Reviews feedback and iTrader

[SirLouen]

Disclaimer to Mods: I don't like to post opinion topics, but this has been in my mind for a couple of weeks and I need to write it down to get some light about this topic because after a good couple of years around, it's still a complex topic for me. If any of the mods, feels that this would better match another subforum feel free to move it (given that most topics on this subforum are very short-lived, and maybe this could generate more conversation, Idk)

The topic:

From what I've seen, there appears to be a non-written rule: if you receive a "free review copy" you are somewhat committed to write a good review in exchange.
I've never seen a bad review from a review copy, and, let's be sincere, there are plenty of shit products being listed like a massive castle (even the marketplace mods shortly advice of them on their mini-reviews). So, reading good reviews sometimes feel bewildering for certain services.

Personally, I've been refraining myself of even writing the review when the service is utterly shit and I've received a free review copy.
If I have a mixed opinion, I try to think about the pros and the cons, but just by writing the cons, I feel like the cons clearly overweight the pros most of the time.
From my experience, I can barely count with the hands' fingers the times I've been able to do a good review for a service. And still, I only see tons of good reviews. I understand that one could think that people truly find those service valuable, but I unless they are complete naive, many of them are not simply good.

Furthermore, bad reviews will not be ever promoted in case they were published, and I find that, they will end buried between a ton of messages, so it's very difficult to spot them.

For example, these are the feedback stats for a service with more than 300 pages



Looking for bad reviews there (300++ pages) would be suffocating.

So, I wonder if all of this is meant to be like this, as intended. Basically, from my perspective, if I receive a review copy and it's shit, I feel the urge to post Negative feedback from a duty perspective, but I refrain because it feels bad for the gentleman. I'm confident that this happens to most of the guys around.
Only those that have been shit listed are going to drop or be poorly considered.

So basically, I would like to see your perspective on this, specially those that regularly review.
PS: The master knight of reviews, @Mr Positive is positively invited to this thread

 

[Deleted member 658642]

From what I've seen, there appears to be a non-written rule: if you receive a "free review copy" you are somewhat committed to write a good review in exchange.

There are no unwritten rules. I’ve never felt this way. If the product is bad, my review will reflect it.

 

[SirLouen]

There are no unwritten rules. I’ve never felt this way. If the product is bad, my review will reflect it.

Would you post it straight away on the sales thread? Can you send me a PM with an example?

 

[Deleted member 658642]

Would you post it straight away on the sales thread? Can you send me a PM with an example?

Sure. I’ll have to go through my post history but I’ll send you a few.

 

[Echo]

You're not obligated to write a positive review just because you were given a free review copy. If the service/product is terrible, you can express your thoughts. You should be honest and ensure that your product expectations match what they advertised. For example, if someone offers 5 auto-accepted blog comments, don't expect them to be niche-relevant or use unique native content unless it was specifically mentioned.

At the end of the day, we're all different people - what I consider "great quality" might be trash for you and vice versa. Sellers need to be aware of that and not expect a positive review only because they gave someone "free review copy". In a case like that, that's not "free" as per the lexical definition of the word, that's a conditional review copy, and as such it won't fly with us.

Furthermore, bad reviews will not be ever promoted in case they were published, and I find that, they will end buried between a ton of messages, so it's very difficult to spot them.

We're aware of that, that's why reviews in MP2 (either from verified orders or free review copies) are separate and would be easily readable and filterable (the latter might not be in the V1, but it will be implemented for sure as we are aware how important that is, we'll see). Eventually, you'll be able to filter/read all product reviews for:

• Free review copies that were given away
• Verified orders
• Membership levels (ie. Jr VIP, etc)
• Anonymous reviews (or not)
• Reviews based on rating
• Etc...

There's a lot of thought going on behind MP2 to make sure that we give you what you want to see and use. We also try to fix some of Xenforo's limitations (like the case where you can't have all reviews in a single place).

That's just a little bit of a sneak peek of what to expect in MP2.

I hope that addresses some of your concerns and thoughts.

 

[SirLouen]

That's just a little bit of a sneak peek of what to expect in MP2.

Interesting, I was not aware of a new marketplace. Would be released in 2023?

 

[Echo]

Interesting, I was not aware of a new marketplace. Would be released in 2023?

We've been working on it behind the scenes for quite some time now, but as you can imagine, building a brand-new product (marketplace) is not an easy task whilst taking care of the current MP and everything else

As for the launch date, we cannot give you a concrete date for now.

 

[sageshark]

@SirLouen You have raised a valid point. This thing came to my mind in the past too but I was a bit hesitant to write about it openly. I want to thank you for you raised this point here.

As @Echo has rightly said, we are not obliged to write a positive review just because we have got a free review copy. We are here to help the community and it should reflect in our words and works.

There will be people who will trust our words and buy poor quality service then a part of responsibility for his loss will be ours too.

Want to share one experience that happened on 5th June.

I got a free review copy of blog commenting services from this seller (I don't want to name him to protect his identity). His service was really poor and he expected a positive review from me. I denied to give him any review. Sharing a screenshot of the communication with him.

 

[SirLouen]

@SirLouen You have raised a valid point. This thing came to my mind in the past too but I was a bit hesitant to write about it openly. I want to thank you for you raised this point here.

