First talk about the problems with customer reviews at present:

  • People with a life won’t take the time. What’s the incentive?
  • It can be gamed — classic example for us is the totally gamed reviews on “Virgin Suicides” at Amazon.
  • Usually people with a life won’t leave a review until they’ve had a bad experience. This tilts things toward the negative.

So, is there a better model for reviews? Here are a few that show promise:

  • Reviews by people you know. There is accountability in knowing that your own friends and family will be relying on the veracity of your review.
  • Reviews that are totally unsolicited and given by high-velocity reviewers. High-velocity, semi-pro reviewers will be hard to convince to participate in “gaming” and they will give reviews that are both good and bad.

Link to Review site. Info on them:

  • Syndicate to Buy.com, AOL, Yahoo, and Smarter.com
  • Pay $10 for reviews in high-demand categories, $2 for others
  • Very few reviews are rejected
  • Your reviews must be for a specific product/model on their list