Buywise.com is an independent, professional, usability-based testing organization empowering consumers so they can shop smart!

Here’s a quick overview of how we create our quality, professional, and trustworthy reviews.

Product Categories

We start each product category evaluation by defining some baseline parameters:

• Define the range of “users”, that is who the customers are.
• Create a list of intended usees of the product or service, and other ways are people using the product or service in the real world (not an artificial lab setup).
• Test the products in the real world and see how they perform against quality, usability, and performance standards.

Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation criteria is different for every product type. But, the overall categories include:

• Human Factors. Evaluates how the product was designed to “fit” the human. This encompasses both physiology, psychology. A sample source is The Measure of Man and Woman, first published in 1959.
• Standards and Safety. We check to determine if the product has applicable certifications. For example, do children’s products have ASTM certification(s). Is it designed to promote safety?
• Out of box experience. We test how easy is the product is to assemble, setup, and configure.
• Performance. We verify the service or product works in our list of real-world use cases.
• Features and Innovation. We check that the basic functionality works. We add points when it has innovative features or is better than the competition.
• Customer Service. Sometimes we call. We determine if the staff is friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. We evaluate the return policy too.
• Green or Recyclable. We measure excessive packaging, material usage, recyclability, and if a return to recycle program exists.
• Value. We look at the average nominal price for a product versus competitive products.

We use a data capturing tool to evaluate each product against the evaluation criteria, assign a score, weight the product, and then the tool recommends a final score for each product.

» See related: Ratings