How much do product reviews on retailers’ website influence your purchasing decision? Share!
If it’s a lot of glowing reviews, not a lot, but if there are a lot of bad reviews, it’ll make me think twice.
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Not terribly much, unless there are a lot of middling/negative reviews. Most consumers aren’t going to be nearly as rigorous in what they expect out of a product and as long as it works, you’ll probably get at least good (if not great reviews). So for me it’s a red flag if a rating falls below 3.5-4.0 – it means something is amiss.
That said, I still ultimately prefer reading reviews from bloggers I trust instead 🙂
It seems that far too many online retailers have taken advantage of their on-site product reviews. Too many are cherry picked, or flat out fraudulent, causing me to be skeptical of on-site reviews. That being said, like Christine, if there are numerous negative reviews, I will really question my purchase.
Agreed with this.
I agree. And since I have never seen lots of negative reviews on any online retailer I think it is safe to say that product reviews have zero influence on my purchasing decision.
None at all. Sephora monitors it to a point I feel it is deceptive.
I rely on bloggers more. And there are pics to show too.
A little bit, if something has less than 3/5 stars I’ll read reviews to see what the negatives are.
I’m more influenced by reviewers like you, Phyrra, Muse, etc who look at things more objectively.
Gotta take it with a grain of salt. If I’m only seeing 5-star reviews on every product but other (independent) sites tell me otherwise, I steer clear. If I see more in-depth, personal reviews, good or bad, I’ll consider it. If it’s bad reviews across the board, lol I’m going to avoid the product either way.
I honestly don’t put much stock in them at all.
I’m interested in them, but only if there area lot of them, and only if they’re detailed. If they just say ‘OMG awesome!” or ‘OMG suck!’ then they don’t mean a lot to me, because they haven’t told me why.
If the reviews are meaty though, I’ll check out the 4 star ones and the 1 star ones, to get a taste of both sides of the argument.
Mostly I just read a few trusted blogs, though 😉
I pretty much agree with this sentiment. Positive reviews really just tell me that people who were probably going to like the product ended up liking it. I also don’t trust ratings on retailers’ websites: I remember watching a whole drama unfold on the Sephora website when they were selling a kit of all their eye shadows for $800: a lot of people were clearly revising without purchasing, just discussing whether they would ever buy the kit at that price. Sephora scrubbed the negative comments/ratings while leaving positive reviews alone, even though the reviewers had equally obviously not purchased the kit, and of course the rating shot up (hilariously, since the reviewers were in dialogue with each other, the positive reviews still made it extremely obvious what the negative reviews were). I always knew ratings could be deceptive, but that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. There are so many worthwhile third-party websites, so I don’t really see the point of trusting the retailer.
If I see a bunch of bad reviews and/or reviews mentioning the same problem over and over, I’m more likely to hold off buying and doing a bit more research. However, some retailers aren’t ethical when posting reviews (not approving bad ones), some places hire people to write good reviews, etc. Other times, a product is really good, but you might see lots of bad reviews because people didn’t really understand what a product was for, or how to use it, or just didn’t like the color they picked out.
It depends. I tend to prefer blogs or sites like makeup alley for a more honest opinion as you don’t know how the company is monitoring the comments. However, if there’s a large number of mixed reviews I’ll definitely take them into account.
Jill x
I usually take them with a grain of salt. I’d rather rely on beauty blogs that I know do impartial and reliable reviews (like yours!). The only times I rely on reviews on retailers’ website is when I’m buying something like clothes online, where I need to look out for things like fit, size differences between garments/manufacturer, length (always important for a shorty), and material.
I actually trust your reviews very much. Your opinions seem very honest. Color swatches help a lot but we are different skin tones so it’s kinda hard for things like lipsticks but I get a general feel of it from your amazing swatches.
Thank you, Hilda!
Not at all.
I don’t believe it as much as I used to because now whenever I try to leave reviews they’re always like “oh we gotta approve the message first” and it just makes me side-eye them a little. Since the company always has the power to remove stuff they don’t like from their website, I’d rather look for reviews from youtubers and bloggers.
I look at Paula’s Choice (Beautypedia reviews) to see the rating received and check to see if you have reviewed it and make my decision.
Let me re-pharse this – beautypedia for skin care reviews and you for everything else.
🙂
When I go to the sephora website and I want reviews. I click “see from low to high” and read all the bad reviews. Sometimes people are like “well I just dont like the shade” while others will give me good info to look out for when I try the product “dryness etc.”. So I do look at them.. but most of them are too subjective to take into account.
