How to read reviews about technology correctly

“My wife is delighted, I bought a second one for my mother-in-law”, “I can’t find a worse blender!”, “Plowing for two years, I’m not overjoyed!” hands ”- and this is about one model. How to navigate here? We figure out which reviews about household appliances should not be trusted, and which ones will help with the choice.

Reviews that won’t help you

Black, black PR
Some of the reviews are written to order. This is done by both students for a penny and PR professionals. And this is where your ears can stick out: techniques, words and expressions used to promote products, forcing the reader to concentrate, increasing confidence in what has been written, etc.

Stamps and stationery

“Fits into any interior”
“Essential in every kitchen”
“Unique technology is used”
“The device is equipped with a function” (this is my favorite)
“Attachments for all occasions”
“Suitable for all surfaces”
“With ease” instead of “easy”
“Functional” instead of “opportunity”, etc.

You see something like this written in the language of “no signs of life” – do not take it to heart.

“Worked for 8 years without complaints”

Does it occur to you to write a review about a technique that has worked for you for 7-10 years? Unlikely. It’s hard to remember the name of the model – the sticker came off, the instruction was lost. The main purpose of this type of review is to build brand credibility. I checked such “reviews” several times: as a result, it happened that I worked for 8 years, and entered the market 5 years ago, that is, I started working before birth.

Everything in Latin

This is not a review, it is a listing of benefits with technology brand names in English. An ordinary person will not write “Shock Freeze” instead of “super freeze mode”, but instead of “freshness zone” – “compartment with zero temperature and the ability to regulate humidity” SuperWetFrech “.

A chance encounter of bots on the Internet

Life can start in reviews – answers, communication, dialogues. And you look, and people find each other! Here’s a simple example from our website (spelling and style preserved):

• – I will give my mother the last multicooker with a masterfry for the new year, she wanted a simple one, and I will give her a royal gift, all the best for her family.
• – I think you can buy a set of a multi-kitchen and a multi-baker, you can give a multi-baker to dad, men love grilled meat.

Everything is there: cliches, and the promotion of one model, and at the same time other products of this brand (further the dialogue unfolds, more and more bots are pulled up, although the style shows that this is the same writer).

A competing firm!

And again, the spelling and style are preserved:

• “I bought a Philips, after reading reviews, before that I had a Bosch – plowed, but the Phillips broke down immediately”
• “I always use the Tefal technique, it never let me down, I bought a Kenwood – it broke on the second day”
• Or quite rudely: “All the equipment in our house was from the N brand, even the old one was from the same company, but it was time to change it, it worked for 14 years without breakdowns, so it was decided to take a new machine from the same company.”

Without model names, of course. Note that such reviews are somehow not found: “I had a Rolsen – it worked perfectly, now an electrolux – I don’t see the difference.” The positioning of the brands is too different, they are not direct competitors in the same price segment, there is no need to make such an emphasis: whoever buys the conditional Electrolux will not buy the conditional Rolsen. In general, in such reviews, we are not talking about models, not about convenience, management, capabilities, service – we are talking about brands. Firstly, you just can run into secret wars of competitors, which, alas, are also going on at this level, and secondly, you need to understand that each brand has technical successes and failures, and without model names and detailed information about the use the review is worth little.

Listing the “responsibilities” of the technique

“Bakes, boils, stews, makes yogurt” (this is a slow cooker, baby!), “Rubs, makes potato pancakes, cuts into slices” (harvester, yeah). If it is not described in detail what it does better and what it does not cope with, what is convenient and what is not, then this is not an informative review.

5 Signs of Honest Helpful Review

1. The prevalence of reason over emotions. It is better if there are no emotions in the review at all.
2. Analysis of the advantages and disadvantages point by point with detailed references to their own experience of use.
3. Description of the situation of contacting a service or a store under warranty with an indication of the master’s verdict.
4. A detailed technical analysis of the “homemade” masters who are not too lazy to open the device, understand the cause of the breakdown and identify a systemic flaw in the model.
5. The absence of the above signs of advertising, as well as anger and stupidity. And more importantly: if you want to target a specific review, try to make sure that its author is not a troll. In many systems, you can see other reviews of the author by clicking on the corresponding link. If all the reviews are devastating, or enthusiastic, or about products of the same brand, draw your own conclusions.