There’s nothing like learning from experience. This can be particularly true when forming an opinion on a certain product or service. We can choose to spend our money where we believe – based on what we’ve encountered – that we are most likely to get the most value for it.
There may something that could be better than learning from one’s own experience: learning from the experience of others.
Now, I don’t think that learning from someone else’s experience is necessarily going to be better than learning from your own. After all, if you’ve bought a product, you would naturally have your own opinion of it. Who better to know how a product will be for you than yourself!
But it can often be difficult to get first-hand experience to inform every purchase you make. For example, if you were looking for an appliance, you might have an opinion of a certain brand you’ve used. But you wouldn’t know about other brands. After all, how could you have tried them all? The same concept might apply to a variety of other things such as cell phone providers, debt consolidation loans, and accounting software.
Thus, it’s just not feasible to try everything ourselves when it comes to many products or services. There is only much time – and money – that we have available.
That’s where online reviews can come into play. If you’re going to spend your money, or get help with your money, it couldn’t hurt to have additional information to at least consider. That additional information can come in the form of online reviews.
Reviews can be a great way to make effective use of our time. Instead of relying on our own time and resources, we can leverage the experiences of others. If we can utilize others to provide us with some input, in the form of a review, it could potentially help us make decisions that are more informed. The best part is that we save those resources and that time I mentioned.
Thinking about it, one might be able to learn from how we utilize reviews for other types of purchases. Two examples that come to mind are movies and restaurants.
With a movie, the cost these days isn’t all that low if you’re going to the theatre. Before spending money and time on a new movie that has a compelling trailer, I’ll check out a review. This is even more important with dining out at unfamiliar, pricey places. When we’re spending a pretty penny on such a meal, we’re taking a chance if we haven’t been to a place. By reading online reviews, we’re taking an interest in protecting our money and time. And, in the case of a few restaurants, maybe even our health.
Anyway, the concept of doing some research and reading reviews is one that should be paid attention to. Here’s one more example to consider: cars. Would you buy a car without at least reading some reviews? Certainly not a waste of time there, so one can consider applying this approach to other situations as well.
The costs of a bad decision could be high. Potentially mitigating the risk of these types of bad decisions is something that can be beneficial to us in terms of finances and other ways.
What about you? Do you utilize online reviews to help you make decisions on purchases? If so, have any proved to save you money or potential hassles?
I use the online reviews at tripadvisor a lot before booking travel arrangements.
And I look on used car forums before buying a car to see what sort of trouble I might be in for.
I check the reviews for any product I’m thinking of buying whenever possible. I use Amazon for a start, because I order many things from them, but also check Best Buy & CNet for electronics, etc. Even if I’m trying to buy something locally I check several sites for reviews before making a decision.
You DO have to actually read the reviews, not just go by the number of stars. I always look for the 1 star reviews to find what complaints people have, and sometimes it’s about the item not fitting them, or the shipping being a problem.
I think I’ve saved both money & time by looking at reviews to make decisions.
Online reviews can be lifesavers. It’s helpful to go and read at least a handful to make sure what you’re interested in is likely to live up to your expectation – you can often save yourself the trouble of buying something that’s not quite right. Of course, you have to remember some people are just really picky! But in general reading reviews is well worth the time and a part of being a savvy online shopper.