[davemel37]

> Consumer reviews are preferred by a 3-to-1 margin over press reviews.

I strongly disagree with this premise. I would suspect real branding, PR, and marketing data would show that press reviews influence branding and sales 10-1 over consumer reviews.

(although consumer reviews can mean lots of things. It can mean a friend recommends, or a consumer does a deep video review online, or it could mean an anonymous person gives random feedback.)

I guess, I have two questions: 1. Can you substantiate that original premise with more than a poll or survey, but actual market research? 2. Do you think incentivized reviews will instantly remove any credibility those reviews may have carried in the first place?

[mikedeng]

Thank you for bringing up great points! We've definitely thought a lot about your first question because you're right, if companies don't care very much about consumer reviews then our product isn't going to be useful. As it turns out, all the startups we've talked to so far have told us that they would love to get more and better consumer feedback. In the end, makers are building products for consumers, so it makes sense that makers want reviews from people they are selling to. It's true that press reviews are valuable, but how a consumer sees a product may be different from how a professional product critic sees the product. There are also a couple articles online that help substantiate our point. But you're right, having a rock-solid market research report to prove our point would be a great asset!

For your second question, we don't think the incentive will hurt the credibility of the review - the incentive exists only to encourage consumers to provide an honest review that will help the makers improve their products.

Thanks again for commenting :)

Edit: Ninja'd by my partner above!

[polymyr]

Thank you for your feedback

1) There is a shocking amount of credible market research that all point towards the growing and dominant power of consumer reviews. With better access to information, multiple choices of goods and services, and the opportunity to share experiences with a single click, consumers have become empowered to do their own research on purchases.

There has also been a strong prevailing sentiment that the press cannot be trusted as these reviews are incredibly biased due to fear of losing continued sponsorship. I would expand more into it but these studies explain it better and more comprehensively than I ever could: The Deloitte Consumer Review and the "Buy It, Try It, Rate It" study from Weber Shandwick.

2) We have multiple measures in place to monitor and ensure quality reviews that aren't driven just to receive the rebate itself. Such measures include a set and structured product reviewing process, and a user-ranking system that rewards high quality reviews. We plan to heavily curate our user base through similar strategies from companies such as Quora and Yelp.