Online reviews : is longer really better?

• Main Authors: Lio, Zhi Sen, Yang, Sherman Junjie, Tan, Daryl Hsien Yong
• Other Authors: Robert Kreuzbauer
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Business::Marketing::Consumer behavior
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/48117
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The first thing that comes to mind when one considers the term ‘online consumer review’ is the number of stars. However, are there any other components of a review that affect our attitudes towards the product? The purpose of this study is to determine if and how the length of these reviews affects consumers’ purchase intentions and perceptions of trust of the reviews. In addition, it aims to explore if this effect is further moderated by other previously established variables, i.e. the average rating, number of reviews and the variance of ratings. A total of 192 university students took part in our experiment in which an online review was replicated. After viewing consumer reviews of various electronic products, we sought to determine their purchase intentions and also how much they actually trust the sources. The stimuli were presented in a foreign language to isolate the effects of length and minimize the semantic implications. Both the main effects and interaction effects were then examined. Our findings were indeed revealing. Consumers are indeed more attracted to longer reviews and were more convinced by it regardless of the content. Interestingly, the effect of the length of reviews is only moderated by changes in the variance of the ratings. Variables we thought to be important considerations, such as average rating and number of reviews, had no significant moderating effect. Of course in a real world setting, readers will most likely be affected by the actual content of the reviews. Also, due to resource constraints, the use of a between subjects design comparing across product categories was unavoidable. Nevertheless, this study provides us with a base from which future studies can be built upon. The significant effects of length on purchase intention and trust suggest that it might be beneficial for review sites to showcase their longest reviews first or to encourage reviewers to write lengthier reviews. However, the costs associated with these actions should be taken into account, especially for non e-commerce sites that do not sell the actual product. As an exploratory research paper, this study is the first to draw a concrete link between the length of reviews and consumers’ purchase intentions of a product. Whether this pattern is only limited to consumer electronics or varies among other product categories is something future studies might want to consider.