Online Reviews - Trusted Recommendations From Total Strangers

Nikola Igračev
5 min
11 February 2022.
Good stories

In the search for a specific product or service, most of us relied primarily on personal recommendations from friends, colleagues, or trusted individuals until recently.

From finding a quality painter, choosing the best catering for celebrations, to selecting reliable accommodation for vacations, amidst a sea of companies, agencies, and entrepreneurs, we opted for the safest option - those with whom our loved ones had positive experiences.

However, in recent years, things have significantly changed in that regard. With the development of applications that enable rating and sharing user experiences, we gradually realized that (rightfully so) we are starting to trust complete strangers more and more.

Thus, online reviews have reached the status of one of the most powerful factors today when it comes to choosing services and purchasing products with which we haven't had any prior experience.

Namely, the ability to read impressions and opinions of different people in one place and form our own judgment about a specific product or service has become even more valuable than an individual's subjective experience, no matter how much trust we have in them.

Recognizing the growing importance of reviews over time, service providers themselves have started frequently including a direct invitation on their websites and mobile applications for us to rate their product or service and leave a personal comment.

Therefore, it is clear that today the reputation of a company or business largely depends on their "stars," that is, ratings on the internet and user comments.

Some of the facts that have emerged from global digital marketing research in the past two years are as follows:

About 90% of consumers use the internet to find a specific service or product.
As many as 97% of consumers rely on online reviews when making decisions.
The average consumer reads at least 10 reviews before making a decision.
Only 50% of consumers even consider profiles rated below 4 stars.

In the case of Serbia, the percentages are slightly lower in every aspect, but there is no doubt that current global trends will reach our online market as well.

Good ratings and quality reviews have multiple significance - they make it easier for users to choose a specific product or service, while providing them brings higher revenue, raises brand awareness, and strengthens online reputation. It's also worth noting that even Google "likes" them and favors high-quality comments and ratings in search results.

Being so important and useful, online reviews have become a powerful marketing tool, and therefore, a field where abuses and manipulations can occur. These often involve two types of campaigns. The first one focuses on strategically leaving positive comments and ratings to artificially build a good online reputation, while the second one aims to create a negative image and give bad ratings to undermine the reputation of competitors.

In this regard, web developers are constantly working on the development of the most reliable software solutions for registration, verification, and protection against such negative and spam techniques, while business owners themselves often participate in discussions with their clients.

However, it is encouraging to see from practice that a genuinely good service or product is difficult to discredit with a bad review, and likewise, a bad service cannot be justified by any artificial boost of positive comments.

Online reviews are definitely one of the most objective ways to get genuine recommendations regarding a desired service or product.

Below, take a look at some of the most popular online services used in Serbia, where hundreds of users leave ratings and comments for various products, services, and destinations every day.

Google Reviews

The most popular internet search engine and digital service in the world certainly includes an option for online reviews of all public, commercial entities, and destinations listed in its index. As the most commonly used search engine, Google automatically enjoys the highest user trust, both globally and in Serbia. Consequently, it gathers the largest number of reviews on various subjects, making it the most reliable platform. The only, so to speak, "weakness" of this service might be the fact that in the case of a negative review campaign, it may take several days for false comments to be removed, which could potentially harm the online reputation of business owners, especially with a smaller number of reviews.

Facebook

As the social network with the largest number of active users on the internet, Facebook is also a highly influential platform when it comes to online reviews. Every page representing a business allows users to leave ratings and comments. Being one of the most comprehensive mobile applications, Facebook is extremely user-friendly and facilitates direct interaction between users/consumers and business owners. However, due to the multitude of other primary options that this hyper-popular network offers, it cannot be considered the first address we turn to when we want to browse through reviews. Nevertheless, this does not diminish its relevance.

Tripadvisor/Booking/AirBnB...

These are probably the most popular and relevant digital platforms when it comes to accommodation and travel bookings. While Tripadvisor is mainly dedicated to tourist destinations and providing information about them through user experiences, the other two platforms focus on offering and booking accommodations worldwide. As this system involves a large number of private houses and apartments, user experiences are a true treasure and provide crucial information for those searching for them. With the possibility of mutual ratings, comments, and recommendations, these platforms maintain a very high level of reliability.

Amazon/E-Bay/Ali Express...

The largest global online shops with product distribution worldwide wouldn't be able to function on the scale they do today without online reviews. In order for someone to dare to order and prepay for a specific product from the other side of the world, they need to be sure they will receive exactly what they want. User comments are "pure gold" in this case. The same applies to the largest domestic online marketplaces (KupujemProdajem, Kupindo, Limundo, etc.).

PlanPlus

With over 150,000 public and business establishments in its database, PlanPlus is limited to the Serbian market with its map and directory, serving as a local equivalent of Google when it comes to searching for locations and services. Consequently, user reviews on this website flow in tens every day and carry significant relevance. Moreover, a particular advantage compared to the largest global digital service is that all modifications and verifications of reviews happen locally, making any potential intervention due to inappropriate commenting significantly faster and potentially less damaging for business owners.

Author: Nikola Igračev