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Online Reviews

If you are in the business of selling a product or providing a service, the last thing you need is a blistering online review from a dissatisfied customer, especially as research suggests that more than 80% of us trust online reviews as much as a friend’s a word of mouth recommendation.

There are companies specialising in cleaning up your online image and at least one UK school has required parents to sign up to a no slagging off the establishment policy if you want your child to get a place.

More than half of British adults, around 25 million, use online review websites like, TripAdvisor, Expedia and Amazon.  But are reviews, good, bad, or ugly, a decent basis for making a decision, especially on something important or costly?  How do we know the glowing account hasn’t been posted by a company insider or a hostile report hasn’t come from someone who majors in hostility and would find fault with perfection?

This is something causing concern worldwide and many countries are now taking action on misleading glowing online endorsements, thanks to businesses posting fake reviews to improve their image.

Consumer protection agencies are taking action, preventing businesses using fake online reviews posted by its employees, and trying to block guests who might leave negative reviews on TripAdvisor from receiving the email inviting feedback.

The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is joining an international social media campaign to stop deceptive reviews. And in the UK, recent cases include demanding a retailer disclose unfavourable reviews so that customers get the complete picture, and requiring a marketing firm to clearly identify when reviews posted online by social media celebrities are, in fact, advertising.

Airbnb has also had to change its review system allowing guests to more easily leave feedback if they cut short their stay because they’re not enjoying a property.

But while clean-up companies offer to help remove offending content from major websites or remove the links from major search engines or push the links further down the search engine results, it seems the good old fashioned personal response works best.

Responding to a customer’s concerns not also puts the offended company in a better light but it also makes customers who leave negative reviews feel valued.

And a good helping of humour is a sure route to success in getting customers on side.

As one Tweet told Sainsbury’s

I tried to buy some battered fish from @sainsburys but it didn’t have a bar cod!

And they tweeted

Were there no other packs in the plaice, or was that the sole one on the shelf? Floundering for an explanation!

Now that’s pure genius…

DC


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Daniel Church




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