Today’s consumers heavily rely on online peer reviews to guide their purchase decisions. Yet, review platforms and businesses alike are struggling with a shortage of online reviews and declining review length. In response, many businesses have turned to offering incentives, such as discounts or even direct payments, in exchange for (often positive) reviews. Unfortunately, this practice is costly and against both the regulations of the Federal Trade Commission and the guidelines of major review platforms. Another approach is platform-endorsed review solicitation, which allows businesses to request reviews without the use of incentives. This practice is more legitimate, as it enforces strict policies against review fraud and requires explicit disclosure of solicitation. Against this backdrop, HKUST’s Jing Wang and her coauthors address a critical question: do businesses actually benefit from participating in platform-endorsed review solicitation?

“The answer is not straightforward,” the researchers caution. Soliciting reviews can increase firms’ popularity and attract more consumers, who may then provide more organic reviews. However, review solicitation might reduce the number of organic reviews due to either a substitution or a motivational crowding-out effect. Additionally, solicitation might change the characteristics of consumer reviews.

To shed light on these underexplored areas, the researchers focused on TripAdvisor’s 2012 launch of a review collection program, which enabled hotels to collect reviews from guests and publish them with explicit solicitation disclosure. Their rigorous statistical analysis yielded noteworthy results. “While this program effectively increases the number of total reviews, it does so at the cost of reduced review quality, shifting content from specific, concrete topics to general and abstract ones,” the researchers note. Furthermore, “review solicitation creates a notable negative spillover on the volume of organic reviews”.

“Despite the apparent benefits,” say Wang and colleagues, “businesses should be mindful of the hidden costs.” Solicited reviews may crowd out organic reviews—which are perceived as more trustworthy and credible by consumers—and damage consumers’ brand attitude and evaluation. The authors conclude, “platforms implementing review solicitation programs should need proactive strategies to mitigate these potential adverse impacts.”