Not much at al and if I do read them, I mostly read the negative reviews, lol. I find these days that so many positive review are fake (looking at you $ephora) that I don’t trust them but the negative reviews (taken with a few grains of salt) tend to reveal the nitty gritty.
at all**
To be honest, YOUR review is the only one that really matters to me, Christine.
That is very humbling! Thank you, Regina!
Not to be all mushy and silly, but I agree with Regina! You have saved me SO MUCH money! I used to see things I thought were pretty at Sephora or Macy’s and I’d take them home and hate the quality. I’m not a big returner and I rarely try things at the store because I’m a bit terrified of the nastiness and germs, so your blog has really helped me weed out my collection! 🙂
Aww! Thank you so much! 🙂 I’m not a big returner either, and the older I get, the more icked out I am when I see testers.
It doesn’t really influence me. I always wonder how much the retailers ‘moderate’ the reviews… That’s why I prefer independent websites and forums.
I always read the reviews for cosmetics. I’ll read through pages of reviews for a product before I make my decision. I have really sensitive skin and strange undertones, so I want to make a very informed decision. And I always make sure to leave my own personal review on products to help out others!
xo,
Jenny
If I’m looking to purchase a new to me product, I will look at the reviews. If they are bad reviews, I look at the reason the reviews are bad. I won’t for instance not purchase a product intended for oily/combo skin because the reviewers don’t like it because they have dry/normal skin. I go by the reviews that give a reason why they like or don’t like a product if it seems valid. I find the reviews on sephora.com to be somewhat fair, I see good and bad reviews, Nordstrom.com tends to have glowing reviews on products, so I will look at independent sites for reviews.
On retailers sites, they don’t influence me that much, unless there is something really negative on there. I would rather try out the product in person as a sample. However, I lean greatly towards your advice Christine.
I scan the reviews very quickly for keywords like “breaks me out” if I’m looking at a skincare product review. I definitely think twice if I see several people write so. And I arrange the reviews backwards to see what the lowest score reviewer has to say there. Sometimes they are being reasonably mad, sometimes it’s just about customer service.
Or, what about the low reviews of a *product* because the reviewer doesn’t like the *color*? It seems 90+% of low reviews are because of this, which has absolutely *nothing* to do with the performance b of thenproduct!
I’m definitely with you on that one. For color related products like eye shadow and lipstick, Every time I saw someone gives a low rating and writes “it’s just horrible color on me, it makes me look bad”, I just ignore it. I mostly just focus on the swatch, not a user’s words, coz overall it’s too personal love and hate relationship. Haters can hate, right?
I read the reviews, but I try not to mind the star ratings. So much about makeup is so personal that a lot of the time the 5-star reviews and the 1-star reviews say the exact same thing (“I loved this foundation! It makes my skin so fresh and dewy!” vs “This made my face look shiny and oily! Worst foundation ever!”) I’ve bought products based on 1-star reviews because the aspect of the product that the reviewer absolutely hated really appealed to me.
That said, if I’m just casually browsing Sephora’s website, I probably won’t click on items with less than 3 stars if it isn’t a product I was already interested in…
I read them and find that I DO see negative reviews. I see what people find good or bad about the product and whether or not those qualities matter to me. Some of the reviews aren’t specific, just that the person “likes”, “Loves”, or “hates” the product. I dismiss those. If the qualities I want are there, I’ll go and check it out in person before making a buy or no-buy decision. I also read blog reviews, of course!
No not at all..
reviews definitely effect why i buy. if several reviewers mention the same problem with the product, that’s it for me.
Not very much. I search blogs for product reviews since I feel like they’re more honest and thoughtful.
Only if the reviews are really bad. If it’s all good I wonder if they are fake. But all low scores usually just means it bad!
Like most of the other commenters here, I tend to rely more on independent blogs than on retailers’ websites (although I read them, too). There are a couple of blogs I’m skeptical of, though – the ones where every single review is glowing, even gushing, and then I read that the blogger gets all of her products directly as a gift from the manufacturers, rather than buying them herself. I find myself wondering “Does she really think that every single product from Chanel/Dior/Armani is really that fantastic, or is she afraid that if she gives a product a less than stellar review, Chanel/Dior/Armani will cut her off?”
I honestly use reviews just to see how long it lasts and how good the pigment is. I never use it for swatch purposes because I haven’t found a makeup reviewer who’s skin pigment is close to mine.
