Preaching to the choir: The chasm between top-ranked reviewers, mainstream customers and product sales

摘要

Online reviews are considered as one of the most important sources of influence for product promotion. However, websites such as Amazon.com use algorithms to rank reviewers based on the volume of reviews posted by a user in addition to factors such as recency of reviews. As a result, top-ranked reviewers are considered more influential. The study examines whether they actually influence product sales more than other reviewers. This was done by examining the review and sales activity for all 182 new music albums released during a particular time period on Amazon.com through designated market area level sales data from Nielsen. The data set examined review activity during the critical first two months so that early influences on purchases can be observed. Results show that top-ranked reviewers can be opinion leaders, and have a strong directional influence on product sales, but their influence is largely limited to special cases like new products or products with high variance in existing reviews. In contrast, bottom-ranked reviewers have a much greater influence on sales in general.