Our boxes dare you to write about the products inside of them.
Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes when you write a review for a product you purchased from Newegg? Are you a seasoned Newegg reviewer who wants to become a member of our exclusive EggXpert program? Do you stay up late at night pondering why your review wasn’t published?
Now’s your chance to find out the answers.
I recently sat down with one of our UGC managers here at Newegg to ask about his job and the user review process. If you’ve ever been curious about user reviews and how the process works, he has an answer (and explanation) for everything. He also provides some helpful tips on how to write a great review.
How Newegg’s Review Process Works
Hi! I’m sure a lot of people are wondering what UGC stands for. Can you explain?
Of course. UGC stands for “User Generated Content.” This content is anything that our customers create on our website. While we mainly focus on reviews, we also moderate wishlists, testimonials, Q&A, manufacturer responses, the Unscrambled blog and much more.
That’s a lot of responsibility! What exactly are manufacturer responses? I don’t think a lot of customers know we offer these responses.
Many of our vendors have signed up so they can respond to reviews directly. It’s a great way for the vendors to get involved with their products and answer questions and solve problems publicly. Customers love this feature because they’re dealing with people who actually know what they’re talking about. It’s one of the best features on our website as far as I’m concerned.
Wow. That’s probably a lot of work because Newegg has a ton of reviews. Do you know how many reviews are currently on the site? What’s the most popular category?
Yes, we have a lot of reviews. In fact, we have over three million of them. While a majority of these reviews are for computer hardware, customers like to review everything we sell. That’s a lot of categories when you consider Newegg sells over 10 million products.
Why are customer reviews so important? Do you think they’re necessary?
Reviews provide insight into products from actual experiences. People want to know about the product, how well it works, and if it’s right for them. While the product information can answer a lot of the technical questions, reviews really allow users to dive into the everyday use of those products. The best way to learn about products is to hear from the people who use them. Reviews aren’t only necessary, they’re the first thing consumers look at when shopping online.
You are so right. How can you guarantee reviews aren’t biased? Do you allow negative reviews?
Absolutely. We not only allow negative reviews, we actually look forward to them. Negative reviews are helpful to find out product and compatibility issues. They also help us know which products we should continue to sell.These types of reviews also help prevent RMA’s and reduce costs for everyone. We want everyone to get the right product for them the first time. Negative reviews guarantee we are not biased about any particular product.
I’m sure there are a lot of customers who write negative reviews that never get published. What are some reasons why a review won’t be posted on the website?
We try to allow as many reviews on the website as we can, but we do remove reviews that violate our guidelines or are simply not a review of the product. We want to make sure that content is helpful to other customers. Basically, if your review doesn’t provide anything helpful or insightful about the product; it’s useless to everyone. That means no curse words!
With so many positive and negative reviews coming in each day, which are the most common?
We see a large variety in the types of reviews we receive. From very simple one-word explanations to complex novels that take almost an hour to read. It really depends on the person and the product in question. While the average reviewer might write a few sentences, our EggXpert reviewer’s will usually have a few paragraphs about the product. There isn’t really a “common” review because our customers are so diverse.
There’s another word people are probably wondering about. Can you tell me more about these “EggXperts?”
We have an EggXpert review program that sends out product samples to our most tech-savvy customers so they can try them out and write amazing reviews on them. A lot of our EggXperts get products before they are even released — some of them even get to keep certain products. It’s the most exclusive program Newegg offers to customers. It’s also really hard to join which makes it even better.
That sounds like a program a lot of customers would like to be a part of. How can someone join the EggXpert review program?
The program isn’t open to just anyone. We only select members who are our top customers and who consistently provide the best product reviews with the most accurate information. We are always looking through our reviews for new customers as it’s great for everyone involved. Anyone that wants to join just needs to keep writing great reviews and we’ll find them. Trust me when I say it’s worth it.
I believe you! Is there anything else you would like to tell our readers?
We really appreciate all of your reviews. They are so important to our company and to the vendors because we can see which products are working and which products are not. Our customers are some of the most highly technical users out there and they really know a lot of about these products. Keep writing those reviews and thank you for all your dedication! Your reviews help everyone.
It’s Your Turn to Ask Questions
And there you have it. An in-depth explanation about Newegg’s user review process and why it’s so important to our company. So what are you waiting for? Go review something! Who knows, you may even be our next EggXpert!
If you have any questions about the review process, leave a comment below and one of our UGC managers will get right back to you:
