A Dime A Dozen

Until I was expecting a baby, I never paid too much attention to customer reviews online. I also never put too much thought into why I would or would not.

Having very little experience with real baby gear, I started reading these reviews, taking them very seriously. Problems cropped up.

The first problem I encountered was the sheer volume of reviews and their free text format. A paragraph or two from a satisfied or dissatisfied customer, focusing on their particular likes and dislikes. Reading through even a few of these would leave my mind spinning a bit. By the time I got to the last, I couldn't remember what had been said in the first. So, inevitably, I'd only recall the very highest praise or very worst of complaints. After scanning through comparable products, I'd just land on the one that had seemed to have the best feedback.

A second problem as I sorted through reviews--I'd lose sight of what was important to me at the outset. Lots of product reviews seem to carry similar themes. Perhaps it's true that everyone cares about that same stuff about the product, but what do you do if your concerns don't fall within that limited pool of concerns? Lots of people are motivated by lots of different things.

Lastly, the stars! The quality that a number of stars holds for one person surely doesn't match for the next person. There were those who gave five stars but had some complaints and those who gave fewer stars but had no complaints. The stars phenomenon leads a shopper to believe you can scroll down the page and simply seek out the brand and version of the desired item that has the strongest star showing. Not so, my friends, not so.

This is not a huge deal if you are familiar with what you are purchasing. But, if you are in the dark and in need of some guidance? I did not find it particularly helpful. I found it to be confusing and misleading. Not to mention time consuming. And I also still ended up with some major flops despite lots of research and reading of reviews. The Internet. Super progressive and awesome until it floods your brain and is not.