When to Target Customers for Helpful Reviews: The Evolution of Consumers' Product Evaluations with Product Exposure

Many online sellers send a review request only a few days after product delivery to gather customer reviews. Yet, the value of this strategy is questionable because buyers with short product exposure are unlikely to have enough time to inspect the product thoroughly and thus may not offer valuable evaluations. We address this question by examining the influence of consumers' product exposure on the helpfulness of their reviews. Our findings suggest that those with a longer product exposure tend to produce more helpful posts. The subsequent topic modeling analyses reveal that reviewers' assessments of product utilitarian aspects increase with product exposure. Such information is perceived as less subjective and contains more discussions on product functionality. Lastly, we found that users with prior product domain knowledge do not need a long exposure to produce helpful reviews. Businesses with an urgent need to gain reviews may target them as a priority.