Don't Believe The Online Negative Reviews!!

Yes, that is exactly what we are saying. Don't believe everything you read or see on the web. More often than not, the real picture is completely different from the one painted by the online negative reviews.

According to a recent study, a high percentage of negative reviews floating on the popular consumer websites are posted by people who actually never bought the product or had any dealings with the businesses they were so bluntly complaining about!

Generally when it comes to fake negative reviews, your competitors are the first obvious suspects. It is quite true. Posting false and negative reviews to pull down the rating of the competitor brand, or shoo away the potential customers of the competition, is a very common practice (unethical too!).

But, according to this study, the fabricated negative reviews were posted by loyal customers of the company/brand! Shocking isn't it? It is hard for a company to come in terms with the fact that its loyal customers are spreading blunt & damaging negative reviews on powerful consumer platforms like, Yelp. The reason that customers were doing so is that they feel connected to the brand, and want to act like 'managers' for the company. The intention behind the fake negative statements is to vent out their frustrations for a product or service, and draw attention of the company.

The study has completely changed the way people feel about online reviews. Knowing that a majority of reviews, positive as well as negative ones, are fabricated, trusting the reviews to form a decision will be a big mistake.

We at smartData Enterprises Inc. feel that it is imperative to do a comprehensive study of your own before you take any decision. If you base your decision on the positive reviews, you might end up with a good-for-nothing product, while trusting the negative reviews can drive you away from a good product. Therefore, go for online reviews only when there is no other source of recommendations available.

Indeed, the famous saying has become quite clear & true - 'Your best friends are your worst enemies.'

Use The Negative Reviews About Your Company To Make A U-Turn!

The vast options available to the consumers to voice their opinions about anything & everything have increased the impact of a negative feedback on a company's online reputation. Given to this scenario, we understand if you are losing your sleep over the negative reviews of your product or company. But we at smartData Enterprises Inc., feel that instead of finding ways to press down the online negative reviews, you should try to use them to benefit you. Here's how you can go about it.

Use them to assess your areas of improvement:

When you spot a negative review, understand the issues mentioned. Negative reviews give you a chance to get an insight of your company's areas of improvement. Many-a-times, you require an outsider's perspective to locate the weak links. As a company, your thinking is quite different from that of the consumer's. Therefore, seeing things from their glasses will help you understand what they want, and how they want it.

Use them to talk to your consumers:

When you come across a negative review, try to talk to the reviewer. This helps you to better understand the issues and gives the impression to the person that you care about what they feel. Talking to a pissed consumer is a great opportunity to turn his dissatisfaction into satisfaction. When the consumers feel that you are doing whatever possible to solve their issues, they will be more than happy to reward you with a glowing review!

Use them to fix the problem once and for all:

If most of the online reviews are carrying similar issues, it means the problem is genuine and is occurring quite consistently. The best way to handle this is to get to the root cause of the issue and solve the problem completely. Once you do this, notify your consumers that the issue has been solved. Nothing pleases the consumers more than the fact that their opinions have led to a positive change.

Use them to build an impression:

You may find ten negative reviews about your company, but there are hundreds other potential customers who are reading the reviews. You can make an excellent impression on all of them by handling the reviews with dignity, politeness & transparency. Not many businesses take the time & efforts to set things straight with a few pissed consumers. It takes efforts to turn a negative review into a positive one, but if your company is able to do this, people will surely notice.

At smartData Enterprises Inc., each of the genuine smartData reviews, whether positive ones or the smartData Enterprises Inc. complaints, are important to us. While the positive ones act as a pat on the back, the complaints help us in improving our systems and taking our services to the next level.