User-generated content is an important tool for building brand recognition and trust. Today’s consumers find user-generated content to be 50% more trustworthy and 35% more memorable than any other form of media, and 25% of search results for the world’s 20 largest brands are links to user-generated content.
But publishing user-generated content comes with risk. How do you ensure users portray your brand in the proper light, and what do you do to protect visitors from offensive or even harmful content?
Sure there are reviews that are just bang out of order and are inappropriate, but are you running scared of that feedback that you know deep down is spot on.
Most business owners (and maybe you as well) are scared of negative or critical reviews. They would rather sweep them under the carpet by suppressing or archiving them, but maybe it’s time to embrace them!
Interestingly, negative reviews aren’t all bad. They can show visitors to your site that you’re collecting genuine experiences from customers rather than “fake” or suspicious looking reviews.
Case study
I was in Wellington, New Zealand a few years back and walked past a beautiful store that was selling designer accessories for cats and dogs. It caught my attention so I went in to speak to the manager, who just happened to also be the owner. I asked how business was, whether they had an online store and whether they were using a review app.
She gleefully informed me that they had only been opened for a couple of months, business was ok and that they had an online Shopify store.
We then started chatting about her experience with review apps and she mentioned that she had uninstalled the Facebook reviews feature. The reason? Her business had been the victim of an unverified, anonymous reviewer who wrote a negative review. She tried to get help from Facebook, but didn’t a satisfactory response.
She hadn’t considered any review apps since this experience for her online store, but she told me if she did, the ability for her to ‘control’ what could be published was a key decision in selecting an app. HelpfulCrowd is perfect for this business as we currently provide complete control to the business to choose what is and isn’t published using the moderation tool….but is this right?
I shared this with the team and we pondered on this question long afterwards and the follow-on questions such as:
- How does one best build trust between businesses and consumers?
- Who should really decide on whether a review gets published or not and how are they best moderated?
Striking the balance
- All reviews should be automatically published within a specific time period, regardless or rating and feedback, provided they comply with review publishing guidelines.
- The business owner should have the ability to report a review as inappropriate, resulting in it being immediately unpublished and sent to the HelpfulCrowd moderation team for review and a moderation decision.
Ultimately the best way to build this authentic trust is to proudly say “We publish all reviews – the good, the bad and the ugly”.
Replying to reviews
Review commenting is a proven and powerful way to build business reputation and publicly demonstrate your business values. We believe the above concept provides the business with complete control for ensuring appropriate and relevant content is published, whilst also ensuring that the customer has an equal voice that can be heard.
What to do
What not to do
