Whoever thought user reviews could be a big business certainly deserves a drink from me. PowerReviews.com has an interesting model in which they provide retail merchants (and other customers) a user review system so their customers can review the products they have purchased. In theory its a great idea. I know when I am interested in purchasing a product, I want to read professional reviews, and user reviews. The problem I have is that I find very very few negative product reviews! The Sony KDLXBR3 40-inch flat panel TV at ABT Electronics is a great example. There are 8 user reviews, and none of them are negative. In fact I am having a hard time finding ANY negative reviews on this whole site. So now you have to ask yourself why? Are the negative reviews being deleted because they hurt sales? And here’s another thing to think about. What if someone posts a negative review on not only a product, but that retailer itself? Isn’t the retailer part of the purchasing process? Arguably, I agree that retailer ratings and product ratings should be treated differently - but I wanted to put that thought out there.
Another thought - If Power Review is providing the review system for these retailers, and then re-using those reviews on their own site Buzzillions.com (a shopping site that Power Reviews owns), what makes those user reviews special to that particular retailer? They certainly might not own those reviews, and now those very same reviews (which came from their store) are being used on a shopping comparison site where people might click through to another store - and not the store where the review actually came from. Smart for Power Reviews, but dumb for the retailer.
Now, I might not have all my facts straight - I admit I have not looked at the legal arrangements here, but I can’t help but feel something is fishy. At DigitalTrends.com we have thousands of user reviews, and to be frank, there are probably more negative user reviews than positive. But isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be? When was the last time you wrote or told someone about a good experience? Now when was the last time you wrote or told someone about a bad experience? Remember the old marketing saying “People with a good experience are likely to tell 1-3 of their friends, but people with a bad experience are likely to tell 9 of their friends, who then tell 6 and so forth”.
These user reviews just don’t add up…what do you think?