Online reviews can be extremely beneficial, giving you more information about something that you probably haven’t purchased yet yourself. However, they can also be wildly confusing, often causing even more confusion than you were trying to assuage. If you’re looking at reviews for something that you’re interested in pursuing, like Backblaze reviews, you need to know how to understand those reviews. Here are four questions to ask when you read an online review.
1. Who Is Giving the Review?
First of all, who’s actually giving the review? Although both people may be equally impacted by a product, a tech reviewer is going to hold more weight when reviewing a cloud backup product than a random person with no experience in the tech industry. You might trust the tech reviewer more because of the experience that they have, as well; you can assume that any problems the reviewer had were not because of ineptitude, and that they weren’t amazed by something that’s industry-standard.
2. Was Anyone Paid for the Review?
Sometimes, payment for an honest review is okay. There are plenty of people who make their living from reviewing things honestly, whether they have an online channel where their viewers pay them to review things or a company has provided them with something for free so they can review it. However, understanding whether someone was paid for the review is an important part of knowing whether the reviewer might have financial incentive to give a positive or negative review.
3. What Are the Specific Things the Review Praises?
A review that just says, “This product is good” is much less helpful than a review that says, “I really enjoy this product because I had an issue and customer service was able to help me resolve it.” Specific reviews are the best, and it’s important that you take a look at exactly what the review is praising. Especially if many people praise the same basic thing, it’s likely that this is a place where the company really shines.
4. Are There Any Overall Accolades the Company Has Received?
If a company itself has certain accolades, like being named “the best” of something, you might be more likely to take them seriously about how good their product is. It’s a good idea to see whether a company has earned any accolades. Just make sure you track down the accolades and see where they came from, as it’s surprisingly easy to just claim an accolade for yourself online that you never actually earned.
Conclusion
Online reviews can be immensely helpful, no matter what they’re for. If you’re trying to decide whether or not to purchase something or sign up for a service, you’re almost certainly going to go to reviews of the product to see whether it’s worth it. These four questions can help you analyze the reviews that you see, making it much easier for you to determine whether a review for a product is actually impactful or whether you might just want to ignore it.
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