TY - JOUR
T1 - Following the breadcrumbs
T2 - An analysis of online product review characteristics by online shoppers
AU - Muralidharan, Sidharth
AU - Yoon, Hye Jin
AU - Sung, Youngjun
AU - Miller, Jessica
AU - Lee, Arturo
PY - 2017/3/4
Y1 - 2017/3/4
N2 - Consumer-generated product reviews are a driving force behind online purchases; at the same time, unfavorable reviews can discourage interested online shoppers and eventually hurt the brand. The objective of this exploratory study was to analyze a diverse range of characteristics and the valence of online product reviews that would aid in responding to customer dissatisfaction. Product reviews (N = 1982) from Amazon.com were collected and content analyzed. Some of the key findings include the following: (a) price was the most commonly discussed product feature; (b) online shoppers found two-sided reviews to be most informative, contradicting the commonly held assumption that negative reviews were more informative and diagnostic in nature; and (c) ‘no action’ was the most common end action across two-sided and negative reviews, indicating that varying levels of dissatisfaction might not always lead to a negative end action. Implications for marketers are discussed.
AB - Consumer-generated product reviews are a driving force behind online purchases; at the same time, unfavorable reviews can discourage interested online shoppers and eventually hurt the brand. The objective of this exploratory study was to analyze a diverse range of characteristics and the valence of online product reviews that would aid in responding to customer dissatisfaction. Product reviews (N = 1982) from Amazon.com were collected and content analyzed. Some of the key findings include the following: (a) price was the most commonly discussed product feature; (b) online shoppers found two-sided reviews to be most informative, contradicting the commonly held assumption that negative reviews were more informative and diagnostic in nature; and (c) ‘no action’ was the most common end action across two-sided and negative reviews, indicating that varying levels of dissatisfaction might not always lead to a negative end action. Implications for marketers are discussed.
KW - emotions
KW - end actions
KW - online product reviews
KW - review quality
KW - review valence
KW - satisfaction
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85028254104&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85028254104&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/13527266.2014.949824
DO - 10.1080/13527266.2014.949824
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85028254104
VL - 23
SP - 113
EP - 134
JO - Journal of Marketing Communications
JF - Journal of Marketing Communications
SN - 1352-7266
IS - 2
ER -