Warning: Consumers of Online Reviews Lack Mindfulness.
Why Bad Reviews Should be “Taken with a Grain of Salt.”
“Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.” — Jon Kabat-Zinn
Online reviews have a sole purpose of judging a company, business, or restaurant based off of a single experience, which isn’t always fair to the operation under investigation. Yet, as consumers, we soak up every word of what we read on Yelp, Angie’s List, TripAdvisor — or wherever it might be — and most of the time, we don’t even question it. That’s a big problem.
As consumers of online reviews, we are eager to consume. Meaning, we are going out of our way to read reviews of locations, hoping to be swayed in one direction or the other, and we dont think twice about the source or situation of a bad review. So, here’s what it comes down to.
One — people are more motivated to go online and write a bad review than a good one, like some kind of emotionally immature way of getting revenge on the business for their bad experience. Two — bad reviews outline a single perspective of an experience, and there is always, ALWAYS more to the situation than that person’s opinion. I mean, for example, have you ever worked in customer service? Have you ever dealt with a customer that complained about something that was completely out of your control? And you wanted to help make their experience better but you literally couldn’t? Those kind of customers fall in line with most crazy bad review writers.
Now, I’m not saying that’s the case for every bad review. The point I am trying to make is that we are all too quick to judge people and situations anyway, and online reviews highlight that trait in us. In fact, there are psychological explanations for why people write a negative review. We get caught up and emotional charged, and lose sight of the fact that these businesses, restaurant, stores, etc., are all run by people like you and me — imperfect people that are doing their best, and probably have a lot going on outside of work. Still, knowing that, we consume bad reviews and jump to conslusions about the businesses and people we read about. Therefore, we aren’t being mindful consumers of these reviews.
OutboundEngine highlights statistics related to online reviews, and states that “85% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations,” but why? Our society is so quick to judge everything and everyone, but we chose to trust an online review about a place instead of going and experiencing their service for yourself? Here are some things to consider next time you’re reading a review…
- Is this review objective? Does it offer a valid argument?
- Does it seem like this review was written out of spite?
- Do you think there was something else going on to give that person such a bad experience?
- What do the good reviews say? Is there a common theme with the reviews in total — good or bad?
- Do these reviews really even matter? Could my experience be completely different then theirs?
The opinions of new customers aren’t the only ones that are affected by these negative reviews, the business is too. Statista.com offers even more stats about online reviews and how they affect a company. Not only are we reading reviews without thinking critically about them, but they work! They change opinions and turn people away, and most of the time it’s uncalled for. With that being said, good opinions influence people just as much, which is why you should go online a write a positive review if you have an exceptional experience somewhere, to counteract those negative ones and offer a better perspective for those reading. It may not help you personally to write a good review, but it’s definitely needed.
Next time you are online looking for a place to eat or shop, practice mindfulness when evaluating the situation at it’s entirety. Mindful.org has some great tips on how not to be “judgy,” which in my opinion, is something we could all work on.