Online user reviews are changing how we buy | Sync? Blog

Shoppers often browse reviews from visitors to online shopping sites to help inform their purchasing decisions ? even if they aren?t shopping online.

There was a time when a store employee?s opinion on something was a crucial informer on which product to buy. You?d be more willing to take a chance on a new band if the record store clerk was a fan, and asking a salesperson ?What do you use?? would probably be your final tiebreaker between two productss.

Today, new bands are discovered more often through iTunes, and savvy consumers learn about products online before they ever step into a store. This change in shopping habits prompted Techcrunch to cite new research that suggests ?Amazon killed the book reviewer star? ? all because book ratings from fellow readers has proven more valuable than favourable reviews from professional critics.

But that?s only a small part of the story. The truth is that Amazon also killed the music, movie, camera, phone, computer, and tech review star as well.

Nearly three-quarters of Canadians with Internet access use the web to learn about products before buying, according to Statistics Canada. A Nielsen report shows that of all U.S. consumers who use a smartphone in an electronics store, 73 per cent whip out their smartphone to read reviews about products. Even though not everyone made purchases online, the Internet was still where they turned to decide which device to purchase.

Think about the last piece of tech you bought. There?s a good chance that you did a Google search, watched a handful of demo videos, and even read some professional reviews. But that wasn?t the only thing that informed your opinion; you also scoured the Amazon ratings and reviews to make sure you were making the right purchase. That?s the process I went through when I bought my new camera last week, and the shaky Amazon ratings on one product pushed me into buying another.

Consumers still respect professional opinion, but they tend to put faith in what other shoppers have to say. It?s probably because of common cause and perceived trustworthiness. Professionals often have a new phone, computer, or camera landing on their desk every month. Critics judge it based on their own biases and expert experience, and then use their personal electronics until the next hot tech items arrives. That one opinion, however informed it may be, isn?t always necessary.

High marks on Amazon, and other retailers that score user opinions, have a large influence on the way we shop, particularly because the group opinion is more valuable than the sole critique. The same principle applies when deciding what movie to watch. Someone on the fence about a particular film might be swayed based on the opinion of a single critic, but it?s a lot easier to convince that person if the aggregated scores on Rotten Tomatoes are positive. Likewise, seeing that 50 out of 55 people on Amazon gave a camera 4 stars or better means a lot more to shoppers than one professional opinion can offer.

Consumer reviews aren?t perfect. There have been incidents of companies or fanboys gaming the iPhone App Store or Amazon?s product listings, and user opinion may sometimes be wrong on key issues. Still, shoppers put more faith in what the crowd has to say because it?s often what they can expect from a product. Once someone knows that other people who plan on using a product on a consistent basis love it, it becomes much easier to want to buy and love that product.

We may not ask professionals ?What do you use?? as often, but putting that question to fellow shoppers has become equally important.

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