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Amazon Eschews Free-Product Reviews

10/15/2016

19 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch, founder of Mindful Marketing & author of Honorable Influence
There are few words in the English language that arouse as much excitement as “FREE.”  It’s rare when we receive something of value without needing to pay, so when we do, the economist inside of us lights up.  Why, then, has Amazon taken a stand against free stuff?
 
For many years, America’s biggest e-tailer has banned paid reviews.  Consequently, a company selling shoes on Amazon can’t pay ‘Paul’ to write a review about the sneakers he just received.  However, Amazon has allowed vendors to give free merchandise to reviewers in exchange for their evaluations, provided that reviewers disclose that the items they’ve reviewed were gifts.   So, Paul could post something like this:
 
“The X-Glide 300 is the most comfortable running shoe I’ve owned.  Its padded foot-bed and  ‘spring-step’ sole absorbs shock and cushions impact.  It has a soft and breathable upper.  It’s also very light-weight, which makes a big difference during a long run.  I received a pair of X-Glide 300s from the manufacturer.”
 
Recently, however, Amazon announced that even these types of reviews will be banned.  Why?  It’s hard for reviewers not to be biased when they receive the products they’re reviewing for free.  True, accepting a pair of sneakers is not the same as getting cash, but shoes are still significant compensation  that can persuade recipients to rate them more favorably because they didn’t have to pay for them.
 
In general, the receipt of a gift makes people feel a need to reciprocate: “She gave me something, so I should give her something.”   It doesn’t make much sense for a reviewer to give a product to a company, but the reviewer can give something even more valuable—a good review.

However, don’t disclaimers help prospective customers know that a review may be biased?  Apparently such disclosures are not as effective as one would hope.  ReviewMeta, a review aggregator and analyzer, found that one in five Amazon reviews contained a disclaimer and suggested that when they’re that common, many consumers “accept them without question.”
 
Compounding the problem, Amazon has had the habit of “factoring these paid reviews in the actual one-to-five star rating system,” although, giving them lesser weight than verified purchases.  So, consumers who just scan the quantitative results to find the highest star ratings may not be aware that those figures have been pushed up by reviews of products that the reviewers received for free.

How much exactly do the free-product reviews skew the numeric results?  ReviewMeta found that such reviews tend to be “0.38 stars more positive than their objective counterparts.”  Such a difference may seem small, but as Yahoo Finance suggests, the difference is often enough to push a product into the higher range of rankings, giving it a real edge in Amazon search results.
 
In one particular case, ReviewMeta found an umbrella with 121 reviews and an average star rating of 4.7.  All but four of those reviews, however, came from people who received the umbrella for free.  The reviewers who paid for their umbrellas gave an average rating of just 2.7.  This is pretty convincing empirical evidence of reciprocity and the notion that reviewers have a hard time being objective when they don’t have to pay for the product they’re reviewing.

As mentioned at the onset, Amazon has decided to revise its review policy, so now the e-commerce giant prohibits:
  • “Creating, modifying, or posting content in exchange for compensation of any kind (including free or discounted products) or on behalf of anyone else” and
  • “Offering compensation or requesting compensation (including free or discounted products) in exchange for creating, modifying, or posting content”
 
The revised policy applies to virtually everything sold on Amazon, with one notable exception—books.  Amazon will allow book authors and publishers to “continue to provide free or discounted copies of their books to readers, as long as the author or publisher does not require a review in exchange or attempt to influence the review.”
 
Of course, books are no small thing for Amazon; they’re what started the e-commerce giant’s success.  In 2014, Forbes reported that Amazon had $5.25 billion in sales from books, representing about 7% of the company’s annual revenue.  So, has Amazon created a convenient caveat in order to protect the sales of one of its principal products?  No.
 
There are legitimate reasons for treating books differently, the main one being that most books cost relatively little, but they require considerable effort to review.  For instance, the sneakers mentioned earlier might retail for $90 or more, while many books sell for $30 or less.  In addition, a review of the sneakers probably won’t take much time.  Someone could conceivably wear them for a couple of hours and be ready to write a short summary of their experience.
 
