Great product reviews don’t help sell

But - I hear you say - videos, reviews, ratings, diaries, testimonials, and discussions are all examples of content that help people make confident successful decisions, right?

Well, yes, but not all the time. As with most things, it depends.

Richly detailed, positive reviews of successful purchases

There’s no doubt that illustrating successful decisions made by people faced with the same dilemma as you plays a very real part in the decision making process. But are these illustrations equally useful guides for all people?

A recent piece of research has shown just how dangerous richly detailed, technically correct and well written reviews can be to the decision making process.

I watched as participants happily made their way through a product page until they got to published reviews, when they made remarks such as ‘The detail worries me a bit’. Another participant remarked, after reading a review ranked as being really useful - ‘Who would write this sort of thing’. These participants balked at the detail and remarked that they’d leave the site.

The information you’re missing about these participants is that they’re … novices, newbies non-experts, they had little or no experience of the products.

Experts reviews are written for experts

These reviews were written by experts, for novices the detail was overwhelming.

The mainstreamers wanted the reassurance that the reviews offered, but without the richness of detail or personal experience. That need may emerge later if the mainstreamer makes the transition to expert.

In the mean time, mainstreamers will welcome the information in reviews - but how should it be pitched to them?

Supporting mainstreamers

If there is an active community of expert users around the products you sell then you need to think about:

• Helping mainstreamers by manually prioritising reviews that will not alienate mainstream knowledge.
• Offering alternative rankings of reviews based on business knowledge e.g. Reviews by first time buyers. Experts will rank reviews that reflect their view of the world.
• Structuring reviews so that people are allowed to read shorter more basic reviews before they are shown detailed expert reviews.
• Incentivising first time buyer and mainstreamer reviewers, to help get them past the inertia around writing that first review.
• Placing expert reviews away from the main user journeys through the site. Explore page layouts that de-prioritise links to full expert reviews. e.g. if the design priority of the page focussed on a ‘Buy Now’ button then move the ‘Expert review’ link to the other side of the page.