Any good online shopper knows that no purchase is warranted before tearing the Internet apart for user reviews, comments, tweets, and anything else that might give you a feel for what said product is actually packing.

I’m especially skeptical – to the point that I end up lost in a sea of Firefox tabs that yea or nay the new thing I’m trying to buy. Lucky for me, and all you other lemon-sniffing content hounds, I’ve got good news.

I had a chat with Co-founder of SmartSymbols, Stas Antons, and his startup has created a platform that takes heaps of product content, and conveniently aggregates it in one small user-friendly space.  Now you can get all your research done without browser overload.

As Antons said, “In today’s world, shopping online, it’s hard to figure out what you’re actually buying.” SmartSymbols solves this problem by allowing manufacturers to compile product stats like reviews, photo albums, news, social media, and more in their patented ‘symbol sets.’ These symbol sets can be dropped into just about any web property and are most popular on e-commerce sites. The action of the system is twofold: it allows marketers to present potential buyers with third party product research, and also provides valuable analytics that pinpoint which information is most effective.

It’s all based on ‘permission marketing’ a relatively new concept that shifts advertisement away from ‘interruption marketing’ like TV ads, toward a place where consumers only get product information if they first exhibit interest.

Founded in 2008, SmartSymbols has just hit the two year mark. They started by releasing free versions of their software, and dropped a commercial version this past fall.

So how exactly does this work?

Instead of trying to explain it I’ll just hit you with an example of SmartSymbols in action. The graphic below is an example of a ‘symbol set’ put together by cancer survivor, Jothy Rosenberg, to promote his new book (his story is actually real legit if you want to check it out.)

As you can see all the content gets laid out nicely with just a simple mouse-over to unleash a wave of friendly product content.

While SmartSymbols has the potential to provide a nearly limitless amount of information about a product, shoppers should keep in mind that this info is biased since it’s chosen by the company with the SmartSymbols account.

It may just be me with this issue, but as a skeptical online shoper, I make it a point to check out the best consumer reviews, but even more important are the worst reviews. I want to see what the most critical, whiny, digital mud-slingers have to say about this thing. If the most they can come up with is something frivolous like color, or if criticisms are unfounded, then I know whatever I’m shopping for must be pretty good.

So skeptics may be left with some work scouring the interwebs for content symbol creators didn’t want you to find. That being said, I agreed with Stas’ point that “manufacturers are learning that they need to be trusted.” If some head of marketing tries to dress a lemon up with a platform like SmartSymbols, you can be sure it will be discovered, and an ugly consumer backlash would ensue. In addition, SmartSymbols allows opportunities for manufacturers to feature and address problems users are finding amongst user reviews and in social media circles.

There’s no doubt that SmartSymbols adds a lot of great value to web marketers and consumers alike. The sales team gets to cram all of the positive content about your product in one easy-to-digest place, complete with a “buy” button for instant conversion. For the consumer, SmartSymbols promotes permission marketing (fewer pop-up ads), and provides a great way to see all of your five-star reviews and a ton of other helpful content. As for me, I’m still going to have to go find my hater reviews to maintain some balance, if you’re a consumer just looking to learn about the positives of a product you’re considering, you’ll have all the information you need with SmartSymbols.