Negative Online Reviews Change 80% of Shoppers' Minds

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Negative online reviews change other people's minds eighty percent of the time? Gee, ya think?

Cone found that 89 percent of consumers said they found online sources of product and service reviews to be trustworthy, and fully 80 percent of consumers have changed their minds about a purchase based only on negative information they found online. That last figure is up from 67 percent in 2010.
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it's such a double edged sword though

personally, i held off buying final fantasy 13 for the longest time due to the bad reviews/press. i picked it up only recently because i found it for $20. i must say, it's one of my favorite entries in the series.

so that makes me think of all the other games i missed out on, that i would have personally enjoyed, yet that someone else in the "media" or on a review site lambasted
 
As long as the negative reviews are not those children that give a product one star because the shipping from the seller took too long; ie. it had NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ITEM ITSELF.

That crap goes on on Newegg all of the time.
 
@Corporate: games belong to the artistic part of the stuff you can buy - what one likes another can hate.

But for the technology stuff (computer parts, televisions, laptops, other electronics) i use reviews all the time. Any time i plan to buy something, i do two things - read through manual (if it can be found online), which usually helps one to realize how UI works, if it is not annoying, if everything is where it should be (connectors, layout, etc). Secondly, i fire up browser, open google and enter "PRODUCTNAME review". And then browse. Of course i usually skip stupid shop reviews, which don't tell anything.

I can't understand how can anyone buy stuff without prior research about the device itself, if there are any known bugs/issues,... :).
 
Eisenblut said:
As long as the negative reviews are not those children that give a product one star because the shipping from the seller took too long; ie. it had NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ITEM ITSELF.

That crap goes on on Newegg all of the time.
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Plenty of people downgrading the review because they were too stupid to understand the product. Our veterinarian gets bad reviews from people that want to be coddled. They are there to make my pet feel better, not me. Yelp has plenty of suspicious behavior on it. I see the lawsuit has been dismissed. That only means it's hard to prove.
 
That's why I liked Old Gamespot and new Giant Bomb's style.

They review it like RottenTomatoes reviews movies.

They tell you how objectively 'good' it is, and why you would or wouldn't like it.
 
I've typically found online reviews to be fairly biased one way or another. Generally reviews tend to be biased in a positive fashion. I discount almost all Newegg style customer reviews entirely unless I happen to see one at the top which was intelligently written which is a rare sight. Most of them are either written by morons or people who are angry at the moment they decided to write their mini-reviews. They tend to lash out in anger, and that's not terribly useful.

When I see positive professional reviews, I tend to be skeptical of them in general. I tend to read at least three or four reviews about a given product and look for the consensus. I tend to read quite a few of them which are so vague I question whether or not they spent any actual time with the product. Those are discounted immediately. If they are more specific and cite negative aspects of the product while praising it in the conclusion, I discount the review almost entirely as well. Though sometimes useful information can come out of those as well. You just have to be careful and take them with a grain of salt. If I see reviews that are overwhelmingly positive which do not cite negative aspects of the product that are deal breakers for me then I generally take them at their word. Again if the consensus of three or more reviews lines up with that opinion anyway.
 
In my case, I usually read what the [H]ardforum readers have to say about it before i make a decision. This site isn't all i look at, but makes up a major portion of decisions on games and hardware, ect. :p
 
a lot of this websites keep sending you spam to review the items you bought. most of them offer raffles and freebies. that's why you often see a lot of reviews that are crap.
 
kamxam said:
In my case, I usually read what the [H]ardforum readers have to say about it before i make a decision. This site isn't all i look at, but makes up a major portion of decisions on games and hardware, ect. :p
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So the question now is are you getting BF3 or not :rolleyes:
 
Surprising considering how terribly unreliable reviews generally are, at least in Technology. I find there are typically a handful of different review types;

1) Reviews complaining about a problem with a product that is nothing more than user error.
2) Reviews of disgruntled customers who bought the product assuming it would do what they wanted, instead of doing actual research to verify it. Then they go and give it a one star review because they made a stupid decision.
3) Low reviews for shipping issues or other non product related problems.
4) Overly positive and clearly fake reviews claiming it is the greatest thing ever.

So really, making a purchasing decision based on reviews is sort of like the blind leading the blind, except it is more like morons leading morons.

Finding a real intelligently written review is sort of like finding gold.
 
