The Effect of Word of Mouth on Sales: Online Book Reviews
Abstract
The authors examine the effect of consumer reviews on relative sales of books at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com . The authors find that (1) reviews are overwhelmingly positive at both sites, but there are more reviews and longer reviews at Amazon.com ; (2) an improvement in a book's reviews leads to an increase in relative sales at that site; (3) for most samples in the study, the impact of one-star reviews is greater than the impact of five-star reviews; and (4) evidence from review-length data suggests that customers read review text rather than relying only on summary statistics.
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- Authors
- Chevalier, J. A., & Mayzlin, D.
- Affiliations
- Yale University (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Marketing Research
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2006-08
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 345-354
- ISSN
- 0022-2437 (ISSN-L)
- 1547-7193
- OpenAlex
- W3123091093
- Cited by
- 6,003
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 275 · 2025: 313 · 2024: 294 · 2023: 389 · 2022: 442 · 2021: 436 · 2020: 422 · 2019: 428 · 2018: 403 · 2017: 416 · 2016: 392 · 2015: 392 · 2014: 331 · 2013: 287 · 2012: 212
- FWCI
- 253.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Marketing Research (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Digital Marketing and Social Media
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Market Behavior and Pricing
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Behavior and Marketing Influence
- Keywords
- word of mouth, online book reviews, consumer reviews, book sales, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, review length, star ratings, e-commerce
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