentiment.
90% write reviews in order to help others make better buying decisions, while 70% want to help companies improve the products they build. Additionally, 79% write reviews in order to reward a company while 87% of the reviews are generally positive in tone.
While this matches up with earlier data from BazaarVoice which had shown that positive reviews outweighed negative reviews 8 to 1, it does raise some serious questions as to whether you could actually base a buying decision on them.
So, what would YOU rather do? - ask a friend who you trust, or go online, and check what other people have written about a product?
Increasingly, studies are showing that consumers tend to go online to check other people’s opinions when researching products - a Avenue A|Razorfish study put it at 55% - but just far can you trust these reviews? Is it actual value that these reviews carry, or is it an expression towards creating an identity online?
While currently companies are more engrossed with building ratings and review features on their websites, very soon, expect a huge amount of focus towards building trust in the reviews.
Filed under: Digital culture