Beyond the First Review: The Prevalence and Implications of Online Review Updates

Beyond the First Review: The Prevalence and Implications of Online Review Updates

Abstract: Consumer opinions about products and firms evolve over time, as new information and experiences accrue. As such, many online review and e-commerce platforms allow and even encourage consumers to modify their existing reviews to reflect updated opinions or experiences. However, scientific understanding of review updating behavior remains extremely limited. This paper addresses this gap by investigating review updating behavior as a reflection of dynamic customer experiences. We first document the prevalence and consequences of this behavior. Across 30 major platforms, 62% allow users to revise prior reviews, with observed update rates ranging from 4% to 60%. We combine these secondary data with survey evidence to better understand what motivates consumers to update their reviews. After establishing the prevalence and robustness of review updating, we evaluate the results of a large natural field experiment involving more than 710,000 reviews on a major online review platform. The experiment allows us to test heterogeneous temporal distance effects on review updating behavior. In particular, the random variation from the experiment provides causal identification of how timing affects (1) the likelihood and (2) the valence of updates. Overall, our results provide actionable guidance for platform design and reputation management, showing how review updating and strategically timed updating reminders capture the evolution of consumer experiences and reshape rating distributions and averages.

More information on Dr. Verena Schoenmueller can be found here.

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