A Word To The Wize

I recently had an opportunity to speak with Tom Patterson, CEO of Wize, an online shopping and product rating site. My first reaction to reviewing Wize was one of deja vu. After all, I just reviewed TestFreaks (more splog than shopping information destination) and Snoopr just a few short days ago.

This being the shopping holiday season, shopping sites both new and old are pulling out all the stops to bring in new users. With all of the hype and hyperbole going on, it's hard to know what sites will help consumers the most. Wize is taking that problem and using it to try and set itself apart from the pack by offering products according to quality rating.

The theory is that by sorting products according to a rating system based on quality, then offering snippets of reviews found on other sites, a comment section for its users, and a branding and linking system with online shopping sites, Wize will make the online shopping experience more streamlined. They are hoping to be your resource for finding quality products online.

Instead of offering everything for sale on the web as part of their site, Patterson has a clear vision of offering only the best products.  That means that right now they have over 100,000 products listed, and over 5 million reviews of these products. This prompted me to mention the issue of splogging, and ask if Wize had made arrangements with the sites they aggregate content from. 

Patterson informed me that they did indeed take steps to prevent splogging. Their site aggregator has algorithms to help weed out spam as the first line of defense against bad content, followed by only taking a small snippet of the review for use on Wize. The user is then directed to the site where the review came from to read the rest of the review. Because they send traffic back to each site they aggregate from, the originating content sites get the traffic and the sale, making everyone happy.

When asked about future goals for Wize, Patterson, a VC veteran from Mayfield Fund, was only too happy to discuss his plans.  He said they will be adding new features, like searchable product comments and more social interaction, as time goes on. He also mentioned that their vision was to bring confidence back to consumer online shopping with their rating system, WizeRank, eventually assuming the role a good salesperson would play in a store: knowledge and direction.

Wize offers a streamlined look and experience, and the chance to participate in the process by leaving comments on products. These comments function as mini reviews to supplement the aggregated reviews, and will be searchable at some point. Right now, the aggregated content of the reviews is searchable in several ways on Wize, including by keyword.  Currently, Wize has few social features, but that is slated to change in the future.

Wize also offers widgets for your blog that tie in to your existing LinkShare account. These widgets direct traffic back to Wize and offer a chance to generate a bit of revenue share income for your blog in the process. Patterson assures me they have written the scripts for the widgets with web traffic in mind, keeping them streamlined so they won't bog down your bandwidth, though I did not get the chance to try a widget for myself.

Looking back at TestFreaks and Snoopr in comparison to Wize, the concept behind Wize is much closer to that of TestFreaks, though Wize has the better execution. Unlike TestFreaks, Wize offers users the confidence that they are open with their content providers and taking measures to avoid the issues of splogging and traffic. Wize falls a bit short of Snoopr in the social aspects of their site. At the moment, if a social shopping and product review experience is what you are looking for, Snoopr offers the best interface. If you want a product review site to help you shop that offers a concise, easy to understand rating system and no social distractions, then Wize is the one for you.