It would be a understatement to say that consumer reviews have played a powerful role in shaping our purchasing decisions. Whether it's choosing a new restaurant, our next phone model, or determining who's got the best broadband service, most of us have heavily relied on online reviews over the years to guide our choices.
But are the ratings we see truly reflective of what people think?
Take a quick look at any product or service review platform, and you'll notice a common trend – extreme ratings dominate the landscape. It's either 5 stars or 1, with little in between.
It's seemingly also becoming common place for service providers to default your rating to 5 stars lest any public-facing score less than 4.81 be met with hushed comments like, "Oof, they must have done something bad to get such a low rating." Now, tell that to my engineering university GPA which would have loved to see the equivalent of a A+ from time to time.
This binary nature of 5 and 1 star reviews is driving a growing skepticism amongst consumers who question their authenticity and credibility. After all, can a product or service really be so polarising that it's either Perfect or Terrible?
The nuance is sorely missing.
As consumers become increasingly wary of traditional reviews whilst also posting less of their own, companies face a daunting challenge: How do we capture and showcase the genuine views of our customers' experiences?
Enter the era of word-of-mouth marketing, where authentic sentiments are exchanged in private conversations rather than public platforms.
Think about it – when was the last time you made a purchasing decision based solely on the Google reviews? Chances are, you sought advice from friends, family, and probably a few people on Reddit. These candid conversations, often exchanged through direct messages (DMs) and group texts, would undoubtably be the key to unlocking genuine insight into consumer preferences, sentiments, and advocacy.
And therein lies the rub.
In the realm of artificial intelligence (AI), where algorithms continually refine their understanding of human behavior, the potential of direct message (DM) data as a source of consumer insights cannot be overstated. However, as we continue to venture into uncharted territory, we must confront the inevitable privacy risks that accompany such advancements.
If social media platforms and big tech companies aren't already doing it, it's only a matter of time until we see the rampant exploitation of private conversations for commercial gain. Data is the most highly prized commodity and there's no shortage of people eager to trade consumer privacy for profit.
The allure of tapping into our DMs for consumer insights and quotable sentiments has to be reaching the boiling point, especially with AI tools ready and able to eat it all up in milliseconds.
Is the safeguarding of personal data or the expectation of online privacy and transparency of use even going to be a thing years from now? Knowing how unflinchingly fast I've clicked "I agree to the T&Cs" countless times just to get to my thing faster, I can't say I'd be surprised.
We know we want to be better, but that carrot is right there!
I cannot not watch that funny video - my friend sent it to me after all, so it must be good.
So, yes, yes... as we navigate the intricate intersection of AI, consumer ratings, and privacy concerns, we know in theory how imperative it is for businesses to prioritise ethical considerations above short-term gains, but are we really going to rise up from our couches to stop it?
I doubt it.
After all, the AI I experimented with to write 90% of this article didn’t hesitate for a second when I asked it to turn this cynical idea into a written reality.
At least we’ll be able to thank the inevitable loss of digital privacy for making us reconnect more in-person… so we’ve got that going for us.
This article was originally published on 13 April 2024 on my LinkedIn page.