I've been burned so many times on stuff that didn't work quite right or was of poor quality going to a brick and mortar. With online retailers, I get other users' opinions and experiences to help guide my decisions.
 
Personally the biggest thing I look for when reading a review is how the the company that made the product handled product failures. Even the best made products can and will occasionally fair, break, etc. If they have good customer service it is usually mentioned. The second thing I look at is the rate of failure. With a large sample of reviews you can usually see patterns where a batch of defective product makes it to market regardless of how well it's made and again how the failures are treated is still the number one concern.
 
Dan_D said:
I've typically found online reviews to be fairly biased one way or another. Generally reviews tend to be biased in a positive fashion. I discount almost all Newegg style customer reviews entirely unless I happen to see one at the top which was intelligently written which is a rare sight. Most of them are either written by morons or people who are angry at the moment they decided to write their mini-reviews. They tend to lash out in anger, and that's not terribly useful.

When I see positive professional reviews, I tend to be skeptical of them in general. I tend to read at least three or four reviews about a given product and look for the consensus. I tend to read quite a few of them which are so vague I question whether or not they spent any actual time with the product. Those are discounted immediately. If they are more specific and cite negative aspects of the product while praising it in the conclusion, I discount the review almost entirely as well. Though sometimes useful information can come out of those as well. You just have to be careful and take them with a grain of salt. If I see reviews that are overwhelmingly positive which do not cite negative aspects of the product that are deal breakers for me then I generally take them at their word. Again if the consensus of three or more reviews lines up with that opinion anyway.
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Pretty much. You just have to know where to find appropriate reviews at too. For instance, if you want to know about Apple products, steer clear of the [H]. You'll never get honest reviews here. Don't go to Apple's site too of course - they'll always sing praises.
 
Eisenblut said:
As long as the negative reviews are not those children that give a product one star because the shipping from the seller took too long; ie. it had NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ITEM ITSELF.

That crap goes on on Newegg all of the time.
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agreed, while I appreciate a good review from a knowledgable buyer, there's way too many idiots with keyboards and time on Newegg. (although the DOA frequency and their random packing quality really screws those numbers too. I wonder how many become DOA in the mail )
 
Dan_D said:
I've typically found online reviews to be fairly biased one way or another. Generally reviews tend to be biased in a positive fashion. I discount almost all Newegg style customer reviews entirely unless I happen to see one at the top which was intelligently written which is a rare sight. Most of them are either written by morons or people who are angry at the moment they decided to write their mini-reviews. They tend to lash out in anger, and that's not terribly useful.

When I see positive professional reviews, I tend to be skeptical of them in general. I tend to read at least three or four reviews about a given product and look for the consensus. I tend to read quite a few of them which are so vague I question whether or not they spent any actual time with the product. Those are discounted immediately. If they are more specific and cite negative aspects of the product while praising it in the conclusion, I discount the review almost entirely as well. Though sometimes useful information can come out of those as well. You just have to be careful and take them with a grain of salt. If I see reviews that are overwhelmingly positive which do not cite negative aspects of the product that are deal breakers for me then I generally take them at their word. Again if the consensus of three or more reviews lines up with that opinion anyway.
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When it comes to Newwgg reviews (Amazon as well) I look at the averaged rating, how the number pans out between the rating, and then I skim the reviews. Anything under 5 reviews I tend to ignore the reviews entirely as it's far too few to get anything worthwhile out of. After that if the product makes it to my "maybe list" I hit up Youtube and look it up to see some video of it. If the product makes it past that point I'll look up reviews online, look at the forums here, or if it's something you guy's have reviewed in the past re-read the entire review and then skim the review topic. I am very picky on what "professional" reviews I bother to listen to. It is a short list and I don't often go looking for sites to add to it.
 
fattypants said:
I've been burned so many times on stuff that didn't work quite right or was of poor quality going to a brick and mortar. With online retailers, I get other users' opinions and experiences to help guide my decisions.
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Exactly...I see other posters claiming reviewers are morons or don't know the product, blah, blah...well WTF are you supposed to do take the companies word for it? Any responsible buyer knows enough to weed thru the reviews to pick honest observation and feed back from several sources.

I think someone here claimed their vet got a negative review because the didn't hold the pet owners hand, etc....HELLO they are the ones paying the bills, u dam well better try and make them feel better along with their pet, part of the job if you want return biz!!!! :rolleyes:
 
I don't trust professional reviews AT ALL.
PC Gamer 94% for DA2 or FarCry 2 anyone? Yeah.

