When you are looking to buy something new, go to a new bar or restaurant or contract a certain service, consumer reviews are a great way of helping you to gain an insight into what the experience is going to be like. There is however a lot of things to bear in mind when you are reading such reviews because it is possible that the review is not completely genuine, and there are other watch outs which you need to bear in mind when you are going through these reviews. In fact the fake reviews are exactly why a site such as Topconsumerreviews exists in the first place, to ensure that we get accuracy around the reviews. When checking out consumer feedback, here are some things to bear in mind.
Different Strokes
When you are looking at reviews for something like a bar or a restaurant it is important that you bear in mind the fact that we all have different standards and expectations. It is very plausible that 2 people could have the same experience at a restaurant, and one would leave far happier than the other. This is exactly why when you are reading reviews it is important that you really get a good gauge of multiple reviews in order to make your mind up.
Negative First
Another important consideration to make when you are reading reviews is that many of us find it much easier to get online and to discuss a negative experience than to discuss a positive one. The notion which many of us have is that a good experience at a business or with a product is the very least that we should expect, so we don’t go shouting from the rooftops when it happens. If however we are disappointed and given a poor experience however, that is when we want to warn people. This is not to say that every negative review should be ignored, just that there may be many positives which have never been written down.
Responses
I always like seeing responses from the business, to both positive and negative reviews. For me this is the company taking ownership for their reviews and it often offers a great insight into the reviews themselves. I appreciate that companies can have a bad day, a restaurant for example can easily have a bad day that leaves customers waiting for a while to get their food and perhaps even a day where service isn’t up to scratch. If I see a bad review for a restaurant which details this type of experience, but then the restaurant replies offering an explanation and an apology, perhaps even with some kind of compensation, then I am comfortable going to eat at that kind of restaurant. If you see a business which is actively responding to reviews then this should give you some level of confidence that they actively care about their customers and their reviews score, which is very much a good sign.
