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Preaching to the Choir: The Chasm Between Top-Ranked Reviewers, Mainstream Customers, and Product Sales

Author

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  • Elham Yazdani

    (David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112)

  • Shyam Gopinath

    (Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405)

  • Steve Carson

    (David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112)

Abstract

The main objective in this paper is to study the effect of reviews by top- and bottom-ranked reviewers on product sales. We use designated market area sales data for 182 new music albums released over an approximately three-month period along with user review data from Amazon.com. Our estimation accounts for confounding factors in the effects of online word-of-mouth measures via the use of instrumental variables. There are several key insights. Overall, we find that bottom-ranked reviewers have a greater effect on sales than top-ranked reviewers. Top-ranked reviewers can be opinion leaders, but their influence is largely limited to special cases like very new products or products with high variance in existing reviews. Additional analysis reveals that the differences in the influence of top- and bottom-ranked reviewers is driven by both what they write (content) and who they are (identity). The results are robust across multiple product categories (music and cameras) and multiple dependent variables (sales and sales rank).

Suggested Citation

  • Elham Yazdani & Shyam Gopinath & Steve Carson, 2018. "Preaching to the Choir: The Chasm Between Top-Ranked Reviewers, Mainstream Customers, and Product Sales," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 37(5), pages 838-851, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:37:y:2018:i:5:p:838-851
    DOI: 10.1287/mksc.2018.1101
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    Cited by:

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    2. Yipu Deng & Jinyang Zheng & Warut Khern-am-nuai & Karthik Kannan, 2022. "More than the Quantity: The Value of Editorial Reviews for a User-Generated Content Platform," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(9), pages 6865-6888, September.
    3. Linyi Li & Shyam Gopinath & Stephen J. Carson, 2022. "History Matters: The Impact of Online Customer Reviews Across Product Generations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(5), pages 3878-3903, May.
    4. Yang Jiang & Yi-Chun (Chad) Ho & Xiangbin Yan & Yong Tan, 2022. "What’s in a “Username”? The Effect of Perceived Anonymity on Herding in Crowdfunding," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 33(1), pages 1-17, March.
    5. Janina Seutter & Kristin Kutzner & Maren Stadtländer & Dennis Kundisch & Ralf Knackstedt, 2023. "“Sorry, too much information”—Designing online review systems that support information search and processing," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 33(1), pages 1-19, December.
    6. Tajvarpour, Mohammad Hossein & Pujari, Devashish, 2022. "The influence of narrative description on the success of crowdfunding campaigns: The moderating role of quality signals," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 123-138.
    7. Moon, Sangkil & Jalali, Nima & Erevelles, Sunil, 2021. "Segmentation of both reviewers and businesses on social media," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    8. Jake Hoskins & Shyam Gopinath & J. Cameron Verhaal & Elham Yazdani, 2021. "The influence of the online community, professional critics, and location similarity on review ratings for niche and mainstream brands," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(6), pages 1065-1087, November.
    9. Lena Steinhoff & Denni Arli & Scott Weaven & Irina V. Kozlenkova, 2019. "Online relationship marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 369-393, May.
    10. Wu, Xiaoyue & Jin, Liyin & Xu, Qian, 2021. "Expertise Makes Perfect: How the Variance of a Reviewer's Historical Ratings Influences the Persuasiveness of Online Reviews," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 238-250.
    11. Nima Jalali & Sangkil Moon & Moon-Yong Kim, 2023. "Profiling diverse reviewer segments using online reviews of service industries," Journal of Marketing Analytics, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(2), pages 130-148, June.

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