As @Echo has rightly said, we are not obliged to write a positive review just because we have got a free review copy. We are here to help the community and it should reflect in our words and works.

There will be people who will trust our words and buy poor quality service then a part of responsibility for his loss will be ours too.

Want to share one experience that happened on 5th June.

I got a free review copy of blog commenting services from this seller (I don't want to name him to protect his identity). His service was really poor and he expected a positive review from me. I denied to give him any review. Sharing a screenshot of the communication with him.

More or less the same experience I'm having.
If there is a "beta testing service" for these guys to give away some products for those more experienced people that could test and comment on the quality, then I would find this right
But most of them are already approved BST just willing some positive reviews. By the end of the day, by not publishing those negative reviews on non-beta products, only positive will be there causing such wrong impression.
On the other side, if the amount of negative reviews you have on your back is big enough, you will have "a bad reputation" among sellers willing for a "review copy" which may prefer not to contact you because they can almost anticipate what will be coming to them.
Kind of weird situation in both ways

 

[sageshark]

you will have "a bad reputation" among sellers willing for a "review copy" which may prefer not to contact you because they can almost anticipate what will be coming to them.

I do not care if I don't a free review copy. And you should not care too.

 

[Mr Positive]

Hi this is a generic reply may or may not satisfy all:

1) BHW rules about receiving a review copy are very clear:

It’s mandatory to post a honest review good or bad!

2) you need to mention it’s a review copy right at the start so others can understand it’s a paid (those who pay for a service) or a free review just to review the service

3) I believe I have said it before help the seller understand what went wrong, why it’s not up to the mark and in most cases the seller will offer you a new copy.

Best example content writing something it works well sometime works well on second attempt. I have on multiple occasions explained to seller use a banner for ads, or use surfer pro, be different guve out review copy to get more feedback etc.

So yea I do take review copies seriously and pass them if I don’t understand the service.

4) each seller is different and I use them on that basis ex you can’t use $1 pbn on a money site and expect results again (you is for all).

Last and I’ll sum it up there’s a Tiny line written if a review copy or service isn’t what it’s supposed to be report the mods will re investigate and take necessary actions.

 

[SirLouen]

I do not care if I don't a free review copy. And you should not care too.

It's not for caring, but for the inhibition of exposure (which ultimately lead to skewed reviews). After all, marketplaces like Amazon delete sometimes the dishonest reviews. I will wait and see that new marketplace how it displays all these things.

4) each seller is different and I use them on that basis ex you can’t use $1 pbn on a money site and expect results again (you is for all).

I would not even expect results for a $10K PBN free review copy
But at least you much check the linking profile for such PBN domains. In case the user doesn't want to giveout the domains. If you have an exported copy of your linking profile in GSC, you may expect some new domains you have not explicitely ordered, to pop up the sooner than the later (another problem is that most guys expect a 2-3 TAT for a review, when some reviews should have at least a 30 day TAT by definition).

It's almost impossible to set any standard for this (the proof, Amazon plagues with weird reviews), but I was wondering bout public bad reviews, and some guys have proven me that this is clearly an option (some have sent me some proofs over PM which is clearly interesting)

 

[UnusualSubstance]

So, I wonder if all of this is meant to be like this, as intended. Basically, from my perspective, if I receive a review copy and it's shit, I feel the urge to post Negative feedback from a duty perspective, but I refrain because it feels bad for the gentleman.

You feel the urge to post negative feedback because you're jr executive [Unity principle & I'd argue Authority.] , others will look up to you, especially noobs. You even said "I feel the urge to post negative feedback from a duty perspective."

it is interesting that you feel "bad" if you'd post the neg feedback. Sounds to me like the classic reciprocation principle.

After all, if you received a free review copy and it was pure utter shite, you'd 100% feel bad for posting it... Purely for the fact that he gave you it for FREE. [Most likely at his expense]

On the other side, if the amount of negative reviews you have on your back is big enough, you will have "a bad reputation" among sellers willing for a "review copy" which may prefer not to contact you because they can almost anticipate what will be coming to them.

Ah yes. The liking principle. You want to be liked by the sellers so they give you (hopefully) more review copies.

How will BHW deal with human psychology?

4 principles out of 7.

 

[SirLouen]

How will BHW deal with human psychology?

You are missing more principles

The scarcity principle: there are no poor quality free products to review (that harm you more do any benefit) available every single day Cocaine is scarce.

 

[UnusualSubstance]

You are missing more principles

The scarcity principle: there are no poor quality free products to review (that harm you more do any benefit) available every single day Cocaine is scarce.

As you can tell, I've read the Influence book recently . I believe everyone IM should read it tbh, or at the very least read or watch this

https://www.influenceatwork.com/7-principles-of-persuasion/

Hopefully, Dr Robert Cialdini doesn't mind a backlink from bhw

Yeah, there is also Consistency, Social Proof & as you pointed out, Scarcity, but I didn't really find anything in this thread to suggest that was at play.

Cocaine is scarce, unless you're traversing certain deep web sites.

 

[Echo]

We left this one open for a few more days to see if new opinions are posted. But since no one else wanted to add something to this (and also, it was addressed here), I'll go ahead and close this thread.

Asked - Answered - Closed.