Why I’ve Decided to Stop Reading Reviews
In the age of online user reviews, we need to start thinking for ourselves again.
I love to research. When I’m tasked with finding a spot for dinner, I obsessively research all our options online and cross-examine them to find the best/cheapest/most atmospheric place to dine. When it was time to buy a new phone, I made an excel sheet comparing all my options in minute detail.
Up until recently, I trusted user submitted reviews to help me with my research. I wouldn’t visit a restaurant or buy anything online that didn’t have a perfect 5-star review. I blindly believed what I’ve been told by all the billionaire tech CEO’s: that technology and the internet is improving our lives and changing the world, and that reviews are a perfect example of that.
But recently I’ve realised that a large majority of reviews are bullshit, and I should stop reading them.
My epiphany
Recently, I was in need of some new Bluetooth headphones. My last pair (which were rated 5-stars on Amazon) stopped working after a year or so of use. So, I opened up Amazon in search of a fancy new pair of earphones.
I originally wanted Apple Airpods but couldn’t afford them, so I began looking at similar budget-oriented options that were around 1/3rd the price of the Airpods. Hundreds of off-brand Chinese earphones flooded my screen. The scroll never seemed to end.
This wasn’t much of a surprise to me. I know that off-brand Chinese tech products are often relatively popular on Amazon, as they can be surprisingly high in quality, yet far more affordable. The suspicious part, however, was that all of these headphones had near perfect reviews, where as brand name “truly wireless” earphones from brands such as Sony and B&O all hovered around 3-stars. I knew something was up.
I began to dig into it, and it became evident that Amazon has been battling to moderate fake reviews for years. A report by the Washington Post from April revealed that in some product categories, such as Bluetooth headphones, a “vast majority” of reviews are likely paid for or fake, and thus in-genuine.
Sites like ReviewMeta or Fakespot, which determine if a product’s reviews are real, have popped recently. These sites allow you to paste in Amazon product links, before using algorithms to determine which reviews are fake by analysing the language used and the account reviewing the product. Then, you receive an adjusted rating which filters out in-genuine reviews.
However, using sites like ReviewMeta is something most people will never do. The average Amazon customer is likely to keep trusting those 5-stars, at least for now.
I began to question my trust in reviews. Why should I trust reviews when not even Amazon, the worlds biggest retailer, can stop the flood of fake reviews?
My trust in reviews declined even more once I started researching the value of them. I found that fake reviews aren’t the only problem, and that shockingly, reviews are fundamentally flawed.
Fundamentally flawed
A report by the Harvard Business Reviews from March 2018 found that user reviews are extremely polarised, as they tend to they to “over-represent the most extreme views”. This happens because customers are usually only incentivised to post reviews if their experience was either significantly positive or negative. This makes it difficult to determine the true quality of a product or service, as the “’silent majority’ of middle-of-the-road voices” rarely publish reviews.
Another study by The Journal of Consumer Research found that there was a “substantial disconnect” between the quality of information reviews convey, and the extent to which consumers trust reviews.
So, it turns that reviews are not only fake in a lot of instances, but they are also fundamentally flawed as an objective measure of quality.
Reviewing the Atlantic Ocean
I then began to actively observe my trust in reviews. Many of the reviews I encounter are on Google Maps. Whenever I use the app to travel somewhere, I am immediately confronted with a star count, whether this is a gas station or a supermarket.
This made me wonder whether I should trust anyone who will take the time to write out a detailed review of a corner shop. Why should I decide to go somewhere just because Bill and Jennifer decided to rate it 5-stars?
Google Reviews, which is built into Google Maps, allows you to review absolutely everything, including the Atlantic Ocean (which, at 3.9 is rated .4 stars higher than the Pacific Ocean).
This led me to suspect that nobody at Google is vetting any of these reviews. The company is clearly focused on quantity over quality.
Reviews on Google Maps can also be very misleading, as they will profess that a company or establishment is rated 5-stars, even if this just based off of just a single review. This begs the question: why do I trust them at all? I decided to stop letting reviews influence my choices; human beings are autonomous for a reason, with an array of multi-faceted, subjective opinions. I would prefer to make up my own mind about which products and companies are worthy of my time and money.
Conclusion
Of course, there is a place for user submitted reviews online, and we shouldn’t discredit them completely. However, I think we should all become more aware of how much we are swayed and influenced by these reviews, considering they are not an accurate reflection of objective quality. Next time you look for somewhere to eat, give the 4-star restaurant a chance. You could be pleasantly surprised.