For software it's easy, no demo -> no purchase.

For other stuff I go to sites like [H] where people who actually use the hardware, whether it's IT or construction tools, wire what they think about it. I have been with [H] and other sites long enough to know how good a review from a long standing member is and whether I can trust them.
 
I'll read a number of reviews on products I'm considering before even looking at the products in person. This gives me a better idea of what I'm facing when coming down to that final purchase.

Hence my purchase of an Asus Transformer instead of an Acer Iconia (and finding file transfer for the OS X prior to having the unit at home).
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Surprising considering how terribly unreliable reviews generally are, at least in Technology. I find there are typically a handful of different review types;

1) Reviews complaining about a problem with a product that is nothing more than user error.
2) Reviews of disgruntled customers who bought the product assuming it would do what they wanted, instead of doing actual research to verify it. Then they go and give it a one star review because they made a stupid decision.
3) Low reviews for shipping issues or other non product related problems.
4) Overly positive and clearly fake reviews claiming it is the greatest thing ever.
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Good list. I'm especially suspicious when I see there is a wide range of ratings (i.e. lots of 1’s and lots of 5’s) You really need to read the reviews.

I once bought a digital frame from a B&M store because it was on clearance & was too cheap to pass up. When I got home I looked it up on-line, and the reviews where 100% bad. Returned it without even opening the box.
 
Thuleman said:
I don't trust professional reviews AT ALL.
PC Gamer 94% for DA2 or FarCry 2 anyone? Yeah.

For software it's easy, no demo -> no purchase.

For other stuff I go to sites like [H] where people who actually use the hardware, whether it's IT or construction tools, wire what they think about it. I have been with [H] and other sites long enough to know how good a review from a long standing member is and whether I can trust them.
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Trouble with reviews from game magazines is that if they give bad reviews, developers will withhold future releases to them and pull ads out of their magazines.

A company tried to pull that stunt with Kyle if I remember right. I don't remember which product though.
 
That's_Corporate said:
it's such a double edged sword though

personally, i held off buying final fantasy 13 for the longest time due to the bad reviews/press. i picked it up only recently because i found it for $20. i must say, it's one of my favorite entries in the series.

so that makes me think of all the other games i missed out on, that i would have personally enjoyed, yet that someone else in the "media" or on a review site lambasted
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More power to you, but I agree with the other 90% of the world. FFXIII sucked.
 
For me if it has few reviews, but a bad rating, I will read through the reviews and see what the negative rating was all about because countless times I have seen bad reviews completely based on the person not knowing hardly anything or because of a DOA. Personally I don't think a DOA deserves one star unless it keeps happening. So when I see reviews like that, yes I don't want a DOA, but it happens to even the best of products so its not revelent to me and I will still buy that product, unless it has a big history of DOA's or other major issues.
 
Positive reviews have made me buy games that I didn't like (like 90% of the RTS games I have bought) so it works both ways. I'm sure the game publishers would love to have the government make negative reviews illegal though.
 
Azhar said:
Pretty much. You just have to know where to find appropriate reviews at too. For instance, if you want to know about Apple products, steer clear of the [H]. You'll never get honest reviews here. Don't go to Apple's site too of course - they'll always sing praises.
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As far as I'm concerned, [H] is one of the few places that gives an honest picture of Apple. Too many other tech sites are full of Apple nutswingers.
 
Daggah said:
As far as I'm concerned, [H] is one of the few places that gives an honest picture of Apple. Too many other tech sites are full of Apple nutswingers.
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Type that with a straight face, didn't you?
 
fps4ever said:
Exactly...I see other posters claiming reviewers are morons or don't know the product, blah, blah...well WTF are you supposed to do take the companies word for it? Any responsible buyer knows enough to weed thru the reviews to pick honest observation and feed back from several sources.

I think someone here claimed their vet got a negative review because the didn't hold the pet owners hand, etc....HELLO they are the ones paying the bills, u dam well better try and make them feel better along with their pet, part of the job if you want return biz!!!! :rolleyes:
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Actually veterinarians are very protective about the animals they care for. "Oh you've been feeding your dog chocolate? You realize that's bad?" "It's not my fault, it's the damn dog's fault for eating that." There are alot of irresponsible pet owners and yet they have the audacity to blame the veterinarian for their own fuckups. Sorry just because they pay the bills doesn't mean that they should lash out at the veterinarian or abuse their own animals.
 
