The Effects of User Reviews on Online Purchasing Behavior across Multiple Product Categories

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The Effects of User Reviews on Online Purchasing
Behavior across Multiple Product Categories

• Lisa Hankinlhankin_at_ischool.berkeley.edu
• School of Information
• University of California, Berkeley
• May, 2007

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Online User Reviews

• Consumers
• Mitigates Risk
• Websites
• Keeps users from leaving a site

Sell More Products!
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Are all Reviews Created Equal?

• Most research
• UI Design
• Highlight Positive Reviews

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Movies

• Which movie would you rather see?

Movie A Average Rating C 500 ratings
Movie B Average Rating B 500 ratings
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Sellers

• Which seller would you rather buy from?

Mr. Smith Average Rating 79 1,000 ratings
Mr. Jones Average Rating 100 10 ratings
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My Research

• Extensive Literature Review
• Study looking at different product categories and
  different review elements.
• All user reviews are NOT created equal
• Different product categories, different user
  needs
• Changing the UI design for different products
  could increase sales