Case Study: Wine Enthusiast Shoots for the Stars With Ratings and Reviews

Wine Enthusiast follows this best practice and doesn’t filter out any negative reviews on its Web site. But the print catalog is another matter: With space at a premium in this channel, only positive reviews are included — typically placed over the product images.

No Incentives
As for why Wine Enthusiast doesn’t incentivize its customers to provide product reviews, Williams notes that such a practice could lead to disingenuous responses. Customers appreciate being asked and want to do the right thing to help other customers, he adds, without the benefit of a special offer.