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Amazon - Most Popular Very Different from Most Reviews

by czilbersher
6 replies
Can someone please explain this to me: I notice that when I sort Amazon search results by 'Most Popular', the number of consumer reviews are often quite small. For example, you might find that the 10 "most popular" flat screens have an average of 5 to 15 reviews, but then the next batch of 10 might have models that have several hundred reviews intermixed with products only having a few reviews.

While I understand that there is not a direct correlation between a product's popularity and the number of reviews it receives, I would expect that they would loosely reflect each other: The most popular products would have the most sales....therefore the most consumers....therefore, statistically, the most reviews.

Since this doesn't seem to be the case, how should I interpret this data?
#amazon #popular #reviews
  • Profile picture of the author wolfmmiii
    To be honest, I don't think it really matters. I've never really investigated it. That said, your logic seems correct. However, I guess it's entirely possible that some popular products simply don't garner as many reviews.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ben Armstrong
      The number of reviews in the past 2 months is more important than the number of reviews overall when considering a product to promote.

      A flatscreen that's only been on the market for 2 months and has 10 reviews is better than one that's been on sale for a year and has 50 reviews.

      Your logic is mostly correct though and personally I haven't really looked in to what you're describing. Maybe check to see how long those 'popular' products with few reviews have been available on Amazon for.
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    • Profile picture of the author TBInternetMarketing
      I've also noticed a lot of guys may leave a review, but that doesn't mean they bought it on Amazon. It takes a bit of tweaking to get it right. I have a site that has just hit number one in Google and is now getting at least 400 highly targeted visitors a day, but I've only just realised which products are selling well on it. Up until now, I had the wrong kind and wasn't making any sales, but in the last 24 hours I've sold $1,200 worth of products on that one site, so it definitely takes some tweaking.
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  • Profile picture of the author Curtis2011
    Originally Posted by czilbersher View Post

    Can someone please explain this to me: I notice that when I sort Amazon search results by 'Most Popular', the number of consumer reviews are often quite small. For example, you might find that the 10 "most popular" flat screens have an average of 5 to 15 reviews, but then the next batch of 10 might have models that have several hundred reviews intermixed with products only having a few reviews.

    While I understand that there is not a direct correlation between a product's popularity and the number of reviews it receives, I would expect that they would loosely reflect each other: The most popular products would have the most sales....therefore the most consumers....therefore, statistically, the most reviews.

    Since this doesn't seem to be the case, how should I interpret this data?
    Most Popular probably shows items that have sold the most recently, like in the last 24 hours or 7 days.

    Number of reviews could be years old, even if the product isn't selling any more.
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    • Profile picture of the author WebPen
      Originally Posted by Curtis2011 View Post

      Most Popular probably shows items that have sold the most recently, like in the last 24 hours or 7 days.

      Number of reviews could be years old, even if the product isn't selling any more.
      Yup I gotta go with this idea.

      Some products on Amazon have ridiculous amounts of reviews, but then you look and the product first came out in like 2005.

      Even if there arent newer versions of the same model, you know there's far superior stuff now listed- probably cheaper, too.
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      • Profile picture of the author robyna
        The more reviews there are the better chances there are for bad reviews there are possibly. I don't think you'll see the phenomenon with every product though.

        Just go with what's popular. You can't lose even if they have little reviews. People want to go with what's popular. Play it up on your website that it's a best seller. That' more important to many buyers than how many reviews it has. Plus, they may not be looking at how many reviews it has. (They should because it skews the numbers but they may not be.)
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