The Most Helpful Customer Review on the New ‘Rambo’
[Originally posted by Brett Hurt on Bazaarblog.]
The new 'Rambo'Browsing Yahoo! Movies this morning, I noticed that the most helpful review on the new 'Rambo' movie is a rant on critics. This review currently appears at the top, as 'most helpful' is the default sort for Yahoo!'s customer reviews. When you read this review, you will notice that it is virtually "content free", telling you almost nothing about the movie itself. It is just a rant.
I single it out not because I hate critics but because it was voted 'helpful' by 205 out of 236 people. In other words, this reviewer is speaking for a population of customers who simply ignore critics and trust each other instead.
Consider this ground-zero proof on a trend that continues to take hold. We have briefed you on research about trust many times, and here are five of the 'most helpful' Bazaarblog posts on this topic:
1. Customer Recommendations Are Most Trust Forms of Advertising
2. 80% of Online Customers Trust Brands More with Reviews
3. 84% Trust User Reviews Over a Critic (MarketingSherpa)
4. 78% of Online Consumers Have More Trust for Brands with Reviews
5. Can Customers Trust Online Reviews?
Regardless of whether you trust them or not, critics do make us laugh with their witty writing style. I got a chuckle out of Chris Farnsworth's quote on the movie, "Stallone looks like an overcooked Ball Park frank". The lay customer may not be as witty, but they may be more trusted and therefore more influential at driving box office sales - and that's what really counts.
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