A Little Knowledge...

A recent survey by the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller has revealed that customers are becoming more and more distrustful of on-line reviews of products and companies. Much of this distrust has come from reports of companies finding "creative" ways to skew reviews in their favor. Given the fact that anybody with internet access has the ability to rate a product or business, and that there is no standard for such ratings or the manner in which they're conducted, it's only natural that a potentially useful tool would become corrupted.

The challenge, however, is not to police opinions or establish standards for online reviews, but for businesses to learn what's being said about them and/or the products they sell. A little misinformation can go a long way toward damaging sales and, even worse, a reputation. How many times have you had a customer say "I heard on the internet that this [product] was..." or "Isn't this the place that..." and then espouse some erroneous fact they had encountered? How many customers have not bought a product because that misinformation was lurking in their mind, but they didn't express it?

Take some time every week to hop online and seek out the reviews for your products, brands, or (if you're brave enough) your store. Find out what people are telling others. Hopefully, it's good. If you encounter negative or misleading information, fight your desire to become defensive online. If you must reply, remember that everyone who reads your words is a potential customer. Better still, use your new-found information to better understand your customers' expectations when they enter the store.