Der Wert einer schlechten Bewertung

People buy from people – can you really trust what a retailer is telling you? Or would you rather place trust in a customer who has already bought? I know what I prefer. Even when making a low value purchase like a CD or a book, I always look for the opinions of others before putting my hand in my wallet and shelling out. It sets my expectation about what I am buying and reassures me about my decision. Others have bought it, most have enjoyed it, some not so much… I know what I’m getting.

Amazon obviously were the first to really jump at the idea of allowing their customers to connect with each other. Sharing their experience, not just at a product level but also service, value for money and brand perception. However, not every retailer has the luxury of a development team the size of a small army to implement the tools needed to facilitate this customer interaction, as Amazon do. However there is a plethora of social commerce providers out there such as Bazaarvoice and Reevoo, which means that the implementation of product reviews, recommendations and question and answer programmes can be achieved by pretty much all online retailers.