How Can a Small Business Profit From Customer Reviews?

Word-of-mouth marketing has changed completely for the small, local business. In the past, if someone had a bad experience, it may only reach a few of their friends. In today's world, with the ease of online review sites, social media, and blogging, a poor customer experience can reach hundreds or even thousands of people. This revolution has caught many owners off guard and they are scrambling to figure out how to manage and improve their online reputation. Many are hoping that Yelp will fail and online reviews will go away, but with Yelp's recent influx of $100 million in capital, they are going to double in size. Furthermore, AT&T will be launching a new review site, buzz.com. Customer content is exploding even more as the penetration of mobile devices makes it very easy to rave or rant at the moment it happens. Customers are posting about their experience before they even get the check! Here's a great example:

I don't know how I feel about paying $3.50 for a plain crepe. That's right. ONE. PLAIN. CREPE. $3.50!?! Anyways, I'm here right now waiting for my two crepes, starving and kind of still thinking that I paid too much for a crepe. It better be really really good. Waiting. Still waiting and there's only two other people here. Hungry. Eating. I'm not exactly impressed or satisfied right now. I should have just gone down the street to Osha and gotten real food. I got one plain crepe and a turkey and cheese crepe. Nothing special about them at all. What a waste. I'm going to cry one tear for my unsatisfied agony right now.

(Additional information: small restaurant with about 5 tables, in a decent neighborhood with an American Apparel across the street, has gelato, and accepts Visa and MC.)

The impact of reviews is very broad as well. 84% of Americans say online customer evaluations have an influence on their decision to purchase a product or service. (Opinion Research Corporation, 2009). You can no longer avoid monitoring these reviews. In addition, if you're business only has a few reviews, even if they are all positive, you are at an extreme risk. Just one bad review (1 star) can have an immediate impact on your overall rating and reputation. Therefore, you should work on a company or store wide campaign to generate reviews. There are a few other great reasons why reviews can benefit you:

What many business owners don't realize is that reviews have shown to actually increase profits and drive new business. Businesses with great reviews and online reputations use this as a competitive advantage over others in their area. Consumer research from the Kelsey Group reported, "Consumers are willing to pay at least 20% more for offline services that received an "Excellent" or 5-star rating than for the same service when it received a "Good" or 4-star rating, the study found. More importantly, merchants are seeing the effect on their bottom line. Of the 30 percent of small business retailers who had integrated product reviews into their Web sites, 43 percent said reviews had resulted in more sales, while 28 percent indicated reviews had resulted in more traffic. (Ratepoint, Nov 2009).

In addition, positive reviews can also help drive profits through search engine optimization and may impact your rankings on local search and general search results. For local search and mapping sites from Google, Bing, and Yahoo, the search are aggregating reviews from many sites and use both quantity and quality (overall rating) in their ranking algorithms. It helps to get great reviews across many different sites as well. For sites like Yelp and Citysearch, review quality and quantity are very strong influences on determining rankings. Reviews can even benefit you on general search engine rankings. The more review sites that have content about your business (and links to your site), the more this provides validation and "trust" from the search engine's perspective.

Review management is vital for success for local businesses. The chatmeter is designed to help you manage and monitor your reviews and save time from visiting over all these sites looking for your reviews.

Customer Service - The Little Things Count

"It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important."
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), British novelist and author of the Sherlock Holmes series

The smallest little things we do in our business can mean the difference between positive and negative buzz.

On a recent trip to the mall, I stopped for a frozen yogurt snack at a TCBY stand. When I asked for a cup of tap water to accompany my yogurt, the counter person said, "I'll have to charge you 25 cents for the water." When I did a double-take, she said with a look of embarrassment, "Oh, I'm so sorry that I have to charge for water...but that's what the owner wants."

I've always loved TCBY frozen yogurt, but this left a bitter taste in my mouth. I couldn't stop thinking that a paper cup of tap water must cost only a few pennies. The profit margin on a cup of frozen yogurt is surely generous, so why would a business owner charge for tap water?

Of course, I Do not pay for water to drink and instead went to the nearest fountain. I will never go back, that TCBY is ridiculous because its policy of water status. I would also advise the business ever. In fact, I have become a source of negative entries.

As businessmen, we spend a lot to gain resources and customers like. And 'comforting to think that happy customers tell their friends to our company if we excel in providing products or services. However, to createpositive buzz, we must find ways to go beyond the ordinary.

In contrast, there is a shop in Portland, Oregon called Mio Gelato. They make gelato that rivals some of the best that I've tried in Italy, and their counter people are friendly and gladly offer as many free samples as you want. It is the attention to details that makes Mio Gelato stand apart from the competition.

The display cases are beautiful, and each gelato flavor is artfully displayed a key ingredient of the case as a fresh fish or a coffee bean. The bathrooms are tastefully decorated and immaculate. And unlike TCBY, you do not ask for water. Instead, there's a big glass pitcher of ice water on the counter and a series of tall glasses next to it. And of course there are fees for water.

As another example, one of our customers in Portland Chromatix Paints offers an innovative array of color and of high qualityarchitectural finishes. Chromatix is competing against paint businesses that have been around for over a century. To offer great paint is not enough. Rather, Chromatix stands apart from other stores when it comes to customer service.

When you walk into the Chromatix showroom, you see an espresso bar that rivals the best that you'll find in any coffee shop. Instead of being asked what paint you want, you are asked whether you'd like an espresso, latte, or mocha. Then, as you leisurely sip Your coffee, you have the opportunity to work with friendly staff and competent to talk about your project. You feel like you have a conversation with a neighbor over the fence are back, instead of talking about a seller.

Clearly, in this highly competitive age, we must ensure that our products and services are as good as or better than the competition. But, to generate positive buzz around, we have the customer a reason to talk positively about our company.

Think of the companyoutside your industry that you admire. What they do to their clients WoW? Can you emulate their tactics? What can you do, your customers want from you buzz?