Reviewing a book, in contrast, is a much more time-intensive process that also requires more insight than the typical product.  Depending on their length, books can take days, weeks, or months to read.  Likewise, a person can easily spend several hours or more writing a thorough review.
 
When you put on a pair of sneakers that someone gives you, you know pretty quickly whether you like them or not, and if not, you quickly take them off.  When you start reading a book, it takes time to know how good it is, but even after you realize it’s not great, you still need to keep reading it in order to offer a thorough review.  That’s why when someone gives us a book about a topic we’re not really interested in, we may think, “Ugh.  Now I need to spend some significant time doing something I really don’t want to do.”
 
So, when reviewers receive sneakers for free, even if the sneakers aren’t the best, the reviewers might rate them highly because they get some value from them, and their review didn’t cost them much time or effort.  On the other hand, book reviewers gain little benefit from reading bad books.  In fact, they may feel like their considerable effort cost them time and potential enjoyment of other things, so their reviews are much more likely to be true to their experience.
 
Unfortunately, the full impact of Amazon’s new review policy will take time to be felt, as there will be no deletion of existing free-product-related reviews.  Those biased evaluations will just need to disappear over time as they’re replaced by newer reviews.  Still, the e-tailer’s push for more objective product information is a great step forward for consumers, as well as a strategy that will benefit suppliers of higher-quality products.  As a result, Amazon’s prohibition of reviews motivated by free products represents “Mindful Marketing.”


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19 Comments
Samantha Celia
10/18/2016 04:26:06 pm

I thought this post was extremely informative and provided a lot of insight into how the Amazon comments section works. I agree that Amazon is taking a mindful step towards accurate product reviews by vetoing reviews that involve an incentive, like a free product. Likewise, books do take a lot of time to review accurately and I don't think it's unfair that the new review policy won't be applied to literature. While this post taught me a lot about how Amazon's reviews may have not been totally accurate in the past, it made me like the company more for being ethical and caring towards their customers and products sold on their website .

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Kathryn Doherty
10/20/2016 01:50:17 pm

I completely agree with you Sam, and am very grateful to Amazon for being a reliable company that in the future I can trust to provide authentic reviews. While free products are great, I would rather have authentic reviews than fake reviews. While this process of removing these fake reviews might take a while to remove and stop, in the long run it will be so much better!

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Cameron Bauer
10/20/2016 04:25:35 pm

I thought this article was very insightful and really opened my eyes to some of the tactics of companies. Free things are great, however, if I am looking for a review, I want honesty. Amazon is really trying to make a conscious effort to provide customers with honest review that really give valid and honest opinions on products from their websites. I think this is awesome because this way, reviews will start to be more valid and worth more than just fake reviews.

Ji Hyun Yun
10/21/2016 09:27:32 pm

I agree with you Kathryn and Sam. When I buy something, I really enjoy reading other customers' reviews. In that time, I expect to read honesty and helpful reviews of real customers, so I can decide to buy or not according to their reivews. I think that review for free products do not help making my purchase because they do not pay for the products, so it can be different with my perspective on products.

Christian Bujuklian
10/24/2016 02:10:27 pm

Hi Samantha,

I completely agree with you, I thought it was a great concept and idea for Amazon to start moving towards eliminating biased reviews that otherwise would lure buyers to buy items that don't have genuine feedback. The article I feel really hits home when it points out that there are key words like "free" that will get someone to do anything to get that free item. Interesting what people will do to get something for free, at the cost of others.

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Curtis Lee
10/20/2016 11:20:43 pm

The first blog that I read from the MIndful Marketing website was the blog entitled “Amazon Eschews Free Product Reviews.” THis article was about how Amazon, the biggest e-tailer banning paid reviews. At first they allowed free product in exchange reviews, but they announced they are going to stop that too. The reason for this is because these motivational type of reviews create a biased for customers who want genuine feedback. THis creates people who may not even need the given product and give biased reviews. Amazon strives for people to utilize reviews who share the same interest ad a gauge to help their decision process in buying the product.

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Jonathan Matsuda
10/24/2016 11:18:05 pm

This was a great comment thanks for sharing Curtis. I love seeing companies like Amazon trying to crack down on false and inaccurate product reviews. I know a lot of customers that actually look at reviews for guidance when buying a product. With this new policy, Amazon can begin to ensure buyers that they strive for excellence in everything that they do while also increasing their satisfaction. Its a win win for everyone!

