User-generated content (UGC) is no enemy of good-quality website content. There are some potential pitfalls to keep in mind when enabling UGC, such as whether or not you manually moderate pending posts, but in general allowing UGC can be a good way to build relevant content on your website.
One big benefit of UGC is its diversity. You can receive comments, feedback and customer reviews from all ages and ethnicities, genders and socioeconomic groups. By comparing the features and characteristics of different comments, there's a lot you can learn.
And that's what a team led by Grant Packard, Associate Professor at the Schulich School of Business at York University, Toronto, have done. Their study in the Journal of Consumer Research looks at over half a million online reviews with one question in mind: Is it better to write in past or present tense?
Now and Then
User reviews will typically refer to an establishment using past or present tense. In a restaurant review, for example, a diner might say "My meal was excellent" or might choose the more present form, "The food is excellent." It's a relatively small change - so does it make a big difference?
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| A Person Writing on a Notebook by Junjira Konsang, via Pexels |
Packard et al set out to determine whether the choice of past or present tense has a significant effect on the impact of a customer review.
Combining the results of eight studies and multiple methods both in the field and under laboratory conditions, the team found that there is a benefit to using present tense, which is capable of increasing the persuasion of a review.
Here to Help
So what did the team discover? Their research used natural language processing to analyse more than 500,000 online user reviews across a variety of product and service segments.
They found:
- Reviews written in present tense are perceived as more helpful and useful.
- Switching from past to present tense makes messages more persuasive.
- Present tense conveys certainty in experiences and opinions.
"These findings shed light on how language impacts consumer behavior, highlight how a subtle, yet central linguistic feature shapes communication, and have clear implications for persuasion across a range of situations."
No Time Like the Present
If you're adding to your website, you might not think twice about the tense you use, but a good writer of website content - especially sales content - will give plenty of thought to the immediacy of the language used.
While it's not always possible (or suitable) to use present tense, there are other ways to ground content in the present day, rather than have it feel as though it may be referring to product features or service standards that no longer apply.
By doing so, a good website content writer will maximise the impact of every page on your website - encouraging your visitors to place an order, make an enquiry or complete some other goal during their current visit, and not to leave it until later.
References
1. Packard et al (2023) How Verb Tense Shapes Persuasion. Journal of Consumer Research, Volume 50, Issue 3, October 2023
