NEW YORK, NY — In an age where online reviews can be the difference between success and failure for small businesses, a groundbreaking study from Columbia Business School explores how writing a negative review can help the writer recover from a poor experience. The new research explores how writing reviews can help consumers process their emotions and think more clearly after a bad experience. The research finds that writing reviews that include rational and emotional expression can help customers feel better about their experiences.
While much attention has been paid to the impact of online reviews on potential buyers, little research has focused on how writing negative reviews affects those who contribute to them. In the study, “Digital Therapy for Negative Consumption Experiences: The Impact of Emotional and Rational Reviews on Review Writers,” Professor Vicki Morwitz and Columbia Business School Ph.D. graduate Alisa Wu, Assistant Professor at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, explore whether writing a negative review, particularly one that includes both emotional and rational elements, could help individuals recover from disappointing consumer experiences in the same way that writing has been shown to help victims of trauma. Drawing from the trauma-recovery literature, Wu and Morwitz hypothesized that writing reviews that incorporate both emotional and rational elements would result in greater recovery for the writer.
"Research shows that the most therapeutic writing often blends emotional expression with objective facts," said Professor Morwitz, the Bruce Greenwald Professor of Business at Columbia Business School. "Our research explores whether the same approach can help consumers recover from negative experiences."
The study was conducted in two parts: an analysis of existing online reviews and controlled experiments involving volunteers writing reviews. In the first part, the researchers used machine learning to analyze over 20,000 airline reviews, classifying them as emotional, rational, or integrated — a combination of both emotional and rational elements. They then assessed the relationship between the style of the review and the likelihood of the reviewer recommending the airline in the future. In the experimental portion of the study, participants were asked to recall a negative restaurant experience and write about it in one of three ways: emotional, rational, or integrated. A control group was not given specific writing instructions. Afterward, participants completed surveys regarding their emotional journey and whether they would consider revisiting the restaurant. Participants also wore wrist monitors to measure their blood pressure while writing in order to measure emotional responses while writing.
The researchers found that writing an integrated negative review can provide a therapeutic effect after a negative experience with a business. They found that writers of integrated reviews reported feeling better and were more likely to recommend the business to others. Notably, participants who wrote integrated reviews showed a temporary rise in blood pressure, indicating a cathartic emotional response. In contrast, no such effect was found in those who wrote emotional or rational reviews alone. For businesses, this means that, while negative reviews can hurt a business’s brand, nuanced reviews may actually help customers come to terms with their individual experience, mitigate more significant consequences from one negative experience, and, ultimately, allow them to return to the business in the future.
Additional Findings:
- Reader’s Response to Integrated Reviews: The study found that readers also respond to integrated reviews as positively as, or more favorably than, emotional or rational reviews.
- Keeping Customers with Balanced Reviews: The study suggested that, in order to increase customer retention, businesses should encourage customers to write reviews that draw on both the emotional and factual aspects of their experiences.
"Negative reviews can be incredibly damaging to companies," said Morwitz. "However, by encouraging consumers to articulate both the emotional and factual aspects of their experiences, businesses can help consumers process their feelings while potentially reducing the long-term impact of negative feedback."
To learn more about the cutting-edge research being conducted, please visit the Columbia Business School.
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