While Web marketers have long been tracking the growing
influence of online consumer reviews,
a study
released in June from Opinion Research reveals the impact
of these reviews has reached a tipping point.
The study
found 83% of online shoppers said the evaluations and
reviews they find on the Web are now influencing their
purchasing decisions. Another 32% said they had posted feedback
or a review of a product or service online.
"It's nearly impossible to escape being evaluatedthere's
nowhere to hide," says Linda Shea, a senior vice president at
Opinion Research. "Even a single negative review posted in a
very public forum can have a significant impact on a
prospective buyer's decision."
Besides numerous blogs, there are many independent consumer
review sites rating the petfood industry. You'll find thousands
of reviews of petfood products on sites such as:
Online retailers, including
Petco
and
Dog-Foods.org
, now include reviews along with product descriptions.
Manufacturers like
ProPac
and
Old Mother Hubbard
are also getting in on the act.
Interestingly, some review site pioneers-heavyweight online
retailers Amazon, eMusic and eBay-have decided to embrace
reviews on their sites that are both positive and negative.
These companies buy into the "brave new Web" theory that a
company demonstrating complete transparency earns the greatest
respectand most repeat businessfrom today's sophisticated
online shoppers. Other sites seem convinced that by posting
only glowing reviews, they'll be able to look trendy while
bringing in more business.
Plenty of service providers specialize in the online review
space to help companies build and manage online review domains
or bring in turn-key systems that can be managed in-house.
"Blogs, discussion boards and other forms of interactive
media are the most cost-effective customer feedback mechanism
ever invented," says Paul Gillin, author of
The New Influencers: A Marketer's Guide to the New Social
Media
.
Generally, these online review communities fall into three
categories:
- Social hang-outs (think
MySpace
or
Facebook
), which offer a review domain component;
- Completely private, invitation-only sites; and
- Communities that exist solely to solicit reviews from
extremely happy customers.
Most popular are communities borrowing from the
MySpace
and
Facebook
model. Web marketers say you'll only be able to achieve
that look and feel by offering a full array of community
fostering features, including discussion boards, chatrooms,
instant messaging, blogs, photo, audio and video posting.
You'll also want to jump-start the community's nerve
center-the discussion board-by posting commentary on a dozen or
so topics, then encouraging visitors to offer reactions and
opinions to the discussions you've started.
Providers specializing in MySpace-type communities
include
Affinitive
,
Webcrossing
and
Capable Networks
.
Communispace
, an online community service provider that specializes in
designing and helping companies run private meeting places, can
help you build an invitation-only review site. While these are
generally much smaller than public sites, many firms have
discovered a big pay-off when they choose who will belong to
their review community.
Some of the biggest names in business-including Dell,
Macy's, Sears, Charles Schwab and PepsiCo-have sites that limit
all review activity to public evaluation of the company's
products and services. Many of these communities are driven by
highly sophisticated review software packages, which walk
visitors through every step of the process and encourage them
to expound.
No matter which type of review community appeals to you,
such gathering places will likely continue to appear. "Expect
at least one-quarter of the
Fortune
100 to announce online communities," says Brad Bortner,
co-author of
Top Market Researcher Predictions for 2008
from Forrester.
Consider setting up your own review community. One of
the leading service providers,
Bazaarvoice
, builds review communities and urges transparency. Its
"Ratings & Reviews" module is designed to solicit
unvarnished reviews that are published on your website,
subject to your approval.
If you're skittish about publishing bad reviews of your
products on your own site, you may be more interested in a
solution like
Genuosity's
Kudos-Works
or
Zuberance
. They solicit glowing testimonials from extremely
enthusiastic customers.
If you're not ready for any of these choices, business
and financial experts advise you to still monitor what's
being said about your products online. Service providers to
evaluate include:
Joe Dysart is a speaker and business consultant in New York City, New York, USA, www.joedysart.com.