Fresh approach to product reviews launched

According to fresh, their new product testing and review site, where the experts are replaced by consumers, is a far better system that star rating. Whereas the star rating system is subjective by nature, fresh believes their system of recommendation is a more reliable and accurate platform.

According to fresh, the star review system "attracts "extremity reviews" whereby the majority of reviewers give a 1-star or a 5-star rating, but people with experiences in the middle will not post a review, making one- and five-star reviews statistically inaccurate".

Fresh works on the premise that, if a reviewer would recommend a product to a friend, it says more than any star rating could say about that product.

It works by first validating users by using their Facebook profile to sign in. Users that sign up to become a product tester are then placed in a queue and only move ahead by digitally referring friends to the product they want to test.

Once at the head of the queue, manufacturers send out the product for testing. That product may be the tester's to keep, or it may need to be returned (free of charge).

Testers are then required to answer questions on the product posed by other users, rather than give the product a star rating. They are also asked if they would recommend that product to a friend which, says fresh, is the ultimate referral because, after all, "people don't recommend products they don't like".

"Our model works and there's proof. Yelp became relevant when people were able to review restaurants and tell strangers about them, serving as a signal about their quality. Before Yelp, chain restaurants dominated, but now I can find an authentic mom and pop restaurant that would have previously suffered from the marketing engines afforded to big chains," said Stephen Svajian , founder and CEO of fresh.

"Part of what drove the need for Yelp was the fragmentation that existed in restaurant markets. Now, fragmentation is coming in markets for physical products. And, similarly, there's a need for a service that sits in the middle and tells people what's good. That's where fresh comes in."

Tags: consumer reviews, product testing, review sites