What makes a useful online review? Implication for travel product websites

Highlights

• We propose a model explaining the perceived usefulness of online reviews.

• Reviews with disclosure of reviewer's identity and high reputation are useful.

• Review ratings and review elaborateness positively affect the perceived usefulness.

• Enjoyment and readability of reviews have positive influences on the usefulness.

Abstract

While the proliferation of online review websites facilitate travellers' ability to obtain information (decrease in search costs), it makes it difficult for them to process and judge useful information (increase in cognitive costs). Accordingly, this study attempts to identify the factors affecting the perceived usefulness of online consumer reviews by investigating two aspects of online information: (1) the characteristics of review providers, such as the disclosure of personal identity, the reviewer's expertise and reputation, and (2) reviews themselves including quantitative (i.e., star ratings and length of reviews) and qualitative measurements (i.e., perceived enjoyment and review readability). The results reveal that a combination of both messenger and message characteristics positively affect the perceived usefulness of reviews. In particular, qualitative aspects of reviews were identified as the most influential factors that make travel reviews useful. The implications of these findings contribute to tourism and hospitality marketers to develop more effective social media marketing.

Introduction

Online reviews have become an important information source that allow consumers to search for detailed and reliable information by sharing past consumption experiences (Gretzel et al., 2011, Yoo and Gretzel, 2008). According to the report by Vlachos (2012), about 87 percent of international travellers have used the Internet for planning their trips and 43 percent of them have read reviews by other travellers. More specifically, nearly half of online consumers indicated that they actively read and post reviews after experiencing service products (Santos, 2014). This study argues that consumer reviews are particularly important in purchasing experiential goods (e.g., destinations, hotels, restaurants) because people find it difficult to assess the quality of the intangible products before consumption. Hence consumers tend to rely on online comments (a form of e-word of mouth) that allow them to obtain sufficient information and have indirect purchasing experiences so as to reduce their level of perceived uncertainty (Ye, Law, Gu, & Chen, 2011).

Given the recognition of the importance of online reviews, several online communities (e.g., Tripadvisor, Yelp, Citysearch, Virtualtour) that provide a platform showcasing consumer reviews have gained popularity and in turn have become the leading information source in tourism and hospitality. In this vein, many studies have investigated the effect of online reviews on travel behaviours (Vermeulen & Seegers, 2009) and product sales (Duverger, 2013, Racherla et al., 2012, Sparks and Browning, 2011). It is important to recognize that while the abundance of online consumer reviews in travel-related social communities makes it easy for travellers to find information, it is difficult for them to process and judge useful information. More specifically, the extensive travel information available through social media enables people to spend lower costs/efforts that stimulate the search for information online. However, many individuals have a limited capability to process a substantial amount of information, which may bring about information overload (Frias, Rodriguez, & Castaneda, 2008). In other words, the tendency is to decrease in search costs but increase in cognitive costs (Bellman, Johnson, Lohse, & Mandel, 2006). Thus identifying the factors that generate the perceived usefulness of online reviews is a crucial issue in online tourism marketing as online sites with more useful reviews offer greater potential value to customers and contribute to building their confidence in making a purchase decision (Sussman & Siegal, 2003).

This study explores two key elements in online reviews including the characteristics of review providers and of consumer reviews themselves in order to predict perceived usefulness. Within the online environment, offering limited cues of peer recognition and a disclosure of personal information (e.g., real photo, name and address) and online reputation in the community have a large influence on the way consumers respond to messages (Forman, Ghose, & Wiesenfeld, 2008). Furthermore, the extant literature has discussed the importance of the numerical ratings of the reviews assigned by readers and examined their effects on the purchase decision process (Poston & Speier, 2005), search costs (Todd & Benbasat, 1992), and product sales (Duan, Gu, & Whinston, 2008). However, the authors of this research argue that such quantitative characteristics of online reviews can explain a partial aspect of review effectiveness due to limited cognitive cues for recipients to identify the differences between numerous reviews. This study thus suggests a research approach combining not only quantitative (i.e., length of reviews and star ratings) elements of information but also qualitative/textual (i.e., perceived enjoyment and readability of reviews) aspects to better explain the perceived usefulness of online reviews (Mudambi and Schuff, 2010, Van der Heijden, 2003).

Therefore, the purpose of this research is to identify factors important to reviewers (i.e., identity disclosure, expertise, and reputation) and composing online reviews (i.e., quantitative including star ratings and length of reviews, and qualitative measurements containing perceived enjoyment and review readability), both of which affect information evaluation online. In order to address the research purpose, this study analyses over 5000 online reviews of travel products posted by online consumers. The findings of this research contribute to the ability of tourism and hospitality marketers to develop more effective online marketing strategies.