How consumer behavior is evaluated

Business should effectively evaluate the consumer behavior and what motivates them to buy the goods and services. The evaluation of consumer behavior needs to consider what the consumers buy, when and how the consumers choose among various products. The understanding of what consumer puts as their priority determines the competitive edge of the business. Consumer behavior has changed due to advancement in technology as the consumer can check for information relating to a certain product online. Online blogging and consumer reviews have made a great impact in influencing the consumer purchasing decision as the consumer has greatly relied on online information about the products. Mostly a customer will feel the need to buy a certain type of product, but he goes through some considerations using the online information before setting his mind on buying the product. The buyer investigates the performance of a given product online where if he is satisfied with it he ultimately decides to buy the product. Consumer decision involves two aspects which need recognition and research of information relating to a given product. They consider allocating their scarce and limited resources on the products with the best utility.

Online consumer reviews serving as recommender and information provider, are important in product sale and in making buying decisions. Quality and quantity of the online review largely influence the extent of buying decision of the consumer. Purchasing need by the consumer increases the quantity of the online review and the quality of online reviews also increases the purchasing of the consumer. One of the reasons why online reviews are effective is that they are fast and consumers can quickly access the information relating to a given product. many of the consumers search for recommendation and information online to help them in decision making. Online reviews are widely used to track more customers and to improve the competitiveness of the specific product. Blogging acts as a way of attracting buyers as it provides information which is of high benefits to the potential customers. Blogs can reach thousands of users who research on the internet creating a wide market and a big competitive edge. Blogs effectively promote a given business, product and service. Blogging has been one of the consumer decision contributors when considering the goods and services to buy. Blogging has brought about different types of bloggers which of whom mainly specialize in promoting brands; others specify certain types of products. What the consumer acquire by reading the blogs about a given product influences their purchasing decision. 

The role of online reviews in influencing purchasing decisions

Bloggers normally write about why they like a given product and recommend people to buy by giving reasons as to why. Bloggers provide a platform for communicating with the consumer of a given product where greater reach is enhanced. Bloggers create interactivity with the consumer thus enabling direct relationship which influences consumer behavior (Wang, Cunningham & Eastin 2015). blogs and other online social platforms disseminate a lot of information which is readily available to the consumer and this has changed the consumer into the researcher. Consumer normally research on the social networks and other online content to know what people think about a product before settling on the purchase. When this information is of quality, and it is enough to meet his need. Bloggers can communicate with thousands of people who are using the social media platforms by spreading a lot of information about the business, goods, and services. Consumers can also research on the negative information relating to the business.

Blogging and online review by the consumer increase the reputation of a business, goods, and service thus increasing the consumer loyalty to an organization’s products. Establishing a personal contact with the consumer through the social network enhances the consumer buying decision, given that online environment can allow an environment of consistently communicating platform (Sparks &Bradley 2017). Information provided in the blogs can turn off the consumer if the online review is negative. People tend to follow the majority decision as negative review brings about the irrelevant comment which brings about the poor marketing of the business. The extent of the consumer choosing a given product depends on whether the consumer is a regular user of social media networks. Many organizations have nowadays greatly enhanced blogging as a media of giving opinions, providing recommendations relating to the firms’ products and social media. Through the development of web and research of the information online users have been provided with a platform to share opinion knowledge and experience about the products they have already used.

 Online reviews have brought a two-way communication between the consumer and the marketing industry. Following the progression in digital marketing consumers can easily take a look at different types of products advertised thereby attracting most of the consumer. In the electronic business consumer research, the best products are available online where they find the information relating to the accessory or phone using the social platform. People research on the features of a given product before deciding to purchase the product. Today with just a minute or a click, some of the web users get to know the difference relating to various products, if consumers want a detailed insight of the products they turn into the online reviews for more information about the brand. An online review has brought the taste of new products where consumers review them online compared to the past where they used to generate the information from the direct sales (Liu & Park, 2015). An online review has become one of the determining factors where consumers purchase their products; once the consumers review the product and the business, they decide where to buy the items. 

The impact of blogging on consumer behavior

Online reviews are widely used by consumers to ensure that the purchasing products are of high quality, getting the best deal from consumers and gathering more information when deciding to purchase a particular product or item. Online reviews have the power to make or lose sales, and the producers should focus on ensuring that they are of good quality as they matter more compared to other areas of marketing. Positive review enhances an increase in sales while negative once discourage the consumers from buying a product (Liu & Mattila, 2017). When the negative reviews are urgently responded, they can influence the consumer to buy a certain product. Therefore retailers and business people should immediately respond to any negative to enhance marketability. When the consumer gets little information about the products, they tend to look for more information online when doing the shopping.

