Why customers write online reviews?
“One day you’ll discover that the opinions of worthless people are worthless.” This quote of Piers Anthony (“A Spell for Chameleon” feb, 2012) is the opposite of the digital reality. 70% of Americans say they look at reviews before taking the next step to conversion. (Jim Lecinski “Winning the Zero moment of truth”). In our socialnomic world, the importance of product or service social rating is essential. Peer reviews, friend reviews, are essentials in our online purchasing behaviors. The average consumer today checks 10.4 information sources before buying (“Social Trends Report 2012″, Bazaarvoice, June, 2012). When buying a computer at Best Buy, the salesman will go online and look at reviews with you to 1) complete his knowledge about the product and to 2) be sure you are making the right decision. Online rating has become the keystone of our buying decision.
One pending question companies still have is “why people rate”? Are they willing to be part of a community? Do they want to reward a company or be aggressive after a bad experience? Should I be afraid of ratings? A research conducted by Keller Fay Research in 2007 among 1,300 reviewers has shown that 90 percent write reviews in order to help others make better buying decisions. More than 70 percent want to help companies improve the products they build and carry. 79 percent write reviews in order to reward a company. 87 percent of the reviews are generally positive in tone. This study results have been confirmed with a Bazaarvoice study specific to the UK and confirm the J-Curve established in 2006 saying that 80% of reviews are positive.
As a conclusion, people post ratings to help both fellows and companies. In a future post, we will explore what is said on these reviews from a neuroscience perspective and why users make particular ratings. Meanwhile, go rate your last purchase, even if you bought it in a brick and mortar shop! Bazaarvoice’s research has shown that 66% of ratings on retailers’ websites are from offline buyers…
Laurent Donnier
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