In today’s digital world everybody has an opinion. And when it comes to selling a product, the opinion and coverage from people online now a days ways much heavier than brand exposure and reputation management, or attracting potential consumers via any other marketing form, be it a banner on a website, TV or radio commercials or advertisements in any form of print media.
Each product and service have its niche markets and many people make it their business to attract audiences into a specific niche and channel them through to the company who sells the desired product or service. This passing through of customers, or reselling someone else its goods is known as affiliate marketing. Webmaster links to brands via special links that contain trackers so that the seller knows who brought in the client so that they can reward them with a commission. These websites are called affiliate sites and often use reviews as a way to convince people by giving an honest review.
But how honest are these reviews if the writer of the review has an economic incentive to make people want to buy the product? A person browsing websites looking for other people’s experiences in order to help make a choice should keep a few things in mind when determining what info to trust and what not.
Many good e-commerce websites allow consumers to comment and share their personal experience. On eBay for example the consumer is prompted with the reputation of the product and the seller indicated with stars. The more stars, the more people who have left a good review. So before making a purchase, read through the comments and check why people who have previously bought the product were happy or not.
Other websites base their review on their own personal experience. For casino websites for example there are many dedicated review sites that have tested the product and give an extensive user experience profile explaining the quality of games and bonuses and discuss customer services, payment options and reliability. Since there are constantly new casino games being launched and new offers made to lure new customers, review of the latest casino sites in an ongoing and very competitive business.
So, whether looking for consumer electronics, online entertainment, video games, what movie to watch or series to read or anything, there are plenty of opinions online that are either genuine or biased. So, think about what the motivation was for writing the review in the first place and whether the information provided is objective and use social media to connect with others to find out what are the good and the bad things before making a purchase.