Small Business | Forum « Online Rating Services- Do you use/believe them?

Online Rating Services- Do you use/believe them? (13 posts)

Topic tags: online ratings, social media

Joan Muschamp (Fagnani) said
1 year, 2 months ago:
I am curious how other SME members feel about online reviews. Personally, I use my own social networks and circles first. Sometimes I read them but for me they are not the first thing I look to. But, this is one place I really do wonder if my age and habits cloud my view.
I will look at some, like trip advisor and Orbitz ratings. Just trying to get a sense of how important they are
@joanmuschampfagnani | # | Top
E N Brown said
1 year, 2 months ago:
Hi Joan.
Hmm – I do what you do but, at Amazon if I’m purchasing a big $ item I read practically every review unless there are hundreds. Not even I make time for that many! Heh.
I do sometimes go to review sites but again, only on something that is going to cost me a fair amount of cash. I’ve had people who subscribe to http://www.angieslist.com/ but I can’t see paying to read reviews or to have them posted for my sites or my clients’ sites.
.02
@supereb | # | Top
E N Brown said
1 year, 2 months ago:
And just in case – here is an article about Angie’s List:
Angie’s List: Is the Service Site Worth Its Membership Fee?
Hope this helps.
@supereb | # | Top
Phil Lauterjung said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@joanmuschampfagnani When it comes to online review sites I use them, but I don’t depend on them fully to make a decision. I would agree with @supereb re: making a large $ purchase…I will often read a few positive and a few negative reviews. If the review site doesn’t have the ability to filter reviews based on sentiment I usually won’t bother using that site. I also pay attention to the ratio of good to bad reviews. There will always be bad reviews, but if there are lots of bad ones then that’s clearly a red flag.
I should also say that I don’t always go by word-of-mouth unless I know the person real well. Basically, if the amount of money involved isn’t much I won’t spend a lot of time on research. If the money is large, then I will use a number of different sources.
@phil_lauterjung | # | Top
Preston Odenbrett said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@joanmuschampfagnani The only time I go to review sites is when I am ready to purchase.. I just don’t go to one, I go to many to see overall what people are saying about a product that I am ready to buy. Mostly on Bigger Purchases, cause who wants to make a mistake with that kind of cash outlay…just like@supereb indicated.
@prestonodenbrett | # | Top
Joan Muschamp (Fagnani) said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@supereb @phil_lauterjung I do agree about high ticket items. And Phil’s point about a lot of negative reveiws is well made. I do read restaurant reviews, but I also do that ni magazines and newspapers, too, and on food blogs.
I have heard of competitor sabotage in addition to companies trying to boost their positive ratings.
Of course, if we rely on good service and delivering value that should add a lot.
@joanmuschampfagnani | # | Top
Joan Muschamp (Fagnani) said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@prestonodenbrett The price tag clearly affects our behavior. So, fact to be stored in marketing file–teh bigger the ticket, the more important to pay attention, as well as ask cutomers for feedback (I actually believe all businesses should get direct feedback in some way)
@joanmuschampfagnani | # | Top
Abigail Gorton said
1 year, 2 months ago:
I am on both sides of the fence. I do read and pay attention, especially over hotels and travel. But I also KNOW that Yelp fixes the reviews. They remove favorable ones that magically reappear after a business pays the exorbitant marketing fees. Can’t wait for them to get class action sued.
@abigailgorton | # | Top
Joan Muschamp (Fagnani) said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@abigailgorton I don’t use Yelp, but saw a few different articles recently on how important it is…I also didn’t know that they “fix” them for paid “members”. hmmm
@joanmuschampfagnani | # | Top
E N Brown said
1 year, 2 months ago:
I didn’t know that about Yelp either. Bad JuJu for Yelp.
@supereb | # | Top
Abigail Gorton said
1 year, 2 months ago:
@joanmuschampfagnani @supereb I used to read the complaints and think it was isolated or justifiable or whatever. Then as I got more involved with monitoring my own and my clients page I saw, with my own eyes and screen prints how good reviews just disappear. There Is NO phone number on the site and when you submit an email complaint you get a half-truth generalized response that does not reply to the specific issues. They have us all between a rock and a hard place. Even while we are fighting back, we still need our own pages on there to be as good as possible. So how loud can we fight?
@abigailgorton | # | Top
Abigail Gorton said
1 year, 2 months ago:
The most common complaint against Yelp is not that individual reviews are tampered with but that plenty of good reviews just plain disappear form the site.Then magically reappear once the business owner starts paying for advertizing.
@abigailgorton | # | Top
Samantha Gentile said
1 year, 2 months ago:
Just about every person I know looks at Trip Advisor before travelling and booking a hotel overseas, including myself. This is the only online rating service I have ever used.
@samanthagentile | # | Top