After it official and obvious now that we’re in a recession, 2009 starts off with everybody watching a lot closer where and how they spend their money – especially after the holiday season. In reality, this is probably something we should have been doing all the time, but in times where people have money (or available credit) they just tend to worry less about where it goes. So in tough economic times we all start counting our pennies.
So now we spend less and buy less. We wait for sales on the products we want and search and use more coupons. We spend more time researching the products we are planning on buying – we make sure they fulfill our requirements. And this is where product reviews come into play.
When I am selecting something to buy, I like to hear from people like you and me who have used the product before. And depending what I’m planning on buying, I have my own “experts” in my circle of friends, but I’d like to usually hear more opinions, especially the more expensive the product is. So I turn to the Internet.
Sometimes I am very slow in making a decision – six months is nothing unusual for me when it comes to making a bigger purchase. Professional reviews are of limited help, since they do not focus on the actual experience someone has had with a product, but mostly on comparing features. While it’s handy to know which product has the better features, I’d also like to know how easy it s to use the product and I’d prefer hearing it from someone who uses the product on a day-to-day basis.
And just like in my circle of friends, on SharedReviews I can take a closer look at who is writing this product review by looking at the user profile, which in turn helps me in making a better buying decision.