It seems like a luxury problem, but too many positive reviews are not good for online shops. Indeed, for products with mainly positive reviews, the number of returns increases. Alec Minnema, PhD student at the University of Groningen, came to this conclusion after conducting research.
According to Minnema, products cannot always live up to the high expectations created by overly positive reviews. Customers who order products after reading the positive reviews are more likely to return the product because they are disappointed. Returning results in higher costs for the online shop. For instance, there will be extra costs for shipping, the product has to be checked and repackaged at the time of reshipment.
Research
For his research, Minnema and a colleague from the University of Münster looked at more than nine million reviews. He also studied 630,000 transactions over a two-year period.
Advice
Minnema advises webshops not to only ask for reviews from consumers who are positive. Reviews can also be valuable when customers are not satisfied. That way, a better balance is created and the consumer knows better what to expect.
The results are published in the Journal of Retailing, due out in September.
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