Consumers may enjoy reading funny or sarcastic online product reviews, but does it influence what they buy?

That’s the question my colleagues Susan Mudambi, David Schuff, Ermira Zifla and I wanted to answer with our new research into “pseudo-reviews.” By that, I don’t mean fake reviews that are designed to mislead consumers. Rather, pseudo-reviews, which could be written by anyone, are typically intended to amuse or wink at the reader, often while saying something genuine about the product.

We found that the answer to the question is yes – but not in an entirely straightforward way. The whimsical nature of these reviews engages consumers, making them more interested in the product. A real-life example of this was in 2009, when thousands of reviews appeared on Amazon.com for a T-shirt featuring an image of three wolves howling at the Moon. The reviews, humorous, over the top and obviously made up, went viral, and the shirt became a bestselling item in Amazon’s apparel line.

But we determined that humorous reviews also make consumers more uncertain about whether the product is suitable for them, which makes them less likely to want to buy it.

We reached our conclusions after conducting two separate online experiments in which we asked about 450 participants to read a series of product reviews based on actual reviews from Amazon. Some were genuine, but others were tweaked to sound funny or sarcastic, with positive and negative examples of each. Afterward, we asked about levels of amusement, uncertainty about the product and how likely the participants were to purchase the product.

We found that a humorous review increases the feeling of amusement in a shopper and could make them more likely to purchase a product than if they had read a genuine and more serious review. We also found that a funny review can have the opposite effect by increasing consumer uncertainty, such as when the product is a complex item such as a flat-screen TV.

In other words, it’s likely that pseudo-reviews can increase sales in certain types of situations, such as buying on impulse, by enhancing amusement. But it can hurt sales when a product requires more detailed evaluation, and the funny reviews confuse rather than inform would-be buyers.

Sunil Wattal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.