The whole point of a solid reputation online is that it is transparent and believable to the consumers reading reviews about your business. If a consumer doubts their validity – then they are worth nothing.
Recently the New Zealand Herald published a story about a local car dealership that encouraged visitors to its Facebook page to leave 5 star reviews on Google and get a voucher in return.
While the promotion gathered a batch of reviews on Google, the stunt backfired with a lot of reviewers leaving one star reviews and comments saying they didn’t like what they perceived to be a bribe for a 5 star review.
Consumers value reviews, but only if they are authentic and real …
The Facebook post has since been deleted but the promotion’s failure establishes two things absolutely. Firstly, consumers value reviews, but only if they are authentic and real and are not coerced. Secondly, not all reviews are the same.
In the US Amazon has been doing all it can to remove fake reviews that inflate (or decrease) the popularity of newly released books. In an article published last month in Forbes, one of the telling factors is the lengths vendors will go to obtain 5 star reviews on Facebook. The result is a false impression created to increase sales – or to diminish sales of competing titles.
When anyone can post anything without any trail to substantiate them (a legitimate email address, an IP, recourse to approach that reviewer asking for more evidence), then a business can very easily attempt to manipulate its reputation and attempt to fool the public.
… what sort of reputation do you actually have?
There are a slew of sites overseas that will generate fake reviews with phoney email addresses – all in an effort to inflate a reputation. But ask yourself this – if you would go to those lengths to promote a fabricated reputation, then what sort of reputation do you actually have?
Authenticated reviews are what consumers trust because they know they are not manipulated, inflated, or distorted.
Attempting to build up a false sense of a business is also a disservice to other people who produce quality work and value their customers, who take pride in what they do. Competition should be fair and not open to trying to secure more work by creating a distorted reality.
Reviews are the dominant factor in pointing a consumer toward a business – and more and more businesses are committing themselves to putting their reputation on the line, online.
Authenticated reviews are what consumers trust because they know they are not manipulated, inflated, or distorted.
In the end, in this world where such a massive marketplace is online, only businesses that are honest, transparent and accountable will succeed and grow. And only authentic reviews will be the trustworthy platform for their reputation.
