Before making a big purchase (or any size for that matter) for something like a brand new car, or before booking your dream vacation you’ve been saving up for all year or even before deciding to spend $50 at the movies on the latest blockbuster release that you’ve been anxiously waiting to see for months; many of us turn to the internet first to check out their online reviews.
It’s our natural instinct and frankly our prerogative to do so especially nowadays when with just the click of a button you have the whole world at your fingertips. Also, who wouldn’t want to read some reviews first before deciding whether or not this is the right product or service for you, especially when you may potentially be about to spend a lot of your hard earned money on it. But what happens when those reviews turn out to be mostly negative ones?
It’s every businesses nightmare, getting negative feedback from dissatisfied customers, clients or even patients. An online review has the potential to destroy a business in that same click of a button that we use to seek out those comments, but at the same time they may also have the potential to help a business to flourish too. So who do you listen to?
When scrolling through and reading each comment we are more likely to re-read the negative ones and trust them to be more credible even if we want so badly to believe the positive ones as well, but we often become clouded by all the negativity. Online reviews are very subjective and circumstantial for no two people are the same and no two experiences are the exact same either so it’s always best to have an open mind while reading them.
The thing is my mind only sees, feels and hears negativity and this week I have been researching and consulting with many potential inpatient treatment centers and other services only to become more and more overwhelmed as I sift through the 100’s of reviews. I want so badly to believe in that one positive review, the one that could potentially save my life but instead I only see the possibility for failure.
I’ve tried reading between the lines or only reading reviews that are prevalent to my situation but many of these reviews I actually know to have the potential to be true as I have experienced some of it with my own two eyes. It’s very easy to post a review and how do I know if that one raving 5 star review isn’t from the director or owner’s own mother; like come on, you know you would do it for your own kid anyday! But when you continue to see a lot of commonalities in the tone of the comments, good or bad, it becomes more confusing, more frustrating and even more overwhelming.
I have been literally hanging on by the end of my rope the last couple of weeks and feeling completely helpless at this point and these reviews of potential life-changing treatments and services (most of which are not in Canada and would cost a lot of money, even the ones in Canada would too) has been all I can focus on right now which of course just sets me up for further anxiety and sadness.
So I’m putting it out there and asking you for your input and I beg the question (literally); which reviews do you believe and which ones do you take with a grain of salt? I mean I’ve read enough horrible reviews on restaurants or blockbuster movies only to come out of them having thoroughly enjoyed my experience, but none of that is gonna lead to a healthier, happier me.
YouAreEnough 