Responding to Negative Electronic Word of Mouth to Improve Purchase Intention

Abstract

Retailers have little control over what their customers say about their products and services online. Review platforms (e.g., Yelp and Travelocity) are rife with negativity, from both real customers with bad experiences and from fake reviews created by competitors. These negative reviews have been shown to influence the purchasing behavior of future consumers. Many platforms do afford companies some control by including them in the online conversation about their products or services. Crafting a response to a poor review which appeals to future consumers may mitigate some of the negative outcomes associated with that review. This study advances our knowledge of responding to negative reviews by adding to the growing body of research, using a simulation-based experiment to test the influence of three elements of a review response on purchase intention (i.e., an apology, an explanation and a pledge to correct the problem identified in the review). In doing so, the data show that purchase intention increases only when a response contains all three elements. Implications for e-commerce researchers and review platform developers are discussed.

The mediating role of gender in social media shopping acceptance: from the WOM perspective

“…Furthermore, the relationship between social media usage and online shopping acceptance is also validated with a significance value of p > .004∗∗. These results also strongly correlated with the existing studies conducted in different geographical regions ( Arul Jothi and Mohmadraj Gaffoor, 2017 ; Dwivedi et al., 2021 ; Taha et al., 2021 ; Zinko et al., 2021 ). They also affirmed negative and positive word of mouth (WOM) on consumers' online shopping acceptance.…”

“…However, a brand name, reputation, and eventually equity depend on product or service quality associated directly or indirectly with the Electronic Word of mouth. Further validated by Zinko and their colleagues Zinko et al. (2021) , they examined the effect of Electronic Word of mouth on the positive or negative quality of products on the consumers' buying behavior in Canada.…”

“…As a result, Indians consider the electronic word of mouth as comparatively more critical in making buying decisions than traditional buying patterns. On the other hand, Zinko et al. (2021) further discussed the impacts of Electronic Word of mouth on product or service improvement processes.…”

Transmission of negative brand-relevant content on social media

“…To mitigate the impact of negative transmission, specifically, brands may need to re-evaluate the response methods used. Responding to the negative transmission may be helpful when CSI and/or PSF are heavily implicated and the potential for recovery remains (Kucuk, 2019; Fetscherin and Sampedro, 2019; Zinko et al , 2021). However, the current research suggests that transmission can be less about the brand and more about the transmitter.…”

Impact of Online Consumer Reviews on Amazon Books Sales: Empirical Evidence from India

“…The eWOM has a significant influence on consumers' product appraisal process since potential customers prefer to go through the reviews shared by other customers to know more about a product before purchasing it [11][12][13]. The experience shared by consumers with the help of online reviews helps the users to reduce their uncertainties while making online purchase decisions [14]. eWOM has become one of the rising channels of communication that individuals utilize to share their experiences and opinions about various products and services they have bought by sharing messages through internet-based platforms such as websites, blogs, and social media [15][16][17][18].…”