Reviews - Making (or breaking) Small Business Success

Posted by: Guest Author

As the chief marketer for a small business that depends upon the internet to reach my company's prospective customers - both for awareness creation and lead generation - online review sites can be my best...or worst friend.

Many people really don't understand that almost all review sites rely upon vendor advertising for revenue generation. What's important to be aware of, whether you're a consumer evaluating a restaurant option or a business owner evaluating VoIP providers, is that there are vendors out there who try to be fair and objective and others who operate on a "pay for play" basis (in simple language, the more you pay, the better your reviews will be). How do you determine the objectivity of a review site?

Yelp has been in the news a lot with regards to this issue. This week, in response to numerous customer complaints and a recent class action lawsuit, Yelp has announced changes to address concerns that businesses advertising with them receive favorable treatment. You can read a summary of the article here. Claire Cain Miller said the following in a March 2, 2009 article in the New York Times,

"Many businesses are irked because they feel Yelp is not transparent about why certain reviews show up on their pages and others do not. Some of the confusion came from the fact that advertisers, who pay $300 to $1,000 a month, have been allowed to choose one review that shows up at the top of their profile page. Yelp's spam filter also scans for suspicious reviews, like those that could have been written by a competitor or a business owner's friend or relative."

Considerations for you as an evaluator of a product or service:

1. Be smart...don't let one or two negative reviews sour you. Look at a company's reviews over time and don't be swayed by one or two unhappy companies. If someone experiences bad service at a restaurant or a company has a customer service issue due to an isolated problem, understand "stuff happens." Look at a business's performance over the long haul.
2. Ask to talk to references. If talking to existing customers is important for you, ask for a couple of references so you can get more information about a business. Live conversations with real customers will paint a good story.
3. Look closely at the review site. If the vendors with the top 2-3 positions on a rating site are advertised prominently on a review site, they're probably pouring a lot of money into the site and have more influence on what's posted and what's not. View these sites with a critical eye. You may even want to contact the review site to better understand how they operate.

Considerations for you as a business owner:

1. Monitor the conversations about your business:

• Google - This can be as simple as "Googling" your company name on a scheduled basis. When you do this, also include <Company Name> Reviews to see what others are saying. You can (and should) set up iGoogle to consolidate mentions of your company and/or service so you can respond quickly if necessary.
• TweetDeck - Manage conversations about your company with a Twitter client. I use TweetDeck currently and know others who use Seesmic as well.TweetDeck allows you to monitor Twitter and Facebook conversations on a real-time basis and respond effectively.
• Addictomatic - Addictomatic is a great tool that creates a comprehensive feed of all mentions of your brand across social, news, and video channels.

1. Be aware of the review sites that cover your industry. If you're in the service industry, there's a good chance people are talking about you on Yelp. I know that I've recommended Yelp to many of my entrepreneur friends as a tool to promote their business. If you are on Yelp, establish a schedule to monitor your online reputation and incorporate it into your marketing efforts.
2. Ask for positive reviews. In other words...when people compliment you or your business, ASK them to post a positive review!
3. Address negative reviews. If you screwed up, admit it. If you're concerned a negative review may have been posted by a competitor, address it.  If the statement is untrue, say so. If they point may have some truth to it, discuss  (without sounding defensive) how you corrected the issue brought up.
4. Use the reviews to your advantage - A good review on Yelp or TripAdvisor is a much more powerful sales tool than any marketing lingo, stock photo or ROI message. Consider pulling reviews from other sites into your website; even if they aren't always perfect. Transparency goes a long ways towards establishing credibility with your customers and prospects.