Online Dialogue partner and strategist Maurice Beerthuyzen has for Trimmed.com wrote an article on the do's and dont's around customer reviews.

Misset Hospitality recently did a survey of online reviews of restaurant and hotel sites. According to Misset, “there is so much nonsense on these sites that it would be better to shut them down.” In addition, Emerce reported last week that restaurant site Iens.nl now wants to test the reliability of reviewers more closely. It's rumbling in the world of ratings and reviews. In this article some do's and dont's around customer reviews.

Ratings and reviews are now well established on the Internet. And there is good reason for that. Back in 2009, Forrester studied the impact of ratings and reviews. Even then, half of men said they read reviews. Those numbers will only have increased now.

Don't do it again

First, let's mention three things that, in terms of reviews, we should mostly leave out:

Anonymous comments on the site really can't be done anymore

Almost all newspapers are still doing it. A short sign-up process allows you to comment. Well, not a review, but a comment. Often anonymous, and thus crudely worded, as for example on www.telegraaf.nl.

Stop using testimonials

You know the ones: testimonials perfectly edited by text agencies where often nonexistent customers sing the praises of this fine company's amazing products. Who believes it anymore? No one. Especially when at a website down the road the customer reviews look completely different.

Leave customer responses to third parties?

I immediately admit, it's worth a discussion, but why collect customer reviews yourself? Leave it to the Zoovers, Iensen and Tripadvisors of this world. With customer reviews on your own website, customers often think it's rigged anyway. Possibly you can show customer reviews from ‘collection sites’ like Zoover on your website. This already happens regularly in the travel industry, for example.

But what then?

A few things you do need to take care of if you want to get started with customer experiences.

The application process should be easy

Yes logical right? But in my tour of the various review sites, I came across a lot of areas for improvement. Especially at Zoover, the login process faltered (for specific examples, see the attached presentation on Slideshare).

Ask for clear feedback

Judging a product with one review is difficult. As a customer, you want to express your opinion about the purchase process, the quality of the product, the service provided, perhaps the manual? Depending on your product, you can ask very specifically for customer comments. A website like Amazon.com still asks for the traditional five stars. But what do you give five stars for? The quality of the product? The smooth sales process or the affordable price.

Actively ask for reviews

Funnily enough, we often ask for an opinion when purchasing a product. But the customer hasn't formed his opinion by then. And how often does a customer return to your site later? And how inclined is he then to leave a review? A customer has a user experience at some point. Challenge the customer to share that experience.

Entice customer to review without ‘bag on his head’

Iens.nl has now updated its site on several aspects to increase reliability. For example, you can now also rate the reviewer/reviewer. A good thing. But almost all customers at Iens are still anonymous. Even when I signed up via Facebook, my account name was Maurice9. Why wasn't my full name used? Now I am made anonymous by note Iens. And anonymity creates more black and white reactions.

Reward customers who complete their profiles fully and transparently

Customers who are complete? Discount on the product.
Entered your real name? You'll get a nice offer as a reward.

Customers are now not encouraged in any way to fill out their profile. Another option is to copy some of the fields from the customer's Facebook profile. Without effort, and with a simple check mark for permission, the customer then fills out their profile.

Ensure that product or service owners can respond to complaints or other comments

Well, and then that complaint is there. What do you do with it? I imagine many companies want to respond. But how? Most sites are open to product reviews, but not supplier responses. That's a shame. Let a restaturant, hotel or author respond to the criticism. That way you get a real dialogue, with which a business can influence or make up for its mistake.

Remember, there are many other environments where customers share their experiences.

Think Facebook, Twitter, forums and specific complaint sites. A review site gives an impression, but there are many more opinions being expressed around you. Include those comments as well.

Presentation

In the slideshare below, some examples of how it can be done, but also of how not to do it. The striking thing is that rating and review sites like Iens and Zoover don't always have things in order either. While flawless reviews are their core business. Tripadvisor is the best on the way. If you log in via Facebook, comments from friends in your network are shown.

Originally published August 22, 2012 at Trimmed.com