Part One of this three part series discussed what is, in effect, the driving force of reading online reviews of products and services – that is when money is scarce, no one wants to make a bad purchase. Part Two comments and analyses some of the abuses of review systems that have recently come to light. This third and final part discusses some possible solutions. There’s always been plenty of amateur, low-level nonsense. For example, many reviewers of electronic goods on Amazon have been at such odds with each other, you would be right to question if they were talking about the same...

Part One of this three part series discussed what is, in effect, the driving force of reading online reviews of products and services – that is when money is scarce, no one wants to make a bad purchase. This section, Part Two, comments and analyses some of the abuses of review systems that have recently come to light. Whilst in the early days of online reviews low-level nonsense was common, nowadays the credibility issues are far more worrying and often amount to systemic, wholesale fraud. Understandably perhaps, one of the main reasons for this trend is that economic recessions make...

This is Part One of a three part series. It discusses what is, in effect, the driving force of reading online reviews of products and services – that is when money is scarce, no one wants to make a bad purchase. John Penrose thinks it’s a good idea, but do we? The new UK Government’s minister of tourism thinks that phasing out the existing star rating system for hotels makes a lot of sense because it’s “out of date” and “doesn’t reflect value for money or what guests want”. He argues that consumer-led reviews on the Internet are the way forward and are central to the...

Professional services marketing (PSM) is primarily based on intangibles such as relationship and value and has four major differences from the marketing of a goods or product base business. Firstly, in PSM the client purchases are generally intangible, for example, a conveyance on a house. The client may never see the conveyance form as they will be kept as security by the mortgagor, usually a bank or building society. Secondly, the service may be based on the reputation of a single person such as a hot shot lawyer such as Nick Dawson, the highly recognised solicitor for North West England...

THE BENEFITS OF BRANDING Put simply, a brand is a name or logo that helps a consumer what to buy. In business to business commodities such as steel, that name might just differentiate one business from another – after all steel is pretty much the same wherever you buy it; price is the only discriminator. However, in consumer products, that name or logo should be a psychological symbolisation of how people think about that particular business or product. The best brands create a special relationship with customers, based on intangible qualities that evoke strong emotional responses. In...