Video consumer-reviews could do great for e-com

[jmiller]

The thing about online consumer reviews is that anonymity ruins their credibility. It could be a competitor trashing your product. It could be a team of PR flacks in a spin mill.

Wanna deflate the value of the home you want to buy while running off competing bids? Post a nasty review of the home online and say something about termites and cracked foundation.

Buy.com will soon have user-generated video consumer product reviews, which will put a face on the reviewer, and in theory, drop the instances of gaming.

Article here.

[nexternal]

Uh...Yes and No.

One of the worst things that can happen to a company is having its image portrayed in a negative light. For instance if a brand is trying to be high-end, but has its products adopted by low-end consumers, they'll never sell to a high-end consumer again... A good example is clothing trends.

If the merchants keep a tight leash on the "reviews" then it could be a good thing. Must customers are fairly lazy or busy also. In general they will type a couple words about a decent item, but will not make a video about a great item.

The merchants and the reviewers should stay within their respective specialties.

[jestep]

I think too much credit is given to the amount of time consumers are willing to give to see a review. Who wants to wait for a video to load, and then site there and watch it for a product testimonial???

I would much rather read a quick few lines and be done with it.