Having comments and reviews on websites is all the rage. Why? Usually because everyone else is doing it. Site owners feel pressured to allow customers to add their feedback because of the popularity of sites like Yelp and the fact that large ecommerce sites like LLBean and Amazon have them. But if you’re not ready for feedback and not set up to monitor for feedback, adding rating and review functionality to your own site may cause headaches.
Disclaimer
People will comment on your product and services with or without your facilitation. If they can’t comment on your site, they’ll do it elsewhere. Monitoring for mentions of your company and products and respond constructively to any problems or criticism is important, not only for your reputation, but also for customer service (and future sales). If you’re not doing anything else online, at least monitor and respond to conversations about your company and products.
Be Honest
Some companies like to say they have ratings and reviews, and then moderate all the negative comments and scores. Here’s the problem: people know that there are going to be problems even with the greatest product ever. If things look too good to be true, they probably are. People are more likely to trust reviews that offer a mix of experiences with good response from the company.
Think this isn’t so? Just go look at any newly released book on Amazon. You’ll often see this super awesome review within minutes of the post that’s clearly from a PR firm. If it’s obvious on Amazon, it’s going to be obvious on your site too.
Be Ready
If you are going to add ratings and reviews to your site, be ready to respond in a timely manner. Take constructive criticism in stride and do your best to handle any problems. The worse thing you can do is add a feedback system and then ignore it.
Be Proactive
Even better than being ready, be proactive. Actively ask people about their experience. Get feedback and solve problems before it hits your site or the Internet.
Be Progressive
Use feedback to constantly improve your offerings. If someone has a problem or an issue, how can you solve it, not only for them, but for future customers? By putting feedback to work for your company, you’ll improve customer service, as well as your reputation, which can only help future sales.
How else can you prepare for feedback?
(photo by *saxon*, on Flickr)