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Sam Kalagi
10/21/2016 10:36:12 pm

I've been shopping with Amazon since 2011, and have probably spent more $ with them then any other retailer on the market. I've also posted some honest product reviews which have been liked by many people. I really do think this is a good step for Amazon and I've noticed the trend of paid/free product-reviewers begin to deteriorate the quality of Amazon's review system which has been a huge part of Amazon's appeal.

Amazon originally started all of this with their own "Vine" program which gave top Amazon reviewers free items and it would be noted in their review. I noticed with Vine reviewers that more often than not, the reviews were always positive and it always seemed a little biased to me.

In the past year the number of "This review has been provided in exchange for a free product" reviews have exploded. Also even worse, retailers have been offering partial refunds or "gifts" to top reviewers who are willing to change their 3 or 4 star review into a 5 star. Companies are manipulating the system in order to receive good reviews, and no one will know unless you state it.

In this particular review, the top reviewer changed their 4 star review into a 3 star because the company offered to give them a 15 dollar credit if they gave a 5 star review.

https://amazon.com/GlocalMe-Hotspot-Features-Worldwide-Internet/dp/B016MH3M2W/ref=pd_ybh_a_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=WK3X98V70M1HDYEFQ3FA&th=1

As you can see, Amazon needs to be taking proactive steps to combat these things.

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Alex Falk
10/22/2016 04:55:33 pm

This article was very intriguing to me. As a fairly avid Amazon user I have grown to using and looking at the reviews and star ratings on basically everything that I commit to purchasing. What I did not know is that there were these type of reviewers that would receive gifts in exchange for a review. But now that I know this I will definitely be more cautious as I approach an item with a great star rating.

Also after realizing that these type of reviews occur, I am surprised that Amazon didn't do anything about it sooner. I think that it is very unethical and makes me a little annoyed that I could have bought something that was reviewed well, when really it was false because of delegated ratings. So it surprises me that this was allowed in the first place. I think that reviews are a great aspect of Amazon and it was definitely necessary for them to fix this issue. I do agree with Mr. Hagenbuch in that this step forward is Mindful Marketing.

Overall I guess I am happy that Amazon is fixing the issue I didn't even know existed, it's just too bad that all the products I've purchased in the past may not have had accurate reviews.

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Jonathan Matsuda
10/22/2016 09:07:29 pm

This blog post about Amazon was very interesting and I ended up gaining a lot of knowledge about how Amazon reviews work. There has been a problem with Amazon reviews and free products. ReviewMeta found that there was about a .38 higher star review for products that have been given out for free. Why? It’s because when consumers obtain something for free, they feel like they owe the company or brand something even if the product is mediocre. I think it is great that Amazon is trying to get rid of this problem. I’m sure many innocent customers have bought products that have been rated high only because they were given out for free to others. It is not a true representation of the quality and value of the product. Amazon will be able to improve their quality of service by getting rid of these false or manipulated product reviews.

A few weeks ago, I found myself in a situation in regards to false and prejudice product reviews. While I was out, someone approached me and offered $10 if I gave his company a good review on Yelp. I declined, but proceeded to look at the company’s reviews which were all 5 stars. In today’s day and age, many companies are beginning to find loopholes within the product or service review system that puts them on a superior level. Unfortunately, their product or service does not even have to be good, they just have to manipulate and convince someone to post a good review for them. I’m very glad and satisfied to see Amazon trying to stop the spread of this obstacle since many customers utilize reviews for information about a product or service.

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Christopher James
10/23/2016 08:59:45 pm

Amazon's attempts to eliminate bias among reviews is quite noble. It really does seem like Amazon is trying to create a website that customers can rely upon to get quality products. Their ethical approach to eliminating bias among product reviews would highly suggest that they are working to uphold societal values. In addition to this, they create stakeholder value by allowing customers to align their desired product with the one they are receiving. I really like that Amazon is able to weave through these reviews in order to uphold a higher standard. A standard that holds the truth higher than profits. Hats off to Amazon for creating this system.

