Apr 21 2010

My Take on Online Shopping and Product Reviews

Posted by Simon Zhen in Hints and Tips, Smart Spending
0 Comments

Most shoppers, including myself, have come to rely on online reviews when it comes to making Internet purchases. After reading some of these comments, I’ve come to realize that some of them are blatant (and useless) misrepresentations of the product being reviewed. Online customer reviews play a large role on our purchases on web so it is worth it delve into the matter.

An Innate Bias
When we know what we want, the urge to actually own it can prevent us from recognizing what could possibly be wrong with it. If you’re like me, you probably look at every positive review and feel yourself inching that much closer to hitting the “Add to Cart” button.

Good reviews reinforce our purchasing decisions. Despite the possibility of genuine negative reviews, the sheer dominance of positive reviews blinds us from buying something that is either faulty or something we don’t really want. Sadly, the bad stuff is more important than the praises.

Here are a few points I stick to when researching customer reviews online:

Read 5-star and 1-star reviews carefully. Shoppers who give 5-star and 1-star ratings could be either too giddy or too frustrated. Comments from these shoppers on the extreme ends of the spectrum of the customer base tell only one side of the story. Some reviews can even be from the company or the company’s competitors.
Look for mediocre reviews with positives and negatives. Fair reviews will often contain pros and cons. Some online shoppers read only 2-star to 4-star reviews because it shows that the reviewer actually gave some thought into their comments and ratings.
Only a moment in time. Reviews represent an opinion at one point in time. While most customers could state their comments based on a period of usage, I cannot know what complications they may encounter later down the road. Some sites allow customers to post updates to their initial reviews and I find those to be quite helpful and informative.
Disregard valueless comments. Satisfied customers posting “Excellent” ratings with descriptions like “Thanks so much. Super fast shipping and a great product!” is an example of a useless review. They simply reaffirmed what a business is supposed to do. A review is constructive when it provides insight regarding extraordinary or sub-par/disastrous situations.
Take notice of common problems. I tend to distinguish the prevailing negative denominator when I skim through the pages of customer reviews. If there is a problem with a good portion of the customers, there is a good chance it’ll occur with your order as well. So, I take reviews with similar comments into consideration before finalizing my purchase.

A review from a possible competitor (redirects you to another product):

“The iPhone is a horrendous piece of technology that will never do what you really want it to. You pay so much for the phone and the overpriced AT&T service. Get a Blackberry, you’ll get more work done.”

A review that doesn’t do squat for me:

“This cable is the BEST. Don’t buy $100 HDMI cables. Great bang for the buck!”

A review that I would consider before buying:

“This external hard drive is small, compact, very convenient, and I can take it on the go at a moment’s notice. When it is plugged in for a while, it can heat up rather quickly which makes me scared of drive failure. The drive has on several occasions disconnected because it wasn’t getting enough power from my laptop, so keep that in mind when making large transfers.”

Avoid 100% Reliance on Reviews
Reviews are a great tool for deciding whether I should or should not buy something. I prefer having previous customers tell me of their experiences and thoughts. During the winter, I bought a coat that had a several customer reviews of it having loose buttons. Despite acknowledging a flaw, I went ahead with it because I knew someone who could fix it up. And not to my surprise, the buttons did fall off relatively soon. So as you can see, reviews can be an advantage to a savvy shopper.

But, of course, total reliance on reviews could result in misguidance. Make them a small part of your online shopping research. If possible, walk into a brick-and-mortar store and try it out. Check their return policy in case it doesn’t meet your expectations.

(Photo credit: joeltelling)