So how much does a review Influence your purchase decision?

[Muffinmaddness]

So as the title asks, how much does it effect you?

 

Does the score matter more then the content of the review?

 

Do you solely rely on User reviews or "professional" reviews?

 

Have you ever bought something that has been reviewed badly ad liked it or vice versa?

 

Have you bought something that had a Bad review just to see how bad it is?

 

Do you like a simple "score" or just an overview like linus does? 

 

, So i remember years ago PC gamer reviews were everything if it scored less then a 6 i wasn't spending my money on it, even though really.. on a scale of 1- 10 a 6 is above average 

i have also bought a game that was reviewed badly by Total biscuit just to see for myself how bad it was ( and it was shockingly bad, but it was a steam sale so only £2 wasted) 

 

Just your thoughts do you rely on Linus/Luke/TB etc to give you the "BUY THIS" stamp, or do you go off user reviews more? 

personally i do both i will watch a product linus/luke/TB etc has reviewed then i'll look at user reviews, then forums to see the problems people have had if the problems seem managble or not that seveer then i usually buy it, if it has decent feedback/reviews, 

just interested to hear your thoughts after the Ubisoft thing that's been going on, and also just in general =) . 

 

[OriginalPromise]

I like to look at both.

Me personally, I like to look at how the consumers, enthusiasts, and the professionals view the product.

But normally, I tend to buy the product more based on the brand.

If I trust the brand, they get the money.

 

Samsung is like my personal gold digger.

All my money goes to them....

[KingDaddyDaniel]

Depends. If a review shows glitches and instability, then the product will look like a peice of shit and the brand will be severely smeared. Looking at you Ubi-WatchDicks-AssCreed-soft

[Shaqo_Wyn]

Find desirable product --> formulate expectations about product --> watch review --> Expectations met? Yes = buy, No = skip.

[Octavialicious]

Unless it's from a company I really trust, a couple bad reviews will definitely stop me from buying something

[gundershot]

I look at a reviews for every component I buy to make sure I'm aware of the pros and cons before I make a decision. Reviews are at the center of my purchase decisions, I don't feel comfortable buying parts without looking at reviews first.

[Diederik_Gr]

I am quite picky when it comes to buying products, and i really want to have some proper reviews, especially when it comes to expensive items. I rely more on user reviews, because some professional reviewers can make profit of selling the product. Linus and some other tech channels make a good exception, because they're critic and aren't afraid to mention flaws.

[mlbguy4life]

I dont trust anybody, as people can get paid to uptalk about certin brands and products,  but i read and watch every review about a particular product i can find multiple times and then decide.

[QueenDemetria]

Reviews are very important for me in my purchasing process. I have a process that I follow(not all the time, but most of it): So I first watch reviews from professionals, so reviewers like Linus(<3), Hardware Canucks, etc.. Most of these reviewers provide an accurate overview to a product and point at things that a product might be great or suck at. I then read user reviews, where they might not be accurate or professional, but point out flaws or tricks to a product that most pro reviewers leave out( like: "it scratches easy over time" or "it reboots randomly with the latest update" or "if you do this, you can prevent it from overheating").

More: I really don't care about a "score" a product gets, because it really doesn't mean much from my experience. Either a product is good and I should buy it, or its terrible and I should avoid it, but a score won't tell me that. 

 

I have purchased things with bad reviews before, but I have my reasons. In the case of hard drives: I know most of them fail from poor shipping, but I won't let poor shipping influence my decision because its not really the products fault(and this goes for making reviews too. I could have given my 27" Hanns G monitor a 1 star review for having a a giant hole on it, but I didn't). In the case of of phones, I know that there is a lot of "user error" so unless if there is an obvious problem I don't care about the negative review. Some products(like the WinBook TW801 that I started typing this on) have flaws to them like the screen, spreakers, etc., but if I am willing to make those compromises I will go ahead and buy it.

[Nup]

I tend to use reviews as a starting point for further research. If say, Linus' review of a pair of headphones is good, i'll put it on the list and begin to form an opinion through everything else i can find, whether it be a video, or forum discussions. 

[noob_gamer]

it does not influence me at all, i buy what i want no matter how bad all the reviews are. thats the way to get the best satisfaction about your purchase. 
i will never be satisfied with something someone "told" me to buy.

[ManWithBeard1990]

I look at reviews when it comes to subjective traits that are important to the product. Such as fan noise.

[-TesseracT-]

So as the title asks, how much does it effect you?

•  Reviews definitely effects my purchasing decision. That's what reviews are for, to inform the consumer if a product is good or not.

Does the score matter more then the content of the review?

• It is quite dependant on the type of product is reviewed. If I quickly want to know if a videogame is good or not, I'll check it metacritic score. I'll later watch a review of the game to find out more about it.

Do you solely rely on User reviews or "professional" reviews?

• Games - I only watch Totalbiscuit and a few "indie" reviewers. With PC components I only rely on professional reviews such as Linus'.

Have you ever bought something that has been reviewed badly ad liked it or vice versa?

• I've bought newer Tony Hawk games despite the fact that they had low scored. I've watched and enjoy movies that had low user scores.

That is all.

[AlRayes_BRN]

I take both into consideration, professional and normal reviews. I stay away from unreviewed products .. dont know what to expect!

[Lewellyn]

It greatly depends on what kind of item you are buying. For peripherals you should definitely go into a store and try it out firsthand for an experience.