Daggah said:
As far as I'm concerned, [H] is one of the few places that gives an honest picture of Apple. Too many other tech sites are full of Apple nutswingers.
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LOL *drops toll off the bridge*

I find reviews to be mostly helpful on Newegg and Amazon, moreso on Amazon. It's easy to spot the fluff and ignore it. A few forum searches for user experience and I'm ready to buy. If the reviews are bad and cogent reasoning is provided (and I usually google for collaborative info) I'll take a pass.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
1) Reviews complaining about a problem with a product that is nothing more than user error.
2) Reviews of disgruntled customers who bought the product assuming it would do what they wanted, instead of doing actual research to verify it. Then they go and give it a one star review because they made a stupid decision.
3) Low reviews for shipping issues or other non product related problems.
4) Overly positive and clearly fake reviews claiming it is the greatest thing ever.
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I would add a fifth:

5) by and large reviews come from opposite spectrums- Those who hate the product very much, and those who love the product very much.

User-submitted video game reviews are an example futility in motion.
 
Dan_D said:
I've typically found online reviews to be fairly biased one way or another. Generally reviews tend to be biased in a positive fashion. I discount almost all Newegg style customer reviews entirely unless I happen to see one at the top which was intelligently written which is a rare sight. Most of them are either written by morons or people who are angry at the moment they decided to write their mini-reviews. They tend to lash out in anger, and that's not terribly useful.
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What interests me on a site like newegg is not so much the content of the reviews as the proportion of reviewers who were strongly dissatisfied and particulally the proportion who got a DOA. This especially goes for stuff like PSUs were reliability is a major criteria. Reviews from the likes of [H] tell us a lot about the design of a PSU and the honesty of the marketing but they don't really tell us anything about the quality control.
 
If it's a star system, like Amazon, I tend to toss away all the 5 star and 1 star ratings, and read the 2 through 4 star ratings and base my opinion on that.

Scammers always give 5 stars. Haters always give 1 star. Somewhere in between is reality.
 
The amazon "most helpful" positive and negative review, as voted by readers, is a great tool. It isn't always relevant, but often it gives me a theme I can then dig through other reviews for to see if it is repeated. As others have said, throw out the outliers on both ends, see if the average rating still seems high enough, and then check the content of some of the better written ones.
 
I usually go by user reviews - the more the better. Then I actually read them for content instead of just looking at the stars rating or whatever system is being used. I also make sure to look for multiple posts from dopes trying to skew the rating, and I ignore reviews from obvious spammers like a five star that is a cut-n-paste from an article or manufacturers site, or a one star that's blank or ignorant.

But yea....reviews make a difference, and I've skipped items that didn't rate well.
 
NewEgg
First I sort by number of reviews -- it tells me where most of the crowd has gone
Then I consider ratings -- I compare different products and analyze the distribution of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 star ratings to look for anomalies and determine which leans more toward an absolute 5-star dominance vs 4-star dominance
And finally, sometimes I go lookup benchmarks, actual reviews, ask on forums for advice and opinions (actually I usually do this before I even goto NewEgg).

Amazon
I usually know exactly what I am looking for, so reviews and ratings are usually not even considered
Sometimes I will sort by 5 stars + prime eligible though.
 
Amazon reviews can be very helpful. Heck, I recently bought a common household item not thinking to read about it online at all beforehand. 'It's mouthwash, what's the worst that can happen?' you know. Not the kind of thing you read reviews on, right?

Well, after using it, I went online to see if it had the same effect on anybody else, and found 14 reviews on Amazon, 11 of which were 1-star most mentioning the same problem (it alters taste in a horrible way that persists for days). Luckily for me it affected me so much I couldn't continue using it, because apparently if you use the mouthwash for a month or two the cetylpyridinium chloride in it stains your teeth a dark brown as if you were a heavy smoker.

So - seems to me I need to read MORE reviews on things that I normally wouldn't read reviews on at all.
 
Personally I never just look at the really negative reviews or for that matter the extremely positive. I've found them to biased. If in a star system I will always look at the 3-4 star reviews. Those are the ones it seems where people are giving honest opinions of the products.
 
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