Reviewers Who Share Identity Information Online Increase Book Sales By Half According to New...

NEW YORK -- In their new research paper entitled, "Examining the Relationship Between Reviews and Sales: The Role of Reviewer Identity Disclosure in Electronic Markets," NYU Stern Professors Anindya Ghose and Batia Wiesenfeld, with co-author Chris Forman of the Georgia Institute of Technology, find

that online consumer reviewers who disclose descriptive information about themselves can significantly affect and predict future book sales. This is the first study to explore what factors lead to peer recognition in online communities, and it has implications for the relationship between online word-of-mouth and the role of reviewers in influencing sales of e-commerce products.

Based on a random sample of 786 books appearing on Amazon's "Purchase Circles" as best-sellers in at least one city over the period April 2005 to January 2006, Professors Ghose and Wiesenfeld found:

* Reviews written by reviewers who have disclosed their real name or geographical location increase new book sales by 56 percent.

* Personal information disclosed by reviewers from a given state can increase the local sales of books in that state by 33 percent.

* If the prior reviewer in an online community discloses his/her real name, then the likelihood of a subsequent reviewer disclosing his/her real name increases by 15 percent.

* Reviewers who disclose their real name or geographical location are rewarded with 12 percent more 'helpful votes' from other consumers than an otherwise identical reviewer who does not disclose his/her real name or location.

* As the source of an opinion, the reviewer matters more than the opinion (or actual review) in predicting online sales of 'experience' products like books.

The full working paper is available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=918978.

Professor Ghose is an expert in Web 2.0, user-generated content, online advertising and e-commerce, and Professor Wiesenfeld is an expert in management and virtual organizations.

To speak with Professors Ghose and Wiesenfeld, please contact them directly at: Professor Ghose, 212-998-0807, aghose@stern.nyu.edu; Professor Wiesenfeld, 212-998-0765, bwiesenf@stern.nyu.edu; or contact Jenny Owen in NYU Stern's Office of Public Affairs, 212-998-0561, jenny.owen@stern.nyu.edu.