Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Star Signs



If you are anything like us, you do a LOT of your shopping online. It’s easy, convenient, and can be accomplished wearing pajamas from the comfort of your bed or sofa. But it isn’t always the best way to get a feel for the quality and functionality of a piece of furniture or technical device. Sites that post customer reviews are automatically showing a certain confidence in their product, but they are also providing a lot of information that can be tough to muddle through.

Here are a few tips and tricks for getting the most out of product reviews.

Negatives always outweigh the positives online.
Satisfied shoppers rarely take to their online megaphones to praise their new acquisitions, though you can be sure friends and family will hear about it. More often than not, it is the people who are unsatisfied who take to the soapbox in an attempt to get a fix. Take everything online with a grain of salt.

Read between the stars.
Even when the majority of reviewers award a product the maximum number of stars, it's worthwhile to read through the reviews to see how your personal preference matches up with the reviewers' tastes. Always put more weight in the reviews that add comments, and go beyond a simple star rating.

Read the negative reviews first.
If an item has some deal-breaking flaw—faulty drawers, buggy applications—the weaker reviews will reveal it quickly. Keep in mind, though...

Skip one-star reviews.
The most useless ratings are almost exclusively 1-star reviews from buyers who had extremely bad experiences—usually due to poor shipping or a product anomaly—and became emotionally reactive in turn. Begin with the two star reviews to find the most honest critiques about a product's performance.

Don’t skip long reviews.
Brief is better, most of the time. But when it comes to user-submitted product reviews, wordier entries tend to touch on more aspects of a product’s performance, and might include more of the specific details that will be relevant to you.

Compare reviews across multiple sites.
Shop around for reviews the same way you’d shop around for a specific item. An Amazon shopper may still want to venture over to another site's product page to check the reviews from a different set of buyers. Social networks can also be gold mines for bigger purchases worth devoting a bit more time to. Take a look at Twitter feeds and Facebook pages for a fuller picture.


Are you a regular product reviewer? Do you review for both positive and negative experiences?

2 comments:

  1. I was lucky to have been informed about Green Outdoor Furniture Marin County by a friend of mine who bought furniture for her backyard from the internet. I will admit I was a little apprehensive about buying furniture online but now I can see that it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Simply wish to say the article is surprising. The clarity in this post is just excellent.
    office furniture

    ReplyDelete