Research method
Online Review Analysis
Structured analysis of the reviews the market has already written on review platforms, app stores and marketplaces, for the brand and for its competitors. Mining the text surfaces recurring praise, complaints, feature language and switching triggers, in the reviewers' own words.
When to reach for it
Learn the strengths and weaknesses the market volunteers about the brand and its competitors.
Harvest the vocabulary reviewers use, for messaging, copy testing and search work.
Spot the recurring reasons people switch toward or away from a product.
Build competitor understanding without recruiting a single participant.
Strengths and limits
Pros
The data already exists, so it is fast to start and there is no recruitment.
Competitor reviews are as accessible as your own, which is rare in research.
Reviewers explain their reasoning in their own words, giving quotable, specific language.
Cons
Reviews cluster at the extremes, because the satisfied middle rarely writes.
Platform incentives and vendor review programmes shape what gets posted.
Reviews describe the product experience more than the brand, so they inform perception work without measuring awareness.
Practical considerations
Source selection
Match platforms to the category. Software lives on software review sites, consumer products on marketplaces and app stores. Note each platform's review-collection incentives when weighing what you read.
Recency
Weight recent reviews more heavily. Old reviews describe a product and a market that may no longer exist.
Common tools
Go deeper
Recipes that use this method
A method earns its value when its signal corroborates others. Here is where this one does its work.
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