What you can learn from Amazon Reviews? | PMD | Producer of ...

I don?t know about you, but before I commit to making any large purchases ? especially ones concerning expensive technology products, where once you?ve got them, you?ve passed a point of no return ? I like to conduct quite a bit of research and comparison shopping. I ask around, especially other users of the product, including my friends and other users who have had positive or bittersweet experiences with the thing, then I make my choice.

One of the first stops in this relatively quick process is Amazon.com. I have a look what other users are saying about a product before I open up my wallet to commit my shekels. I do this even when I?m not interested in buying a product off Amazon?s portal (or, since I?m in Canada, usually Amazon.ca), which demonstrates the value of user reviews on Amazon?s flagship e-store.

The knowledge base there is astoundingly large, and do head on over if you haven?t been for a while. There are years of archived reviews for nearly all products, and for newer items the reviews usually are all current, spot on, hard-hitting, and totally frank. Amazon pulls zero punches when it comes to displaying even negative feedback on products within its gargantuan inventory which plainly aren?t performing up to standard. It?s not precious about this sort of thing, and neither should you be, as an independent filmmaker. The instant you make your film public, it now belongs to the world. So get ready for all comers.

I was looking to buy a new brand of Canon wifi-enabled point-and-shoot camera (the PowerShot ELPH 320 HS 16.1 MP), an item I?d spied on some street-level boards here in Toronto. Price seemed right and I was even offered a coupon to redeem at a particular shop I frequent. I?d even gone into the store to put my digits to the store specimen. No batteries in the unit, alas, so I couldn?t fire off a few sample snaps and play with the settings, but everything seemed cool and things were looking on the up-and-up. I was more than three-quarters along the way to buying?

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Only trouble was I wasn?t totally convinced yet?something was holding me back. I still wanted to read what other users? experiences were on Amazon. There might have been red flags I wasn?t cottoning onto from the in-store experience and that?s what Amazon was for. Sadly, I admit the reviews were not too promising.

Moral of the story? I saved my money. There were a significant-enough number of negative feedbacks about the PowerShot?s all-LCD-activated screen, especially how it functioned in pure daylight conditions (read: practically unnavigable), and that was alarming for an all-LCD activated unit. There were expressed difficulties about offloading the photos to a computer through wifi, and then there was the seeming diminishment in quality between the PowerShot and one of Canon?s earlier models that seemed to outperform the PowerShot.

Amazon to the rescue, yet again?

Lesson for indies? If you?re offering up your film for VOD download off Amazon VOD, or if you have products for sale on any other sort of portal, you?ll want to pay close attention to the things users are saying about your product line or, in this case, your movie.

Evidenced from the example above, what?s written over there in black and white does tend to sway the most dogged, non-impulse-driven, research-conscious, and would-be purchasers of your product. If there?s even the slightest hint of problem with your design ? or in this case, with your execution: your movie?s plot, its sound design, its production values, or your casting ? there are a host of viewers who have no qualms about airing their opinions publicly and taking their money elsewhere.

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Adam Daniel Mezei, PMD | Producer of Marketing and Distribution
http://pmdforhire.com
Indie Audience Engagement Services for Independent Feature Films and Documentaries

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