How the first review decides the fate of your product
How the first review decides the fate of your product
A negative first online review creates a chain reaction of fewer sales, fewer reviews, and more negative reviews. The opposite happens if the first review is positive.
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The same products on different online marketplaces often have very different reviews.
Why does this happen? The authors of todayâs research found that one of the key drivers is whether the first review a product receives is positive or negative.
Try to manage your productâs first online review
Impacted metrics: Reviews
Channels: Marketplaces | Ecommerce sales | Website/app
For: B2C
Tip type: New research (February 2021)
Previous tip: How feedback surveys can boost spending by 131% (All tips here)
Recommendation
Do everything you ethically can to receive a first online review thatâs positive, rather than negative. For example:
Before launch, tease your product to a select group of customers that you believe will rate it highly (e.g. they have a strong need for it or love your brand). Inform them as soon as itâs available so theyâre likely to be the first ones to review it.
As soon as you list your new product on a marketplace (e.g. Amazon, Taobao), inform a few happy previous customers from other channels (e.g. your own ecommerce site) that they can buy it there, and youâd love a review if they do.
Personally reach out to early customers that you think have enjoyed your product to ask them to write a review about it. This may not be possible on marketplaces like Amazon when you donât have direct contact with your customers.
If you do receive a negative first review, try to correct it immediately. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to reverse the negative long-term effect.
Effects
Whether a productâs first online review (e.g. on Amazon) is positive (e.g. 4-stars) or negative (e.g. 1-star) has a strong effect on:
The average rating of reviews after it. A negative first review encourages more negative reviews. A positive one leads to more positive ones. This gap shifts very slowly back to the ârealâ quality of the product
How many reviews the product receives. If the first review is negative less people will buy the product, so less people can write a review. If itâs positive, more people buy it so more will review it. This chain reaction gets stronger over time
An analysis of products on Amazon and Best Buy found that:
One year after a negative first review, the average rating is 0.29 stars lower than it should be and there are 36.49 fewer reviews
The effects of the first review last for 36 months, possibly more
About 1 in 4 products receives a negative first review (based on 1,155 vacuum cleaner models)
Remember, negative reviews arenât always bad. Some negative reviews are good for you if theyâre largely irrelevant to the reader.
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Why it works
Because a negative first review leads to more negative and fewer reviews, we assume the product isnât good and weâre less likely to buy that product (and then write a review about it).
Seeing that most reviews of a product we bought are either positive or negative may bias how we actually experience and rate that product, no matter how we actually find it.
Limitations
The analysis was on products for which online reviews are particularly important (vacuum cleaners, toasters, and cameras) because they arenât bought often and othersâ opinions are given a lot of importance. The effect may be different for more complex products (e.g. B2B software), cheaper ones (e.g. groceries), or experiences.
The research focused on marketplaces. Itâs unclear if the effect changes for online reviews on your own website or review websites (e.g. Trustpilot)
Companies using this
Companies are mostly aware of the importance of online reviews, but they donât seem to understand how strong the impact of their productsâ first online review is.
Steps to implement
Consider the listing of your product online as a crucial moment and prepare for it ahead of time to maximize the chances of getting a positive first review.
Apply the actions in the âRecommendationâ section or test other ethical methods to encourage a first positive review.
Keep in mind that recent research found that giving products away for free for âtestingâ in exchange for reviews doesnât improve review ratings.
Study type
Market observation (analysis of reviews of 177 vacuum cleaners, 113 toasters, and 190 cameras on Amazon and Bestbuy over 3 years). United States and Canada
Research
Park, S., Shin, W., & Xie, J. (February 2021). The fateful first consumer review. Marketing Science.
Affiliations
Darla Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina and Warrington College of Business, University of Florida. United States
Remember: Because of the groundbreaking nature of this paper, it could be disproven in the future (although this is rare). It also may not be generalizable to your situation. If itâs a risky change, always test it on a small scale before rolling it out widely.
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