Everyone's a critic? Not so fast

I think a lot about trust. E-commerce trust in particular. Lack of trust is the biggest reason why 50% of Americans still don't shop online. Trust is a powerful emotion. It can motivate us to participate in something outside our comfort zone, or lack of trust can cause the little voice in our head to say, “don’t do it.” So this week, when two conflicting articles about online trust came out, I had to put it all in context.

Guy Kawasaki writes about an article in the San Francisco Chronicle on the power of online reviews for small businesses. The article basically summarizes that online, consumer-generated reviews on everything from restaurants to websites are changing commerce and throwing off many small businesses.

In e-commerce, we've known the power of such reviews for years- otherwise known as feedback. In eBay-world, user-generated seller reviews are the gold standard for building trust online. Except that they don't work all the time, but that's another topic.

This is why I found this study so interesting:

"Only 21 percent of consumers trust product information within social media, such as blogs and public forums, when evaluating a product for purchase. In contrast, consumers are twice as likely to trust product information they encounter on a company Web site or a professional review site (such as Edmunds.com)." Hat tip to Jupiter Research and Clickz's Kate Kaye.   

eh? So, does all of Web2.0 for commerce go out the door? Not quite. They key here is context. I bet users trust product information on a corporate web site they trust. If they don't trust the brand, they don't trust its product info. Edmunds.com, eBay feedback: forums they trust. Word of mouth is no good if it's not in a trusted context. I trust my best friend's movie recommendations, but not some guy posting on a forum.

By definition, trust is the trait of believing in the honesty and reliability of others, but when it comes to e-commerce, it appears that trust is more about reliance- certainty based on past experience. As long as it’s from someone you know.

Comments

[ed dickson]

Excellent post - and trust, or the lack of it - is what determines the path we take on most issues.