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When searching for a product or service online, users typically follow these steps:
- Identify: “What do I want?”
- Calibrate: “Which businesses offer what I want?”
- Compare: “How do they compare? Which ones fulfill my needs best?”
- Confirm: “Let’s make sure it meets my expectations.”
Throughout these steps, users gather information in various ways: browsing the internet, seeking recommendations from friends, reading product or service descriptions, and, crucially, checking online reviews. Here’s how and when online reviews play a role:
- Identify: Sometimes, users have only a vague idea of what they want. Online reviews, like recommendations and product details, help clarify their needs. This identification process continues through the other steps.
- Calibrate: Users rely on average ratings and the number of reviews to narrow down options, especially when faced with many choices. Often, they set a rating threshold and dismiss businesses that fall below it . We’ll delve into this more in the “Threshold of Consideration” section.
- Compare: Readers compare offers based on various criteria, often unconsciously. They check descriptions but also turn to online reviews for more insights.
- Confirm: This is where online reviews have the most influence.
- Confirm the product/service description (“Does it really have this feature? Is it reliable?”). People seek reassurance, especially regarding their specific criteria.
- Learn details about features and performance .
- Check specific criteria not mentioned in the product description.
- Reassure themselves about what they value most (e.g., “I want to ensure this Airbnb is absolutely clean”).
- Find similarities: Users may not be fully aware of their criteria and need help identifying them.
- Envision themselves enjoying the purchase. Even if they’ve already decided, they want to relish the excitement .
When users are most likely to check reviews:
- First-time purchase: New buyers are more likely to seek out reviews. Paradoxically, those with the most experience often don’t check reviews but are the best sources of feedback.
- Lack of external recommendations or uncertainty about them.
- No familiar brand in mind or wanting to compare even if they do.
- Distrust in the description, wanting to verify details or fill in missing information.
- Desire to discover new options: whether it’s a place for a drink tonight or a new product.
In summary, people turn to reviews because they’re somewhat doubtful and want to build trust. Research shows that word-of-mouth quality positively impacts online trust . This doubt presents a risk to potential customers. Since doubt can’t be entirely eliminated, there’s never enough information, explaining the extensive reliance on online reviews.
Online reviews are just one way to build trust. There are others. For instance, Airbnb offers several assurances: they hold payments until 24 hours after check-in, verify profiles to prevent scams, and provide insurance through AirCover. These measures help users proceed with confidence. However, when choosing between various options, reviews are invaluable for selecting the right one. Despite these safeguards, bad experiences can still occur, impacting the platform's reputation.
“Harnessing the Influence of Social Proof in Online Shopping: The Effect of Electronic Word-of-Mouth on Sales of Digital Microproducts”, Ambee and Bui, 2011.
“Fine-Grained Opinion Mining by Integrating Multiple Review Sources”, Miao, Li, and Zeng, 2010; “Understanding Online Product Ratings: A Customer Satisfaction Model”, Engler, Winter, and Sculz, 2015.
“Electronic Word-of-Mouth: Motives for and Consequences of Reading Customer Articulations on the Internet”, Hennig-Thurau and Walsh, 2003.
“Establishing Trust in Electronic Commerce Through Online Word of Mouth: An Examination Across Genders”, Awad and Ragowsky, 2008.