When is a review not a review?

This was the subject of a discussion I had with a prospective client recently. It focused on insincere comments placed about individual products on websites, primarily ecommerce ones.
Surely the primary purpose of a product review is to allow someone to provide genuine feedback of ‘Product x’ so that it can help others to make a buying decision about it? Each review can be positive, negative or anywhere in between…. and displaying it not only shows a company’s transparency and honesty about its products, but can also inform the business of: customer satisfaction, longer-term usage, manufacturing quality and other useful information. (It can also have a secondary purpose of weighting product recommendations back to the reviewer in the future based upon their scoring – e.g. star rating).

It is not there (as examples) to:
1. insult the seller/owner/manufacturer
2. show off to others how extensive your collection or knowledge of ‘product x’ is
3. attack other reviewers of the product

However, there can be the rare occasion when providing an inaccurate view has its benefits:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Whole-World-Katie-Price-Peter/dp/B000JU8FXK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1302169698&sr=8-3

Bad product reviews

I've recently submitted a bad review of a product I purchased online from Amazon.co.uk

This was after a product I ordered from a company called Vanguard Tech failed to be delivered (I ordered a USB wireless adaptor and a USB CD Rom drive turned up in error. I then returned this, but my wireless adaptor never materialised).

You can read my review here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R3R3TCNMU01R3M/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm

Now its not often that I give bad reviews, believing that its better to praise a company or person for doing something well, rather than the criticise an individual or organisation. However, in this case I feel quite justified in criticising Vanguard Tech for their failure to deliver or even answer my emails.

And this claim of justification has got me thinking about why others such as myself post bad product reviews in user generated content areas such as the one I used on Amazon.... Its not just because we have a personal gripe against the company (sure, I lost about £10 which I would have preferred not to have done), its because I don't want others to suffer the same fate and would like them to order the right thing.... and perhaps actually get their product.

I therefore see bad reviews as contributing to the social sentiment about a product, in-turn shaping the greater view of the supplier or seller.

User Generated Content must stay that way

If the recent reports are true that http://www.yelp.com/ (the Web2.0 online city guide that allows user to review particular businesses), is offering to tamper with negative comments to sell adverts to advertisers.... then it casts a significant shadow over their authenticity and credibility.

It beggars belief if the claims of several business in the San Francisco area are true [more detail found here] . Mary Seaton, owner of the Soft Outlet in San Mateo, claims:

"I didn't receive a phone call from Yelp until I received a negative review," Seaton said. "A week after I received a negative review, a sales person contacted me and she said...'We noticed that you have some very positive reviews. We can push your negative reviews to the bottom, so that your positive reviews will come to the top.'"

This activity is clearly different from moderating your comments or any form of user prioritisation (e.g. my favourites, "was this useful?", etc.) and clearly runs against the whole idea of transparency and openness, key qualities for any company relying on user generated content for its business model.

You hope this is just the action of a single disillusioned employee....... and in no way linked to the allegations that Yelp have previously paid people to provide reviews.

Online Consumer Reviews Significantly Impact Consumer Purchasing Decisions

Who'd have thought eh?

Some recent research by ORC (Opinion Research Corporation) a global market research company who's head office is in Princeton NJ, has found that customer purchasing habits are significantly affected by reviews given by others.
http://www.opinionresearch.com/fileSave/Online_Feedback_PR_Final_6202008.pdf

83% of those who looked for reviews and other feedback said these had at least some influence on their purchases. However, althought the majority said they used reviews, about a third claim to have posted their own feedback online. The most researched product / service area was Travel/Recreation/Leisure at 82% and the least was food at 24%.

Although there are a lot of places on the web to submit opinions & feedback, there are very few product owner sites that let you do this still. It seems that companies are very willing to get feedback on their products & services, but perhaps they just don't want it put on their own sites?

'Benefitting the Financial Services Customer with Web2.0'

My company 'Ideal Interface' has been working on providing insight into on how Financial Services can benefit their customers with Web2.0. This work has resulted in us producing a white paper in the form of an Executive-level presentation.

This is uploaded here:
http://www.slideshare.net/haydens30/fs-web2-v2/
[comments welcome please]

When putting together the research for this piece of work, its been interesting to see the different ways in which those in the FS space are embracing Web2.0 (and which specific parts). What has become most obvious is that no two companies are approaching this in the same way and that certain companies are leading the way in their extended conversation with the customer.
Wells Fargo seems significantly further than most, for example it has 4 blogs that post regularly:
http://blog.wellsfargo.com/
I've also been listening to First Direct's podcasts as a result:
http://www.interactive.firstdirect.com/podcast.html

Customer Generated Reviews and their effect

Q: Do new customers trust your brand or company before they've ever dealt with you?
A: Possibly, but unlikely. Only if you have done lots to try to pursuade them (this marketing costs money)

Q: Would a potential customer trust your brand or company over another, if someone else positively rated the experience with you?
A: Yes!
Consumers place far more trust in their fellow consumers than they do in traditional marketers and advertisers

Q: Would a negative customer review about a product make you think twice about buying a product?
A: Yes! And there's lots of these about:
http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/006009.html

There use to be a card stuck up on a till in my local Fish & Chip shop in Kent when I was a boy: "If you like our service, tell your friends. If you don't, tell us". However, in the web-enabled world of enhanced communications and consumer opinion, this has evolved: "Satisfied customers tell 3 friends, angry customers tell 3000" (Apols, but this book isn't out yet). Now a single customer with a 'bee in their bonnet' can now tell a significant number of people exactly what they think... and this can affect your brand and even your bottom line, as bad reviews affect sales!

There is nothing you can do to prevent this content from being posted out there, apart from provide 100% customer satisfaction. However you cannot please all your customers all the time and trying to provide this is neither possible nor profitable.

What's worse is that unchecked..... these individuals become the worst sorts of influencers for a company. They become beacons of outrage and this attention may even strengthen their passion.

However, this is not all bad news, you don't have to just fear feedback. Consumer reviews can and should be seen in a positive light. What your user wants should hopefully feedback into your customer research. After all, you would usually pay decent money to a research agency to get the insight into your customer thoughts & behavours. A certain percentage are prepared to provide this for free. Its then deciding who and how to ask that becomes the next problem.