TrustRadius for Buyers

I like to read reviews that are honest, straightforward and provide use cases for the product. Hearing about how others used the product and what they found helpful was insightful and aided my research process.

There are two products that I am strongly considering. I had heard of both products in the past and wanted to see which product had better or more robust capabilities. Through reading reviews and learning more about users' experiences with the product, I was able to get the information I need to make my next step.

The reviews that are the most valuable to me are from users in a business setting that is as close to mine as possible. These give me a real world view of what to expect if I were to use the product. It also gives you a view of someone who is using the product instead of someone who is making money from selling the product.

Having reviews is a great resource when making a decision that impacts a lot of users and costs a lot of money. Having access to reviews gives you a better chance of making the best decision and not having buyer's remorse.

I looked for reviews that had a long list of pros and cons as that was used for comparison with other tools. Reviews that are most valuable to me are the ones that list the major features and major drawbacks of different software. Reviews including price specifications and support specifications are also useful.

Having access to reviews deeply impacted my buying experience. It was valuable to hear the benefits and drawbacks from a user that has purchased the product.

I look to see that the reviews are neutral. I also want to make sure that people are comparing the products based on criteria that are important to me. If I know they are in similar positions at other companies, that helps boost my confidence. I want to make sure that I do my research so the more detailed a review is, the better.

I never buy anything without checking reviews. It's my internal reputation on the line. If I make the wrong call with a piece of software, that's bad.

I look for reviews that cover the spectrum of cost (price plus), features, service & support; are largely unbiased & comprehensive / well-thought-out & well-written. Anything that meets these criteria are the most valuable.

I looked for information about ROI. We were using a lead generation product before but we were not happy with the quality of leads/product so we wanted to avoid buying something that won't meet our needs. So anything about the quality of the product was of interest. Next, I looked at user-friendliness of the product, how it helped the reviewer, and if the customer service was of good quality.

The reviews were super useful as they saved me a tone of time looking into/speaking with companies that have a low quality of service and are considered not worth the effort.

As mentioned earlier, it is really helpful when a reviewer is listing all the positive and negative sides of the product. It helps you to consider if the cons outweigh the pros or vice versa and if you are willing to accept the product as it is. Even if you are familiar with the product and used it in the past, other people may have encountered different issues - be it because of the different field the company is specializing in or because of the different approach.

The reviews are very powerful resource that in my opinion cannot be overrated. I appreciate the opportunity to access the reviews by people who already used the product - it can save a lot of time and money and assist in making the right decision.

I look for their personal experiences and personal feelings about the provider. How good is their support, how helpful are they, what kind of progress have they made with their platform over time? Things like that are super helpful. Users who write reviews after working with a vendor for some time, to me, are the most helpful.

The reviews helped me validate some gut feelings, and interestingly, pointed me to new issues (good and bad) that I should address, or at least think about, and gave me insight into what my experience could be.

Since I have often used the software that I am researching, the reviews that focus on how user-friendly the software is aren't as helpful. The ones that describe in detail the way in which software can be rolled out to the entire organization are most helpful. These provide details of trouble I may have with implementation. Also, I have looked at reviews in order to confirm problems I am having with software I currently use.

I look for specificity in reviews. The kind of reviews that offer both positive and negative sides are most valuable to me, especially when they present a clear conclusion. I want to know what works, what doesn't and how well it worked for you. Would you buy it again? What was the scenario you found yourself in when you purchased the software?

Reviews help me to broaden my perspective and experience without having to actually go through the experience. Having access to the reviews impacts my buying process experience by reducing the amount of research I have to conduct and can help me focus my research to be more effective.

I look for product limitations, and the most valuable reviews are the ones that provide me with a technical point of view.

[Having reviews allows me] To be able to know real-life cases of the experiences that people within companies have had with technological solutions and allows me to go further and compare them with the characteristics written on paper by the manufacturer.

When I look for a review of a program, I already have a brief idea of what it is about. I look for positive comments and negative comments. I compare both and draw my own conclusions. I like reviews that are not technical, those reviews that explain with simple words that the software is about. Those simple reviews are the ones I like the most.

Many times we already have an idea of the program we are looking for. I think reading a review allows you to have more confidence when choosing the software. Nobody likes to be wrong. Nobody likes to waste money or time, so before making a decision we read a review from someone who has already used the program.

I look for clear and well described reviews. I want to be able to tell how long the product has been used, why it was implemented, and what the pros and cons of the product were. Would the buyer recommend the product, and if so, why? If not, Why not? It needs to be detailed.

The reviews help me make a decision by seeing what other people are loving and struggling with. If a product has a lot of cons, I won't use it.

[I look to see] That reviewers have provided both positive and negative reviews in the past. Individuals that focus just on positives and that do not present negative feedback don't give me the level of trust that they are impartial.

