Is quantity or quality of reviews more important?
If you are reading this post, chances are that you as a consumer already understand the importance of reviews and always research a company before you buy or order. More and more people understand the importance of a review. After all, this is one of the few ways to form an opinion about a company or service before you have had any experience with it yourself. In this way, you can gather valuable information before you have spent money with a company.
There are several places on the Internet where you can find reviews. There are a number of differences between them. For example, there is a chance that a web shop has a party where they can collect reviews from customers for a fee. This is done by an invitation which the customer receives after the order is completed. The customer can then choose whether or not to write a review about the company.
You can also often read reviews in a company’s Google profile. These Google reviews have a relatively high impact because they appear in many searches. However, Google does not yet have a system for checking these reviews. That is why the reviews in Google profiles indicate that they have not been checked. However, companies can report unjustified reviews so that a Google employee can manually check if the review meets the requirements.
Finally, you can also find reviews on a website like the one you are on now. We collect reviews organically. We do not ask customers for reviews, do not send emails and have no financial incentive to post good or bad reviews. This is because companies do not pay us for writing reviews. This does bring with it a responsibility. We have several automatic systems in place to ensure reviews are authentic. In addition, every review written on this platform is checked manually. This way we make sure every review meets our policy requirements.
Collecting reviews on a platform with a paid subscription comes with some problems. It is often possible for companies to manually send invitations to customers, which may result in skipping customers where something has gone wrong. Also, reviews can sometimes be moderated, or are not posted immediately after they are written. This can be to the detriment of the transparency of a platform, even if they otherwise comply with all the rules.
Because customers of companies with a paid subscription to a large platform automatically receive a review invitation, it is sometimes the case that companies have collected tens of thousands of reviews. On the one hand, this says something about the size of the company. Shopping at a large and reliable company is pleasant for many consumers. On the other hand, the individual reviews get somewhat lost in the process. Maybe one of those tens of thousands of review writers has shared a very useful insight, but because of the overkill of reviews, probably no one will ever see that message again.
By collecting reviews, without constantly emailing or calling consumers, we receive far fewer reviews than large paid platforms. The people who do end up with us, write longer reviews on average and therefore have a better substantiated story. A review with 1 or 5 stars, with only the word “Good” or “Bad” actually adds very little to the reader of the review. This person is probably looking for reviews on the internet because they want to read about the experience of other customers. In that case, 1 well-written review is probably much more useful than a thousand reviews with only a score.
All forms of reviews can have a purpose in your decision making process as a customer. The decision whether or not to deal with a company depends on several factors, but trust in the company you’re going to do business with is always important. Therefore, make sure you understand how the reviews you read were created. This way you can also assign value to the score you see. An average of 7/10 on one site may be worth more than a 9.5/10 on another. Not convinced yet? Then read the reviews of different sites and platforms. This will give you a more complete picture of the company you are researching.
Also remember that a review about a company is not the same as a review about a product. Maybe a company works in a very good customer-friendly way, and there is nothing to be dissatisfied about. That doesn’t always say something about the product you buy. So if you are going to buy a hoover, don’t just read reviews about the shop where you want to buy it. Don’t forget to look up what consumers think of the hoover itself. That way you can be sure you have done your homework and you can place your order without stress.