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Christian Bujuklian
10/24/2016 02:05:39 pm

This article was a great read and helped me understand what companies like Amazon are thinking and trying to fix with these on-going issues. Reviews are a dangerous thing when they are absurd or biased, considering that when a customer receives a product for free, naturally the customer will put a good word in on the product for the sake of the company. By having this happen, there is a false understanding of the quality of the product. Amazon is wanting to start eliminating that so that when a product receives a review, that more times than not, it will be a genuine review that will help out buyers choose the best product. I think this is great of Amazon to start doing because it will help people find, and ultimately buy, the product that will best fit their need without wasting time or money.

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Jeremy Millar
10/24/2016 03:55:25 pm

Wow, what a read! This post was great, and very informative. I have a friend who is a full time Amazon seller, and he advocates for websites in which sellers can distribute their products for a lower price than normal. He finds that these entice more honest reviews and really helps his products out. It totally makes sense that Amazon would ban free item distribution, as it would absolutely create a lot of bias. I'm glad that they have come to this decision. That example about the umbrella is absolutely incredible. To think that people would give a product a review it doesn't deserve just because you received it for free is ridiculous and unhelpful!

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Robert
10/24/2016 04:01:50 pm

I just want to say that I appreciated the initial hook of the intro. It was really good and drew me in by addressing how people view the word "free" and how Amazon is doing something different. I also appreciated the research that was invested in this, it helped me understand Amazon's situation far better and it blew me away how much money they make off of books alone.
I think ultimately, I appreciated how the blog addressed how Amazon accommodates for the ever changing world of business and reviews. It doesn't change it's ethics, it seems to maintain its values and promote ethical business practices. It regulates and further specifies how a company can utilize a review to promote its products.

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Sierra Pereyra
10/24/2016 04:03:29 pm

I really appreciate that Amazon is working to show true reviews and going to these lengths in order to ensure that their customers are not being falsely advertised to. I just read the most recent blog post about how Syria was advertising to people to travel there and enjoy their many great, fun activities. However, they were misleading people because their country is in complete turmoil and very dangerous to be in. I appreciate that Amazon is trying to prevent mindless marketing such as this, so that each time someone is looking to buy a product they know exactly what they are buying. Doing this protects the customer, the advertiser, and Amazon itself. There are both positive and negative effects. The positive includes, security, honesty, and true competition. A possible negative outcome could be that the products being sold end up being sold somewhere else because the seller wants the freedom to advertise however they want.

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Jerron
10/24/2016 10:51:14 pm

I find it interesting that Amazon prohibits reviews fueled by money or free gifts. I thought back and saw that many companies "bribe" their customers to leave reviews of their company by offering something in return. I believe now that I must look into reviews to see what the product is actually about. As a member of Amazon prime I am thankful as a consumer that they are strict about who reviews products.

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Jason Roberts
10/25/2016 12:57:52 am

First off, I just want to take a moment to note the quality of this content. I really like that you are able to find news that is actually interesting and relevant to the times. It must be a lot of work to find these sorts of things, and I respect that you can continue doing this long-term.
Second, I like that you were able to cover what is happening with Amazon, and then give a well thought out, logical opinion on the topic. Rather than choosing to simply cover what happened in a short, pithy manner, and express your opinion through a biased slant, you covered the pros and cons of the issue, and how soon changes will take effect, etc. This is really solid content, and well formatted and written.

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Sarah Choi
10/25/2016 02:14:23 am

This was a very informative article that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. It was interesting to see how much influence free products can have on reviewers. I was always cautious when reading Amazon reviews, but this has helped me to see that some products with a good amount of reviews can actually be skewed. I am glad that Amazon has implemented this new rule and look forward to seeing the results of this change in policy.

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Isaac Delgado
10/29/2016 03:32:49 am

I think another key issue to these biased reviews is that some people want to keep receiving free stuff from these companies. So if they keep giving good reviews that bring in good sales for these companies then the companies are more likely to keep giving free stuff away to get more good reviews for themselves. It becomes a vicious cycle that becomes misleading on the review board. That is why I take extra time whenever I buy something to really scope out what this product is like. I generally like to see what the people with the lowest stars have to say. I think it's a good move by Amazon to change their policy.

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