Do consumer reviews skew negative?
Saturday, June 28, 2008 at 12:29PM 
A hot discussion topic among librarians (and others, of course) is the "wisdom of the masses" theory of information authority. Does the expertise of 100 (1,000, 10,000) amateurs or a single credentialed specialist provide the greatest authority?
The topic came up in yesterday's workshops for ALA in Anaheim. (Wonderful groups, BTW.) I related how my views have moderated on the issue since I have been using the "authoritative" Frommers and Fodors guides for travel planning less and relying on user-review sites like TripAdvisor more. And feeling sort of cool and modern about it.
Then Laura Pearle raised an interesting question. She wondered if those who contributed to consumer review sites are more likely to be the ones who have had negative experiences. Good question.
I remember seeing a study showing that if a person has a positive experience with a business, he is likely to tell one person; if he has a negative experience, he is likely to tell eight other people. Does the same hold true for online communications?
Is the grouser more vocal than the satisfied?
I certainly hope so considering the reviews of the cheap hotel (Days Inn Riverwalk) in San Antonio I've booked. It has received less than, uh, stellar reviews. Headings like "too scary for words," "never again," and "dump is too nice a word for this place."
Laura, I sure hope you're right. I guess I'll find out tonight!
Reader Comments (5)
Interesting post. Can you provide a reference to the study you mentioned, about the customer with a negative experience telling eight people, while the customer with a positive experience only tells one. This has serious implications for institutions that rely on word of mouth advertizing.
To Doug Stoltz:
Doug, comments like yours make me afraid to write! Like many writers, I read a great deal, and various studies as well as opinions from blogs just seem to jumble together in my mind. After a period of time, I no longer know which ideas belong to someone else, which are my own, and which need a proper bibliographic citation. To save Doug (Johnson) a little trouble, I can tell you that the study in question - The Retail Customer Dissatisfaction Study 2006 - came out of the Wharton School of Business. You have to be a member of Knowledge@Wharton to download it, but perhaps that's not too difficult. If I were not working under a deadline, I'd do it myself, but I have too many permissions and citations to figure out! (I think one of them might be for Doug Johnson.)
-Mary
Doug,
Here's the link to the blog. Hope this impressed your wife!
http://bib20.blogspot.com
Mary, you're the greatest! Thanks!
Doug
Hi Jeri,
I am afraid the comment did not have the effect of inciting immediate jealously, but rather a severe round of teasing. I will choose to treasure the comment and thank you for it!
All the very best,
Doug
Hi Mary,
Many thanks for the info, and thanks again to Doug for the lead. This particular study concerns retail sales, but I will take the prudent view and assume that the conclusions can be applied more generally to any institution relying on word of mouth advertizing.
Doug Stoltz