Public Opinions: Inside User Reviews

Make the Most of User Reviews

As with any source of information, you must know what to look for. Keep these tips in mind the next time you peruse the postings.

• Skim past the rating: One person's five may be another's three, so there's often little value in the overall score. You have to focus on the details to understand the user's point of view.
  
  
• The more reviews, the merrier: "You should never read just one or two reviews... Any one person may be off their rocker, so to speak, whereas a dozen or two dozen people probably aren't," says Scott Wainner of ResellerRatings.com.
  
  
• Add up the numbers: If you do like to consider the overall cumulative rating of a product, make sure you factor in the total number of reviews. The more reviews a product or a merchant gets, the better the chance of a representative rating.
  
  
• Use the tools at hand: Take advantage of filters and other features to make your search more efficient and refine what you see.
  
  
• Focus on the negatives: As bad as it sounds, you can save a lot of time if you learn about the problems people have had with a product or a merchant. Plus, a single problem may be unique to a reviewer's complicated PC configuration, but if you see a recurring theme in a dozen reviews, there's probably something to it.
  
  
• Locate the experts: If you want a digital camera, visit a site that specializes in digital camera user reviews, like PCPhotoReview.com. People who post reviews on these sites tend to have a higher level of expertise and provide more in-depth details.
  
  
• Dip into discussions: If all else fails, go to Google Groups (groups.google.com) and search for the product or merchant in the Usenet archives. It's often a great source for advice, if you're willing to wade through many posts and the off-topic turns they can take.