by Naomi Nakashima

Created on: March 17, 2011

Reviews offer potential consumers an objective look at what services or goods they are considering. The idea of objectivity is crucial for the review to be worth anything to either the service or the consumer. Paid reviews are rarely a good idea.

First, there are a lot of reviewers available. Most of the reputable reviewing services do not charge for their reviews. If there is a charge for a review, that charge is generally for something else such as expediting your review within a specific amount of time. For example, a book reviewer will review your book for free, and you can expect that review to be finished within six to seven months; but if you'd like that review to be completed within two to three weeks, you can pay a sum of money to expedite their review and move you to the head of the line.

In most cases, regardless if you've paid for an expedited review or opted for the slower, free review, the review that you receive is the same - the only thing you paid for was time.

Second, for consumers to be able to trust that review, there can be no gains from it. If a consumer believes that someone was paid to write a review, they will generally believe that the same person was paid to write a favorable review. If they can't trust that the review was objective, they will likely either try to find another review site or try to find another product. Additionally, if you pay a blogger for his or her review, there's no guarantee that he or she will have tried your product prior to writing that review.

Angie's List, a relatively new site that allows consumers to rate businesses in their area, mastered this idea. Although members have to pay to list their reviews, businesses do not pay to be included in the list. That means that the reviews that are posted there are objective, based on experience rather than being based on a pay check.

Third, too many people out there feel badly about having to give a bad review if they've been paid. Even if they hated the product, many would feel obligated to give it a good review because they've been paid. They don't want to risk the company asking for its money back so that the bad review can be taken down. Again, this feeling of obligation leads to some serious trust issues.

Instead of monetary payment, the better solution would be to send them a reasonable sample of your product and ask them to write about their experience. There is less feeling of obligation this way, while you can still ensure that you will receive a review. And consumers can feel better knowing that not only did the blogger not receive any monetary gains, but they truly used the product in question.

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