Reviews With Swears Are More Persuasive

Based on 300,000 customer reviews, profanity is damn persuasive: Reviews with profanity received more helpful votes (Lafreniere, Moore, & Fisher, 2022).

Why?

• Stronger Meaning. Damn communicates more intensity than very.
• Reviewer is Passionate. Taboo words are socially risky, so the reviewer seems more passionate about their feelings by taking this risk.

Practical ideas:

1. Allow Profanity

Some websites (e.g., Amazon, TripAdvisor) don’t allow profanity, but research shows that it could be helpful.

2. Tell Users If You Censor Reviews

Otherwise, they might believe that a censored statement (e.g., d*mn) was written by the reviewer, which weakens the emotion.

3. Censor With Multiple Asterisks

If you need to censor, use multiple asterisks (e.g., holy s***) to grab more attention than a single asterisk (e.g., holy sh*t).

• Lafreniere, K. C., Moore, S. G., & Fisher, R. J. (2022). The power of profanity: The meaning and impact of swear words in word of mouth. Journal of Marketing Research, 59(5), 908-925.