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Customer Reviews
June 24, 2008

My generation is comprised of internet-savvy consumers.  It only makes sense, then, that we use the internet to research the best places to buy products.  I use online consumer reviews to scope out restaurants and travel destinations.  I know that many of my customers have found our store via the internet and particularly through online review sources.  

As a retailer, I find it helpful to monitor the online reviews that are posted about my store.  Because of certain comments made online (that would otherwise not be made known to me, the retailer) I am able to monitor what is going on at each store location.  

A prime example is how one customer commented that we always had coupons available at one particular store.  I found out that they were preparing catalogs for distribution and that customers were just picking up coupons in the store at will.  I'm not a stingy person but the coupons the customers were grabbing were specifically designed to bring new customers into the store.  They were not intended for customers already within the store itself.  The catalog preparation was moved to a "safe" location and we're no longer suffering the damaging effects of discounting every purchase made.  

Another prime example is how two different customers on two different sites gave their reviews of two seperate sales clerks.  Both reviews were extremely positive and helped give the two afore mentioned employees a boost.  So few people in the world actually take time to give credit were it was due so it is quite refreshing when we see it happen.

There is, of course, the down side to customer reviews.  Consumers are far more likely to take the time to formulate a written complaint than they are to formulate a written compliment.  This just means we have to work harder for the compliments we do have.  As a consumer, I expect to see complaints for every business.  You just cannot please everyone all of the time.  You can try, though, and when you try, your online reviews will reflect your efforts.  

I encourage all of you business owners to check out sites like City Search, Lila Guide, and the Yellow Pages.  I'm sure many of you know of lots more sites with customer reviews.  Please, feel free to post those sites in the form of a comment below.  

Remember, even if you're not reading your store's reviews, other people are.

Posted by Kelly Nelson on June 24, 2008 | Comments (1)