Most online reviews are positive
A new survey from Bazaarvoice and the Keller Fay Group found that a vast majority of online reviewers are motivated by goodwill and positive sentiment (summary of the survey can be found at Marketing Charts).
Other findings of the survey include:
- Positive reviews outweigh negative ones 8 to 1
- 79% of online reviewers do it to give back to the review community
- Reviewers buy products online (85%), and engage in social networks (25%)
- 20% of reviewers post messages on other people’s blogs or chat rooms; 19% post on independent product-review sites such as ePinions or CNET; and significantly more post directly on a retailer’s own website.
This is great news, but it does not negate the fact that even though they are outweighed by positive reviews, negative online reviews remain “findable” for a very long time and can hurt a product or company way more than off-line negative reviews. So vendors should still do whatever they can to avoid negative online reviews.
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November 29th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
This will lead, with good reason in part, to questions of the credibility of the reviewers. Having said that, many professional critics seem to want to live up to the name of their profession And they also don’t take the time to take the viewpoint of their audience.
November 29th, 2007 at 2:08 pm
I find it really impressive when a company does receive a negative review and takes the time to engage the reviewer, find a way to address his/her issue and work to improve the product or service if that would be an appropriate next step.