 

A review has to remain in a certain scope or balance of objectivity, personality, and subjectivity. The score means next to nothing if it doesn't focus on the core aspects of what the consumer is interested in and rather focuses solely on what the reviewer has a personal opinion on. Less so in hardware, games media has recently been subject to heavy criticism due to harsh pushes from ridiculous subjective opinions in reviews.

 

I don't solely rely on a review for a purchasing decision and usually have to have deep interest in something before I will even seek out a review. I trust 'professionals' yet this is only because they have an experience in the industry, they aren't going to be as susceptible to the 'I know this because I spent 15 minutes looking through google' instead they have an actual history of dealing with a whole slew of products that an average person will not have therefore they have better comparisons to create. As Linus once said to TB on WAN, 'You know I don't review games for a reason, I've been out of the (gaming) industry so long that something I might thing is really cool and innovating might have been done before by something else I don't know about - I'm not current'.

 

I think my current phone has bad reviews, but most of it comes from it not being an enthusiast grade device but a budget device with limitations I can live with.

 

A single score means next to nothing to me. I think it oversimplifies the consumer process and degrades the value of how purchasing decisions are made. I am strongly opposed to sites like meta critic and GPU boss.

[Tetters]

I start with pro reviews, then enthusiast website reviews, then look at purchaser reviews.

 

Brand does matter but if there are negative reviews it will make me steer clear.

[Stadiz]

So as the title asks, how much does it effect you?

Reviews are standard to me.

 

Does the score matter more then the content of the review?

No not really, i read the article.

 

Do you solely rely on User reviews or "professional" reviews?

both, a user and a pro have a different perspecitve when reviewing a procuct, alos depends on what product. from a GTX 980 to a usb-dildo.

 

Have you ever bought something that has been reviewed badly ad liked it or vice versa?

How can you like BF4? its garbage since day one.

 

Have you bought something that had a Bad review just to see how bad it is?

not bought but tried. Beats headpones. There so shit for rock and metal.

 

Do you like a simple "score" or just an overview like linus does? 

NO, F*ck simple scores, thats not a review.

You want to know why something is good or bad.

So, Linusmediagroup keep up the good work!

[CielErrant]

So as the title asks, how much does it effect you?

It depends on the writer. I usually ignore user reviews, they're often misleading, mostly so when it comes to complains about faulty hardware. I have a few people I trust.

On the other hand I always read professional reviews, because when they're done properly, and you can immediately tell if they are, they're not just opinions: they give the reader a mean to judge himself by providing standards, comparisons and a more in depth look at the hardware. Even when the reviewer doesn't share your opinion, those words can still be useful.

 

Does the score matter more then the content of the review?

I don't care about score, they can be useful to sum things up, but they don't tell much about how that piece of hardware could be useful to you, because they can't of course know the reader's needs.

 

Have you ever bought something that has been reviewed badly ad liked it or vice versa?

I like a lot of games and manufacturers people like to talk ill of. E.g. AngryJoe gave a poor score to Risen and Risen 2. I actually think PB are brilliant developers who still know how to make a real rpg, the guy just doesn't get it.

I also like AsRck Extreme boards. People often call them cheap and unreliable, but I find them to have a really great price while at the same time delivering good performance, quality materials and an intelligent layout. Never had a problem with them.

 

Have you bought something that had a Bad review just to see how bad it is?

Nope, never. I mean, unless you don't lack money and have a taste for the horrid, why should you ever do that?

 

Do you like a simple "score" or just an overview like linus does?

Overviews are mostly useless, why should I watch something that basically says things I can find on the manufacturer's site? Linus adds additional information which is actually useful, so I like what he does.

[Trik'Stari]

Depends on how badly I want the game. If it has a poor release then I wait a good long while for it to be fixed and price drop on steam.

[airpline1]

Depends on who is making the review, whom I read/heard it from.

[Picklenuttz]

I take every review and benchmark with a grain of salt.

[Octagoncow]

It really depends on what I'm buying and where the review is from. However, in general, professional reviews tend to weigh more than personal reviews since personal reviews tend to be too polar (Either it's the best or it's the worst).

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

It does, absolutely.  I bought an MSi R7 240 just to annoy Linus.

 

Actually ... no.  I do watch the reviews and then make up my own mind. 

[LeopardChurch]

Often, as I don't have a credit card I buy games waaay after they're released.
So I go and watch some review, some gameplay, read some more opinions and then after the jury inside of me has decided. I will cash out some money on  the game.

Now there's a soft spot for certain games and I would just buy them without seeing anything prior purchase. that would be any metal gear or elder scroll (the single player ones, not TESO).

[watts300]

So as the title asks, how much does it effect you?

 

 

Reviews affect my decisions quite a bit.  I'm not a fan of a numbered scoring system though.  I'd prefer to see a list of pros and cons more than a number.   Numbers are good enough for me for video games though. 

 

Typically when I'm researching something, I read the negative reviews.  The reason why some one would like a product seems kind of obvious:  It does what it was advertised to do and does it well.      So I like to see why some one wouldn't like the product I'm researching to see if the reason's they don't like it matter to me.   There are many reasons a person would give something a long list of cons, but not all of them would necessarily apply to me. 

 

I rarely read positive reviews unless I'm completely unfamiliar with it.   I try to find overviews for that... or unboxing videos.  But, I also don't consider an "overview" a review.  Linus has plenty of overviews and I like them a lot.