Five Stars – How reviews shape brand experience

It’s interesting to see how consumer reviews and comments not only influence shoppers’ choices, they shape the conversation and behavior of the consumer. How and what you know about a product category is informed by the conversations you become part of and listen to. As you review all the comments about a product brand you’re also learning about the expectations of the very experienced shopper who may know all about a category. Their comments will inform you on what you should be looking for.

Is 4-1/2 stars good enough for me?

I have found this true in several areas. Shopping for an HDTV and for a telescope for my son, for example. By looking carefully at various brands of HDTV you can see who the leaders are, and what’s the most expensive, but you also should read all the 4 and 5 star reviews. You’ll suddenly see folks who are “dissecting” the details of features, reliability, angle of view and refresh rate (60 hz or 120 hz — who would know?). These all make a difference in how you use the product and also on the reliability of the brand. I ended up learning about the differences between VIZIO, Toshiba, Sony and TCL.

The best salespeople are other customers

By reviewing the comments I felt as though I had a personal experience with at least 15 to 20 people, each of whom shared his or her perspective both on the products and the brands. Did the brand help them with problems? Could they get more information on the product from the manufacturer? Did customer service actually even exist?

Getting educated changes your perspective on what you want

In buying a new telescope for my son, for example, I was constantly debating between which brand to buy, Celestron and Orion. Which is better? Why? What did the reviewers say that could really inform me about these brands? In this case, after reading probably 20 reviews and seeing someone say they are awesome at customer service, I actually called up Orion and got a real person onthe phone who explained what the reviewer’s comments meant and what I should look for.

I learned that the lens quality is everything, the diameter of the scope in combination with the lenses and the “equatorial mount” can determine if you can see a fuzzy object or a clear object. Even though Orion is more expensive, I realized why there was a difference in cost and because of the customer accolades and my personal talk with customer service, I had new knowledge and felt like I could make a better informed choice.

So, ultimately, the best thing for the shopper and the brand is understanding and using customer reviews, comments, and ratings as you beging to learn what a brand is about, who they are really making this product for, and what you need to know to discover the brand that will fill your needs.