Feedback Fatigue

Very often when we purchased something online in the internet, we would be asked to leave some reviews so that the buyers can know the feedback and make possible improvement in their services or products. The positive reviews given by previous users inevitably affect the potential users who may want to try out the products or services. Some online shopping sites try to encourage the users to leave their reviews which are pertinent to the quality of products and services received by offering them cash voucher and other small gifts as a token of appreciation. For me, I did make a few reviews after being promised that I would be given a shopping voucher. For me, writing a review is not a difficult thing but it is only a matter of willingness. Shopping vouchers of course make me more willing to spend my time and squeeze out a bit of my brain juice to comment something even, very often, I just write the minimum words required. 

I believe that majority of us read at least a few reviews to help us to make a purchase online, especially when we want to buy something that we are not really familiar with and something that we need to do some background research online. This is when the reviews left by other users really matter. A positive review helps to improve our confidence on the quality of the product and negative reviews bring only pernicious effect to the sellers as we always play safe and more likely to look for other sellers whose products have been reviewed positively and with high overall ratings. Sometime people feel a compulsion, if not obligation, to look at the reviews even they are well aware of the fact that they are not going to believe the reviews which may be faked by the sellers to delude the users about the product quality. However, they simply cannot help reading the reviews even they are not compelled by others to do that and know that very likely they will be encumbered with all kinds of useless and possibly misleading information that may hinder them from making a wise purchase decision.

Just recently, a young doctor has opened a new clinic in my neighborhood in which there are dozens of clinics operating since many years ago. The competition is tough as it is hard to penetrate the market and lure the patients from their familiar General Practitioner that has been serving them for years. In addition to the big banners hanging at the most crowded area of the neighborhood and the colorful leaflets sent to the mailbox of every resident, the doctor seems to use all the social media that he can find to promote his business. A quick check on the clinic’s Facebook page after a few days shows that there are at least a dozen of “like” and positive reviews from some patients on the doctor’s friendliness and services provided. To my surprise, most of the patients are foreign expatriates that are living in this area. Thanks to the social media, the doctor somehow have penetrated the market and attracted some new patients that have never visited any of the clinics to try out his service. With the social media effect, I believe that the clinic will be getting more popular in future as it never stop connecting with people and building up its brand, in comparison to the other traditional clinics that do zero publicity.

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