I mostly check out makeupalley.com for cosmetics and beautypedia.com for skin care – and there’s NOTHING as cool as your foundation matrix and the dupe list. I ALWAYS check out the dupe list when I’m buying lip or eye products – not necessarily for less expensive options, but for how other products compare to the ones I’m considering.
Thank you! 😀 It is always interesting to hear how readers use The Dupe List!
Girl, I am on the Dupe List several times a week- even if I am not necessarily buying something new that day, I am always checking out new products and collections and am curious to know if I have something buried in my stash that is similar at all! Some people do this to avoid buying a dupe and wasting money, but sometimes if something is a dupe for a product I love/want a backup color in a different formula, then I will be like, hell yeah, let’s try it!
Haha! Awesome. 🙂 Thank you for sharing!
i actually trust bloggers more than reviews on a retailers site. even on sephora, some reviews are just not helpful at all. although it takes longer to read, i pay more attention to longer reviews. usually if i’m interested, i’ll read online reviews and then google/search if any beauty bloggers have reviewed it.
Not much – I prefer seeing reviews and swatches like you have here! That really has a lot to do with purchasing a product – for me anyway. I get confused when I am in a store and there are so many choices! I order a lot online : )
Not very much. I tend to go to independent reviews and bloggers. And, I always check to see if you’ve reviewed the product.
If I think the person is getting paid to say nice things about products I don’t even watch but I do get some ideas from watching you tubers but I notice a lot of people buy things based on what others are wearing but return them when it doesn’t work for them. It seems like a lot of wasted products, I would think customers who buy a lot from certain companies would be offered samples to try so as not to waste a lot of products. Probably TMI but my opinion none the less.
For me I do look at detailed reviews, I have very dry sensitive skin so I prefer sites like this where the reviewer is entering their skin type and so on. For example: if someone with oily skin hates a product because it it too moist or shiny that will make me look into the product more because it may work for me and the same goes for if someone with dry skin says it enhances their dryness.
If I’m considering purchasing something (especially online and I can’t try it out in person), I’ll read as many reviews from different sources (including some retailer’s websites like Sephora) as I can. I do disregard any that aren’t detailed in explaining why they do or do not like the product. Still they don’t ultimately influence my purchasing decision unless there are many negatives of the same reason where I may decide not to purchase the product.
I do feel better about making a decision after reading reviews than I would have going into the purchase “blind”.
I’m the same way. Unless there’s a lot of negative reviews I don’t pay them much mind. I mostly rely on bloggers and Makeup Alley to get a good idea of how a product might perform on me
I rely on the reviews about 50 to 75% of the time, but I make sure to read them through and not just glance at the number of stars. Many times, people will give a great product a poor recommendation because they think the packaging is chintzy, which I think is a totally subjective thing.
If I look for reviews on a product and I see way more negatives than positives, I immediately eliminate the product from my want list.
Not a lot – unless I have made up my mind about a purchase, then I seem them as them supporting my decision 😉
I trust certain bloggers (you!) and rather see detailed individual reviews and make up my mind then. Retailer reviews have gotten me into trouble before I discovered blogs. I very rarely buy duds now because of sites like Temptalia 🙂 Thank you!
<3 Thank you!
I would say minimal. Reviews on sites with more vibrant communities like Sephora probably influence me a little more – because the beauty insider community is also like a blog with people expressing all types of views – the straight up reviews under the product descriptions maybe not as much but sometimes I’ll see what people have to say in the forums.
Product reviews on retail websites actually have a decent bearing on my purchase decisions- it’s kind of easy to tell from reviews if the person was educated in their decision to buy it in the first place (like, I will blow off any review from someone who, for example, has extremely curly, frizzy hair and this smoothing oil *did not* work for them, 1 star, blah blah blah… dude it’s an oil, not a magic potion, and did you even use it correctly?) And sometimes people just expect miracles from ordinary products, or they get upset when they spend $5 on an eyeshadow and it doesn’t out-perform their high-end holy grail. Well, ya spent $5, and not every formula that cheap is going to shine! However, there are many level-headed people who give products an honest, informed try, and if I see the review is well-written and cautionary, I will think twice before purchasing. Equally, if the review is well-written and positive, maybe with one or two cautionary points, I will still definitely purchase if I feel it could benefit my coloring/skin type/hair type/whatever. As other commenters have stated, I do prefer to turn to beauty bloggers (I rarely purchase makeup without seeing swatches first!), but even then- if it’s a blogger who does not share my coloring, skin type, hair type, etc, I still proceed with caution. I usually heed my most trusted bloggers’ advice with great confidence, but there have been a few circumstances where something they bashed/advised against actually ended up working great for me.