Review Hacks
March 19th, 2007
Before making a purchase, I used to spend a lot of time looking for reviews. The problem is that reviews prepared by media outlets reflect the experience of a handful of reviewers, rather the accumulated experiences of actual customers.
Luckily, there are a couple of easy workarounds:
- Google “[name of product or company] sucks”. If more than a handful of links show up, it’s a good idea to move on! (This works best for smaller companies… bigger firms tend to have lots of disgruntled customers no matter what.)
- Call customer service. See if a customer service number even exists, how long they put you on hold, and whether you can understand the person on the other end.
- A lot of companies have user forums. Check them and see if they’re filled with complaints.
- Search for the company on blogs like Consumerist.com
Maybe there is a Web 2.0 business opportunity in using distributed data on the Internet to determine collective opinions.
What other unconventional methods do you use to make purchase decisions?
