Database Highlight #47: We've got the Consumer Review for That
Ready for summer? Need a grill? A boat? Maybe a new car? Do yourself a favor and do some research before making a ‘big ticket’ investment. Consumer Reports is the most trusted authority on consumer product reviews. Their reviews are thorough and easy to understand. They often rank products to help consumers make an informed decision.
Doing research takes time. Choosing the wrong product wastes money. Provide trusted information for making the smart choice. Enable thorough product comparisons with Consumer Reports' (CR) comprehensive archive of expert, unbiased product reviews. – from the vendor
Though it may not have the breadth and history of Consumer Reports, this week’s open site, the Wirecutter, is a favorite place for popular consumer products. With each review, they cover their top pick for a category, along with budget picks and alternate choices. The reviews are quick and to the point, so you won’t waste any time. They are especially good at reviewing tech.
Action Steps
- Using Consumer Reports (note: you will need to click through to Consumer Reports from the Ebscohost landing page), research a product you’re interested in purchasing – did you find enough information to make an informed decision?
- Using Consumer Reports, explore some of the extra features like quizzes and the car recall search.
- Anecdotal evidence suggests seniors often consult Consumer Reports magazine. For the times when the magazine isn’t on the shelf or you’re helping a customer at the desk/on the phone, you’ll need to know how to print an article. Find a product review and/or product rating and try printing. List any difficulties you had, and you think others might want to know about, in the comments. (pro-tip: if you are wanting to email content to a customer but the email option isn't available, print to PDF. This will created a PDF version of the print view which you can save and email.)
Metro tote bags for all commenters!
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Comments
* I chose mattresses. I feel like there's a lot of useful information that I could use. I really appreciated the videos that they have about how to test the mattresses, how to refresh one, etc... I didn't know this database offered that.
* Is there an easy way to find the car recalls and the quizes? We could only search by those terms. Is there a way to just go straight to them?
* I wish the product reviews/ratings had a print button like the news articles and quizes do.
I'm glad you mentioned the in-depth product reviews (which are great and you won't in the print version) and the lack of a print button for these (not so great).
The only workaround I can see is copy and pasting the information into Word. Does anyone else have any other ideas/tricks to make that work?
The car recalls and featured quizzes are on the right hand side under Welcome Back.
I've been thinking about changing my car insurance, so I was interested to see how they compared. My current insurance only rated a Very Good - as opposed to an Excellent. That was interesting, but I don't know how I feel about that!
I liked that it did have a print button, so I could do that easily. It did have an overview and tips section on how to get the right insurance policy. For example, Shop Around every 2 -3 years, Set the Deductible Right, and Watch Crash Repairs Closely.
I do have customers who come in and want this kind of information, and most people feel they get the best answers from Consumer Reports. Good database to have!