Wait, Why Did I Really Buy This?

As I, as a college student, have learned, having a reusable water bottle is an essential of survival in your early 20's. Not only is it for convenience, but it is also the most cost effective way to stay hydrated. 

So, this being said, last week my water bottle of three years finally bit the dust. Thinking that I would just go quickly buy a new one, I headed down to REI. It wasn't until I entered the water bottle section that I realized this purchasing decision was going to be harder than I thought. In order to try and educate myself before making the tough decision, I started googling what each different product offered. As I was looking through my searches, I noticed that Hydro Flask had several five star ratings. Each of the ratings noted the thermal features of the water bottle and how impressively they worked. So, of course, I made the executive decision to listen to random strangers reviews and buy a $45.00 water bottle.

After buying the water bottle I began to wonder about how I was so easily swayed to purchase a product by random opinions of people that I didn't even know. This thought led to me ponder if I had fallen victim to the herding heuristic, discussed within the book Nudge, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sustein. If this was the case, it would indicate that I chose the Hydro Flask over the numerous other water bottles because I subconsciously felt that I needed it to share the opinions of the reviews I had read. After thinking about this my whole drive home from REI, I realized that there was a significant chance that, without reading those reviews, I would have chosen a different water bottle. 

The realization I've had from this shopping experience has allowed me to see the influences others can have on consumers', such as myself's, buying behaviors. I still am currently in shock that I fell into this heuristic without even being aware of it! All in all, this has showed me that product reviews, whether on a company's website or on a random blog, can sway other consumers' purchasing decisions vastly.