The strange impact of the first consumer assessment

If you’re about to buy something online and the customer’s only comment is negative, you would probably reconsider the purchase, right? It turns out that the first analysis of a product can have an exaggerated effect on the future of the item – it can even cause the product to fail.

Buyers, retailers and manufacturers feel the effects of customer reviews. Researchers at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business analyzed the influence of the first review after noticing the same products receiving positive reviews on one retailer’s website, but negative reviews on others, said Sungsik Park, Ph.D., who studied the phenomenon as doctoral student at UF.

“Why would a product receive a 4.7-star rating with 100 reviews on Amazon, but only four or five reviews with a two-star rating at Walmart or BestBuy?” Park wondered.

To find out, Park – now an assistant professor at the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina – teamed up with UF professors Jinhong Xie, Ph.D., and Woochoel Shin, Ph.D., to analyze what might cause variation. By comparing vacuum cleaners, toasters and identical digital cameras on Amazon and Best Buy, they were able to isolate the first assessment as the variable in product performance. They showed that the first review can affect general product reviews for up to three years, influencing both the amount and the tone of subsequent reviews.

“The first analysis has the potential to influence the entire evolution path of online consumer reviews,” said Shin.

How could a review have such a lasting impact? When the first review on a retailer’s website was positive, the product received a larger number of reviews in general and was more likely to be positive. When a product received a negative first review, fewer people were willing to risk buying it, so it had fewer opportunities to receive positive reviews, creating a lasting impact from the first dissatisfied customer.

“After thinking about how user ratings are generated, it makes sense,” said Park.

The results, published in the journal Marketing Science, suggest that retailers and manufacturers should take steps to detect early negative assessments and mitigate their impact.

Companies often monitor their online analysis and evaluate their strategies accordingly, explained Xie. “However, they do this by focusing on the average rating, rather than a single rating, and after the product has enough time to be rated by consumers. Our research suggests that companies need to pay attention to a single special rating ( that is, the first) as soon as it is posted. “

Consumers, on the other hand, may want to check reviews on multiple sites before discarding a product. If you are looking on multiple sites to compare prices, Park also suggests price comparison reviews. (For expensive items, Park also checks third-party reviews, such as Consumer Reports.)

Since buyers find user ratings more reliable than advertising information, it’s important to understand the factors that can skew these ratings.

“We want consumers to know that this information can be easily distorted,” said Park.

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