Sez You!

The persuasive value of personal experiences can’t be overestimated, particularly since the advent of the internet.  Prior to that, people still complained, but it was usually done in fairly short-lived ways, like letters to the editor or a call to the local radio station.  Even word-of-mouth was pretty much limited to people you knew.

That was then, and this is now.  Not only can people post their experience in a wide variety of online locations today, but their submissions are readily searchable and can linger out there for years.  You can look up a product, service, or company, and within seconds be reading a twelve year old complaint from someone in Greenland. 

So what can you do about it?  You can’t stop people from searching online.   Short of perfecting your offering so that no one ever complains (not a bad goal, but hard to deliver against), your best defense is to significantly outweigh the occasional bad review with testimonials.  When people see a dozen testimonials for each bad review, you won’t have a problem. 

tes·ti·mo·ni·al/ˌtestəˈmōnēəl/

Noun:

A formal statement testifying to someone's character and qualifications. A public tribute to someone and to their achievements.

Few marketers take active steps to protect their online reputation.  Here are three steps to get started: 

1) Monitor what people are saying about you.  Search your company/product/service name online on a regular (preferably daily) basis.

2) Work at providing a good customer experience.  When people complain, take immediate steps to eliminate the cause of the complaint—then tell the complainer what you’ve done.

3) Make it easy for people to post testimonials. A bad experience provides its own incentive to “vent.”  Customers have to be encouraged to take the trouble to post testimonials.  Ask every customer if they’d write one.  Tell them how and where to do it!  Provide links to online review sites (particularly ones where complaints about you reside).  It is a good investment to reward people with a discount or gift card for posting comments (you can always suspend or discontinue the reward once your “inventory” of testimonials reaches the desired size).

One other thought:  Feature testimonials prominently on your website. Solicit them directly or copy them from online review sites.  Ideally, rotate them through a space on your homepage.  People are much more likely to believe good things about you when they’re said by someone who isn’t drawing a paycheck from your company!