[Having reviews as a resource is] Very high value. It was very useful.

It is important that there are sufficient numbers of reviews, then I will look for common themes across reviews. If a lot of people are saying the same thing across all reviews, then I am more likely to believe it. I also find the summarized statistics scores (likelihood to recommend/renew, usability, etc.) to be very useful. I don't want to be swayed by a single user's review, so I like to look at the aggregated reviews across many reviewers.

Having reviews is extremely valuable. I want to hear from the actual users of the products, not just the sales team of the vendor that I am researching. It is helpful to hear the cons of a particular product, and the direct comparison with other vendors. Having access to reviews makes it easier for me to differentiate products and make a faster decision on which vendor to recommend for my company.

I look for real-world experience and specific details.

Reading about real-world experiences from users of a product makes a big difference. It is so much more valuable than all the marketing hype you can come across on the vendor's website or other websites.

Reviews with both positive and negative feedback are really valuable. With other sites like Amazon sometimes everything is 'too' positive and it's hard to distinguish what's real and what's not. I like honest feedback and having an in-depth review pushes people to think about drawbacks to certain pieces of software...as well as the positives.

Having reviews made the conversation with superiors a LOT easier, because I wasn't just sharing my own experience with something but also came as a way of presenting an idea/process change so that execs could see exactly what other people think and what their experiences have been.

I skim reviews, looking for patterns of positive or negative experience, so short reviews with one or two concrete details are the most helpful. I'll stop for long reviews if it describes an interesting or unique situation that is relevant to my own business requirements. Reviews that are 'clever' or 'catchy' are more distracting and less helpful.

As an IT professional, I've been using online reviews to evaluate products for over ten years. As a consumer, it's been much longer than that. It's difficult to imagine supporting a purchasing decision in these times without using online reviews. That said, I'm aware that there are a lot of junk reviews out there, either due to QC issues or paid reviews. Knowing this, I try to proceed cautiously and take reviews and star ratings with a grain of salt. I use proxy signals to judge the quality of a review site or a review. Site age and quality of design, for example, or writing quality. Higher and more consistent quality of design and content is costly as a rule, and difficult to fake, so these can be good indicators that the people behind a site are investing themselves in the brand, and not just a passive income generator.

I look for ease of use, pricing, and if it will meet the desired function to reduce information security risks to an organization.

Definitely [valuable], as you are able to have a better understanding of the true capabilities of the products.

I look for reviews that show me the true Pros and Cons of owning the item. A review that isn't coerced or fueled by the desire to get a discount or a free product is something I look for. A reviewer that provides multiple reviews on various products would be someone I would listen to more than a one-time reviewer.

The reviews are a good jumping off point, but I feel like a lot of time they might be skewed one way or the other based on prompts to review from companies or when users are so disenchanted by software that they purchased that they focus purely on the negatives and not any of the positives.

Honest and balanced. If someone starts ranting, their reliability quickly drops.

When you're purchasing a product, it feels as if the sales people will tell you anything to get you to buy. It's hard to trust them since we have instances where after we've signed a contract, the implementation people will say "yeah, that was promised, but what they didn't mention was x." Having reviews from real people is like pulling back the curtain and seeing what life is really like with the product.

I look for well-balanced reviews from actual users that were not written in what seems to be a heightened emotional state. I look for reviews that share why the decision was made to purchase the software, what the implementation experience was like and what the user experience over time has been like. I appreciate reviews that share the positives and negatives though I distrust reviews that are 1 star with comments that say everything was awful. These tend to be expensive purchases and there had to be something one liked about the software to begin the implementation and user process... so it's hard to image there is nothing good about the system. One star may be deserved but some clear reasons need to be described.

Reviews are invaluable. I always ask for references but you know the software vendor will not give you the name of a negative reference! So online reviews help show potential weaknesses and sharpen the questions that need to be asked of the vendor before signing a contract.

[I look for] Detailed feedback, supported with examples to showcase experiences. Generic reviews aren't very useful.

When I buy a [consumer] product, I look at reviews on Amazon as well as other available platforms so I know what to expect. When it comes to software, it's the same thing. I'd like to have a better understanding of the software, not just through demos but through actual users. I take the reviews seriously. Having reviews cuts down trial time and me helps choose - or at least puts things in better perspective.

What I look for in reviews are honest experiences and feedback on the systems that I'm reviewing. The kind of reviews that are valuable would be any review that's thoughtful about how other readers would be able to use that review if they're ever looking at a particular system or feature in a product.

With the technology that we have, we are more informed in making decisions [when we can find reviews]. It is valuable to look at people's reviews of vendors and products to learn from their experiences. I do this for everything I buy, be it for personal or business use. Reviews are valuable information in making a decision.