{"id":10,"date":"2011-09-12T12:36:11","date_gmt":"2011-09-12T19:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bowsermultimediaproductions.com\/blog\/?p=10"},"modified":"2011-10-01T11:32:31","modified_gmt":"2011-10-01T18:32:31","slug":"you-need-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bowsermultimediaproductions.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/12\/you-need-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"You Need Reviews!"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to a recent survey<\/a>, consumers are looking for business reviews. When Eastvale residents were asked what they look for when looking for a business to meet their needs, over 25% of the votes were for customer reviews. Consumers want to read reviews to help them decide if you provide quality product, excellent value, and whether or not they can trust you.<\/p>\n

Customer reviews tell people who are unfamiliar with you and your business that there\u2019s something to like, even a lot to like, about you and your company. I can tell you how great I am at doing anything, but until several people are saying the same things, what I say about myself is pretty meaningless. When you have customers telling about their experiences with your company however, you have a priceless resource. Reviews posted in a public format, unaltered by the business owner, are also a valuable resource for the consumer. By nurturing honest feedback, especially in a public forum, not only can you discover areas that need improving, you also generate a sense of trust with consumers as you strive to increase and maintain a high level of satisfaction with your customers. Consumers also acknowledge and respect your transparency as they begin to believe in your integrity.<\/p>\n

It may seem like a no-brainer. After all, it\u2019s one of the main reasons every employer, perhaps yourself included, asks potential employees for personal references. Businesses want to know what other people say about a potential new hire. Consumers are no different. How many of us plan vacations without reading about the hotel we\u2019re considering to stay at? Yet, many businesses don\u2019t share any feedback from their customers. Most reviews or quotes from customers are limited to a few selected examples published within carefully crafted ad campaigns. These types of customer statements have an extremely limited value. One question usually comes to mind immediately when customer reviews aren\u2019t found, or what reviews or quotes that are found are hand selected, \u201cWhat are you afraid of sharing?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do I publish reviews from my customers?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are a myriad of different ways you can use your reviews to your benefit. The emails and letters you receive can be mounted on your office or lobby walls (frames, not thumbtacks, are always a good idea!). You can print reviews on your printed ads. You can code them into your websites. You can even put them on your business cards. The limit is truly your imagination.<\/p>\n

Before you share people\u2019s opinions about your company, it\u2019s probably a good idea to ask first. It may not be legally necessary, but it certainly is a courteous thing to do. It also helps you build trust with your customers, as they feel respected and valued. Contacting the customer also gives you another chance to have contact with your customers, and that\u2019s never a bad thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not getting reviews\u201d, or \u201cpeople are only giving me negative feedback.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are several easy ways to gain customer reviews. Usually simply asking for them is the easiest. Using customer comment cards, adding a comments section to your website, or creating a Facebook\u00ae page are all fairly easy ways to solicit comments from your customers. Google, Yahoo and MapQuest all have a feature within their mapping applications to allow customer review posting, along with sites such as Yelp.<\/p>\n

It may seem scary to allow consumers to publicly review your company without any way of editing or censoring comments. Remember, people are talking about you anyway. Honest feedback will always serve you best no matter if it\u2019s positive or negative feedback; your friends and family will most likely always give you raving reviews. This type of feedback does very little in helping you uncover areas that demand your attention. Having reviews from the public, without editing or censoring, is also a great way to build a sense of honesty within your company that consumers are looking to find.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re only getting negative feedback from your customers, it\u2019s time to take those comments to heart and start changing things! If you\u2019re getting great reviews, keep up the hard work. There\u2019s nothing better in business than a great company making happy customers.<\/p>\n

Additional Reading:
\nKnow. Like. Trust.<\/a> by Drew McLellan
\nTrust takes time and effort to build<\/a> by LEADS Explorer
\nConsumers Want Transparent, Honest, Socially Responsible Brands<\/a> by Susan Gunelius
\n2010 \u2013 The Year of Brand Transparency, Honesty and Trust<\/a> by Susan Gunelius
\nWhat Consumers Want: Transparency and Reality<\/a> by Noelle Weaver<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to a recent survey, consumers are looking for business reviews. When Eastvale residents were asked what they look for when looking for a business to meet their needs, over 25% of the votes were for customer reviews. Consumers want to read reviews to help them decide if you provide quality product, excellent value, and … Continue reading »<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[15,12,11,14,10,13],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-web","tag-business-transparency","tag-customer-feedback","tag-customer-service","tag-feedback","tag-internet-marketing","tag-reviews"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bowsermultimediaproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bowsermultimediaproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bowsermultimediaproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bowsermultimediaproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bowsermultimediaproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.bowsermultimediaproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40,"href":"http:\/\/www.bowsermultimediaproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bowsermultimediaproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bowsermultimediaproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bowsermultimediaproductions.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}