 According to Cheng and Ho (2015), many of the online reviews made by consumers regarding particular products can greatly affect the reputation of a business. Therefore business people should reply to both negative and positive reviews made by the consumer relating to the business or the products. Each of the reviews posted by the consumer regarding a given business is a platform for creating awareness about a given product. Online reviews act as a mode of advertising a given product and business. Many online reviews boot the business since the sites are ranked higher in the Google search, and as new customers click on these sites, it enables the business to gain a higher recognition. Online reviews build confidence in the business and make the business people more confident about their product and services which contribute to making consumers have self-confidence about the products. Online reviews help the business to know the taste and preferences of the consumers. When a product tends to have a negative review, the business ends up doing more of branding and coming up with a superior product and consumer ends up shifting on the new products. Online reviews have brought a closer relationship with the consumer using the social media as a platform of interaction (Cantallops and Salvi, 2014). Consumer purchasing decision is also dependent on the diversity of the online review where the consumers tend to know the good and the bad sides of a given product. 

Online reviews measure the popularity of a given business as well as the credibility of the business due to the diverse opinion of the consumer influencing their purchasing decision (Zhang, Law & Li, 2010). The negative reviews by the consumers of a given product minimize the complaints and goods returns as consumers get to know the negative side of the product. The reviews provide a competitive edge compared to the business as consumers as it increases trust and confidence. Consumers are allowed to say what they feel and think about a given product, and this can be done away by posting information which is current if the previous information had a negative impact on the customers. Enabling customer review on your site can be of importance if the company is ranked high in search engines like Google. The negative information about the products creates doubts about a particular product. 

The power of positive and negative online reviews

Online reviews equip the consumers with the knowledge about the product and giving the recommendation as well as giving more perception about a given product (Hsin Chang & Wen Chen, 2008.). Positive reviews build the awareness of the business, and it increases its marketability. The good reviews enable the business to grow as the familiarity with its products becomes wider. Many consumers in the hospitality and tour and travel industry acquire their customer through the online review. The industry becomes aware to the consumers who use social networks and the online reviews and this influences the competitive edge of a given company. Blogging has become one of the areas of relying on when consumers want to make their purchase decision. The consumer is provided with the relevant information relating to the product. With the advancements that have been made in technology; consumer mostly trust bloggers and reviews. Bloggers usually provide information related to the consumer and evaluate it enabling the consumer to come up with the purchasing decision. Blogging creates a platform where people share ideas concerning a particular product after they have used the products and shared their recommendations and views. Through bloggers, the consumer behavior can be influenced as it contributes to the changing of the attitude of the user. Bloggers also provide a platform for arguments which makes the reader and the consumer differentiate between the alternatives given. In today’s business, bloggers are greatly used in the marketing of business by enhancing the listening and the engagement of the consumer. The blogs ensure that credibility and authority of the business are enhanced (Moore 2015). Nowadays consumers are prioritizing on gaining good social recognition and image which is achieved by their purchase, and this enhances the use of blogs and reviews which give recommendations to the consumers and the users.

Conclusion

Consumer purchasing decision is widely dependent on the blogs and the online reviews by the consumers who undergo three steps which include: recognizing the products need, gathering all the information related to the products and finally evaluating the different alternative products to find which the best product. The online reviews greatly influence the attitude of the buyer in purchasing a given product. When the consumer gains the need their priority is to browse and get the blogs of the product enhancing the marketability of the goods and services. 

References

Cantallops, A.S. and Salvi, F., 2014. New consumer behavior: A review of research on eWOM and hotels. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 36, pp.41-51.

Cheng, Y.H. and Ho, H.Y., 2015. Social influence’s impact on reader perceptions of online reviews. Journal of Business Research, 68(4), pp.883-88

Hsin Chang, H. and Wen Chen, S., 2008. The impact of online store environment cues on purchase intention: Trust and perceived risk as a mediator. Online information review, 32(6), pp.818-841.

Liu, S.Q. and Mattila, A.S., 2017. Airbnb: Online targeted advertising, sense of power, and consumer decisions. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 60, pp.33-41.

Liu, Z. and Park, S., 2015. What makes a useful online review? Implication for travel product websites. Tourism Management, 47, pp.140-1

Moore, S.G., 2015. Attitude predictability and helpfulness in online reviews: the role of explained actions and reactions. Journal of Consumer Research, 42(1), pp.30-44.

Sparks, B.A. and Bradley, G.L., 2017. A “Triple A” typology of responding to negative consumer-generated online reviews. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 41(6), pp.719-745.

Wang, S., Cunningham, N.R. and Eastin, M.S., 2015. The impact of eWOM message characteristics on the perceived effectiveness of online consumer reviews. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 15(2), pp.151-159.

Zhang, Z., Ye, Q., Law, R. and Li, Y., 2010. The impact of e-word-of-mouth on the online popularity of restaurants: A comparison of consumer reviews and editor reviews. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 29(4), pp.694-700