Can You Trust Online Reviews?

onlinereviews

What is the first thing you do before you purchase a product/service online? Let me guess; you always start by looking at what other customers have to say about the product, right? That is actually what is advised before you purchase any product.

Since you cannot go around inboxing strangers asking them to give you a review of the product you are about to buy, you can easily find some trusted online reviews. Notice we mentioned the word ‘trusted.’

Technogog is excited about technology, and we are here to help you learn about a good online review platform. Now, remember we said that you need to find a trusted online review? The truth is that not all online reviews are trustworthy.

So, if you are asking whether online reviews can be trusted, the answer is; it depends on several factors. That said, here are signs of an honest online review:

There Are Multiple Product Reviews

One way to know if the online review is worth your time is if the platform has reviewed other products as well. It is not just about one specific product. For instance, if it is a mobile phone review site, they shouldn’t just have a review of the iPhone models. Instead, you will find several reviews of other phones like Samsung S8/S9, Oppo F9, Nokia 6, Huawei Y9, and many more.

With such a review site, you will be sure that they are there not to promote a specific product, but to give users a taste of what they are about to buy. If you are not sure about it, here is a post by INC to help you know how to pick the right online review platform.

A Good Online Review Should Not Be Biased

It doesn’t matter if you don’t love a specific product or if you are promoting it. The most important thing is to give the customers your honest opinion about the product. No product can 100% perfect. Most of the products online will have positive reviews. Usually, some of them are promoted so that they can get more sales, and the reviewer can bank their check.

However, a good review will give you both the good and the bad side of a specific product. If it is a laptop, they will tell you if the graphics are good, if it has a long-lasting battery, the speaker level, along with the overall performance.

If the online review is all positive with just the pros, you might want to think twice. Nevertheless, everyone has their own opinion, but be wary of the all-positive reviews.

A Good Online Review Will Sound Unique

What do we mean by that? You see, if a reviewer is giving their opinion of a Samsung 40-inch 4K TV, the review should not sound the same as that of a Hisense 43-inch 4K TV. Even if they seem to deliver the same picture quality, the experience is entirely different.

For that, check if the reviewer has a similar review of the products on their site. When the reviews look and sound differently, it proves that the reviewers have had a different experience with those products.

However, don’t mistake the style of the review from its message content. For a review site, they normally like to maintain the style of their writing to have some uniformity, but the message content will be different.

They Use A Common Name Of The Product/Service Provider

A genuine review will not have to give some crazy names for the sake of SEO. Instead, they will name the product as it is commonly known. For instance, it would sound weird to come across a “Samsung Galaxy S9 Smartphone 2018 Honest Review.” A genuine person wouldn’t have the time to write all that. They would only say ‘Samsung S9’ or simply ‘S9’. Besides, it won’t come to their mind that their review is fake.

Such a statement is only meant to attract the attention of the customer and force them to read the review, where they will be pushed to buy the product.

It Is Detailed Enough

The reason for reading an online review is to get enough information before you decide to make a purchase. For that, you want to harvest enough details from the review.

Don’t only proceed to buy a specific phone because the review says that the camera is good and it looks elegant. What about the performance? Does it get hot when you use it? How long does it take to charge and retain the battery? How is the sound quality? Can it run multiple apps at once without hanging? Does it freeze or reboot on its own all the time? Can you expand the memory? All these are factors you need to know before you buy the phone.

Any review that you read on the internet must have enough details that are helpful to you. A detailed review shows that the person knows what they are talking about.

Consistency/Updated

If it is about a specific product, customers should give consistent reviews over a period of time. Also, the review should not be outdated. Nobody would want to buy a product that was reviewed three or four months ago. Worst of all, don’t even try buying a product that was reviewed more than one year ago.

Ensure that there is some consistency in the review that you are reading online.

Even though you shouldn’t only look at the positive reviews, you obviously should not go for the low-rated products. Studies show that 87% of potential customers will ignore lowly-rated products/businesses.

So yes, online reviews can be trusted, but you should be careful when finding the right reviewing site. For instance, The Top 10 Sites offers a detailed review of selected product and service providers. Whether you want the best dating sites, home loan sites, antivirus, or any other online service provider, Top 10 Sites is there to help you make an educated decision.

Which is your best online review site? Does it offer you comprehensive product reviews? Are they biased with their reviews? Share your thoughts with us and visit our website for more technology-based content.