Ecommerce
Tactic
Reviews With Swears Are More Persuasive
Profanity communicates stronger feelings about products.
Overview
Based on 300,000 customer reviews, profanity is damn persuasive: Reviews with profanity received more helpful votes (Lafreniere, Moore, & Fisher, 2022).
Why?
- Stronger Meaning. Damn communicates more intensity than very.
- Reviewer is Passionate. Taboo words are socially risky, so the reviewer seems more passionate about their feelings by taking this risk.
Practical ideas:
1. Allow Profanity
Some websites (e.g., Amazon, TripAdvisor) don’t allow profanity, but research shows that it could be helpful.
2. Tell Users If You Censor Reviews
Otherwise, they might believe that a censored statement (e.g., d*mn) was written by the reviewer, which weakens the emotion.
3. Censor With Multiple Asterisks
If you need to censor, use multiple asterisks (e.g., holy s***) to grab more attention than a single asterisk (e.g., holy sh*t).
- Lafreniere, K. C., Moore, S. G., & Fisher, R. J. (2022). The power of profanity: The meaning and impact of swear words in word of mouth. Journal of Marketing Research, 59(5), 908-925.