Several research projects have required me to spend a lot of time looking at customer reviews of printers and other IT products on sites such as Amazon, BestBuy, and Staples. What I’ve learned is that while these reviews as a whole are informative and useful, you have to take the strong negative reviews with a big grain of salt.
Valid or not, those negative reviews can create problems for resellers, especially those who cater to the SMB market. Here’s a scenario: Let’s say you have a proposal to a local business office for five mid-range XYZ brand MFPs. The first thing your customer does is read online reviews of that brand and model. About 20 percent of the reviews are strongly negative, which alarms the customer and puts you on the defensive.
You know that the model you proposed is reliable, cost-effective, and absolutely right for the customer. So, what do you do when owners of that model seem to contradict you? First, you should do your own research so you understand the nature of the negative comments. Then you can apply the insight I’ve gained from reading thousands of online product reviews to effectively counter customer concerns about negative opinions.
• Question the motives of the reviewers. Some reviewers are very prolific and want to enhance their status on the sites where they write. Amazon, for example, encourages this approach. The trouble with it is that some reviewers feel that they get more attention by being negative. If a particular reviewer is a problem, try to find other reviews they’ve written to see if there is a pattern.
• It’s human nature to focus on the negative. When I use online reviews before making a purchase, I look at the number of positive reviews, but I read the negative reviews. If people are happy with the product, that’s all I need to know. If they hate it, I have to know why. Your customers might not have read highly relevant positive comments.
• For every negative comment, you can find highly positive comments that directly refute it. For popular models, you can probably find a positive review of the printer used in a situation similar to your customer’s. Look for positive reviews that are detailed and well presented.
• Many reviewers are idiots. I can’t tell you how many negative reviews I’ve seen that were the result of the reviewer not reading the product specs before buying or making obvious mistakes during setup. These reviews are easy for you to spot and dismiss, but maybe not for your customer.
• Product defects that the OEM addressed long ago have a lingering effect. One inkjet MFP model continues to get bad reviews for failed printheads even though the problem has been fixed. This is because people who experienced a failure can submit reviews long after it occurred, in some cases when they no longer own the printer. I call these “vengeance is mine” reviews written by people who just can’t let go of the hurt.
• Lack of technical skills by the reviewer can create a bad experience. For example, many printer models have bad reviews because their owners had trouble getting them to work with Windows 10. As a reseller, you will take care of that kind of issue, which should put the customer at ease.
