When you are shopping for something, you take into account others’ experiences with the product. Turning to their comments and opinions can be a big factor in how you will make your decision. On the other hand, if you are a seller, one way for you to gather feedback is to check out online survey platforms and see if they have forms that would suit your product catalog. You will then integrate them into your store or send them to your customer’s post-purchase.
Having a feedback system is a way for stores to show that they care about their customers. This is the avenue where anyone is free to write anything about the product they have purchased. Give praise where it is deserved, and do not mince words when you have a bad experience. For the latter, your honesty could make a difference. No one wants to receive negative feedback, so they will try their best to avoid this in the future. This should result in better products and services. But this is a system that can also be exploited. This is proven by the existence of review bombing.
Review Bombing Defined
Review bombing is the act of starting a trend of negative scores or feedback to a product. This can be initiated by an individual or a group of people. For the former, it can be done by making multiple user accounts in an online store and then using these to post multiple reviews. The latter is simply similar to an organized gathering, like a strike. This is a form of manipulating the average score by having a singular opinion be counted as many, and it can invalidate honest reviews of other individuals.
How It Affects a Product
When the review average of a product is not satisfactory, people tend to skip over them. This is okay if they are posted for the right reasons. But when it comes to review bombing, it paints an inaccurate picture of the opinions of many. Not only that, but there is the possibility where the feedback platform is used for an agenda that is not relative to the product quality at all. If a group of people wants to send a hateful message to a company, they can just give low scores to get that across.
The Aftermath
Potential customers can be swayed away from the product, and it does not matter if it has good quality. A lot of people’s effort and hard work can be dismissed without being given a chance to present their case. Good ideas may not take off, hurting the chances of the market getting new innovative products. Bombarding the product page with negative reviews is basically a smear campaign. Its success does not benefit consumers and retailers.
As you can see, review bombing is manipulative in its intentions. It gives a false perception of the general opinion regarding a product or service. Do your part by not participating in this trend. As a shopper, you must do your own due diligence so that you will not get swept by it. Read as many individual reviews as you can, and form your own opinion from there. Once you do this, you will be confident in making a decision that is all your own.