I am a strong believer that first impressions are very important. However, I will always allow myslef a second look before I make any really big decisions. (or actually any decisions which involve money or my reputation)
It seems that lately we are losing trust in traditional advertising. Well actually I am not sure that we did trust it so much previously, more that we had no particular reason not to trust it.
So why are things changing? We seem to be able to get a "real person" review of everything from kitchen sinks to cars on the new fandangled way of working on the Interweb. Now while i understand why someone may spend the time to give an online review of something they have spent 20 grand on, I am slightly bemused why someone would review say a mug or t-shirt they had bought (certianly not say 20 people).
So here are the questions. why do we trust reviews given by random people on the web when really all we have to go by is the fact that their is a name attached to it? Doris from Middlesborough must be a real person we think. But is she? Who is to say that this review and others may have been "planted" by the manufacturer of the original item? What we need is some form of trust label. Ebay accounts for example are a good way of telling if someone is trustworthy as they have supplied a service to others and those people have rated them on that service. How much weight would it add to an Amazon review if it was delivered by an ebay power seller? more than just Doris from Middlesboroguh i think.
I am not saying that people cannot be trusted, just more that we need to be careful when making decisions based on words rather than potentially real people. Research at the moment is saying that we trust real peoples reviews more than ever, just be careful to look again to see if anything is there to justify this persons trust. Plus also I think there may be a gap in the market around this in terms of a new web service. If there is one out there already then please let me know.
And finally.....
Anybody Fancy a Cup Cake?
