One of the most rewarding aspects of being a Community Manager is the ability to help clients improve customer satisfaction. By now, we all know that UGC increases sales. However, retailers often overlook the ability to identify opportunities to improve products through this content. Ratings & Reviews is a gold mine for uncovering these opportunities. On any given day of the week, I can be heard preaching to my clients on the importance of monitoring, analyzing & responding to negative reviews. I truly believe that every negative review is an opportunity for proactive customer service. I can share countless examples where clients have identified product defects, shipping errors and customer service complaints through UGC. Rather than turning a blind eye to this content, I encourage my clients to respond directly to the consumer to address the issue. I admit this is a lofty task to undertake, but the reward is exponentially greater than the level of effort required. After all, what is the lifetime value of a customer worth to you?

But please, don’t take my word for it – hear it firsthand from one of my clients. I recently had the opportunity to interview Jim Deitzel, Manager of eMarketing & Brand Communications for Rubbermaid, on the topic. Here are his thoughts on “negative” reviews:

What were your goals when adding Ratings & Reviews to Rubbermaid.com?
Rubbermaid had several goals when we implemented Ratings & Reviews from Bazaarvoice on our site. We wanted to facilitate the conversation between consumers using our products, give them an opportunity to rate their experiences, and do a lot of listening. Based on knowledge from previous research, we knew that consumers who visit Rubbermaid.com are looking for better product information. This includes reviews from other consumers and information on how to buy online or in the store.

What results did you expect to achieve from Ratings & Reviews?
We expected a positive experience from Ratings & Reviews. But we also knew there was a chance that we could receive negative reviews on our product pages. Would negative reviews turn our product catalog pages from sales tools into “beware signs”? On the flip side, we wanted the Web site to be a trusted place where consumers could collect detailed product information from the manufacturer and learn from other consumers’ experiences. In the end, we saw any negative reviews as an opportunity to connect with consumers, solve their problems, and learn from their feedback.

What is Rubbermaid’s stance on negative Reviews?
Within the first month of implementing Ratings & Reviews on our website, we were faced with our first problem: some negative feedback. While the majority of reviews were very positive, we were also seeing a handful of similar, negative comments about a new product at the time: Produce Saver. But were they really negative reviews?

Technically, yes; the feedback was negative in nature. But, we quickly discovered that the negative reviews had one thing in common – the product was failing to meet needs but also not being used correctly. You see, to keep fresh produce correctly in the container, you must only store whole produce. If you chop it up, you have no chance in saving it beyond its “rot” date. Almost every reviewer who had a negative comment about Produce Saver was using it to store leftover or pre-chopped fruits and vegetables.

We knew the usage guidelines. But why didn’t these reviewers seem to know? Wasn’t it printed on the packaging or inside the container? It wasn’t. And it was time to revisit the communication of this key information to our consumers.

How did you respond to the negative reviews?
We immediately went to work with the product manager to create instructions and recommended usage for Produce Saver. We posted the usage document on the actual product page of the Web site and linked to it from other areas of the site that highlighted Produce Saver. Then the product manager wrote an informative blog post describing the recommended usage of the product and why it works best that way. Finally, we took this new content and responded directly to the consumers (who submitted the reviews) via the Web site.

By addressing the negative reviews head on, Rubbermaid showed consumers that they truly value their feedback. What a remarkable way to create raving fans out of your customers!

Here, Scott Muhlig, Bazaarvoice Content Operations Manager, spoke about the value of negative reviews, and learning to love the ones who "hate" you.

There are two types of negative feedback – that which gets rejected, and that which is published. Both are critical to your business.

Approved/published negative reviews, as long as they are not profane or violate other rules of moderation, such as mentioning price, service, or litigation issues, among others, are valuable to the company and consumers. Negative reviews show credibility – if there are nothing but 5-star product reviews for your products, consumers get suspicious about the authenticity of the content. Negative reviews also give objective feedback and help retailers uncover blind spots. Perhaps there was a breakdown in a process, an unforeseen change in a vendor's product, or some misinformation in the product's description on the website. Direct feedback from your customers is the most transparent way to uncover these issues and get them solved quickly.

Rejected negative feedback is also incredibly valuable. When people are upset with a purchase, they sometimes get angry, which can cause them to violate the terms of reviews, use profanity, or go off on a tangent – all things that can lead to rejected content. It's important not to negate this information, because if you can communicate back to them, uncover and solve a legitimate problem, and complete the circle, it makes it less likely that they will spread their rancor to blogs, forums, and other places where you are unable to see, control or address their comments.

It's important to review all negative content to look for trends in the negative comments, so you can uncover product or system improvements to improve future customers' interactions. Here are just a few ways to use negative or rejected content.

1. Use rejected content to handle legal concerns proactively

Content that is rejected due to possible legal concerns constitutes less than 2% of the average 11% of all content that is rejected. Try to have a member of the management team review this content, and engage legal counsel early when appropriate. Major retailers create a liability team to review such issues. Rejected content guides this team right to potentially harmful products, which they then investigate proactively.

2. Use services complaints to save customer relationships

Very often, people just want to know a company hears them. E-mails and publicly posted responses are both inexpensive ways to let your community know you listen while potentially saving a customer relationship. Through trend analysis, retailers can pinpoint whether certain customer complaints surface from particular products, which they can then discuss with manufacturers.

3. Use negative reviews to hold vendors accountable, improve products

Through trend analysis, retailers can pinpoint whether certain customer complaints surface from particular products, which they can then discuss with manufacturers.

Tuesday we hosted a great webinar with Andy Sernovitz, author of Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking. As one of the pioneers of "word of mouth marketing", it was especially interesting to hear him define the term. As Andy says, word of mouth marketing is "giving people a reason to talk about your stuff and making it easier for the conversation to take place". We all know that word of mouth is not a new concept, but it has historically been generated by "experts" or celebrities in a very controlled way. Peoples' buying habits have evolved, and the "experts" are now simply "people like me". Companies today must re-focus their marketing strategies to promote good products, evolve them in a way that is most useful to customers, and give customers the tools to spread the word about their experiences. As Brett said, "The barrier to converse has been significantly reduced." The permanent record that your customers create can make or break your product and brand.

We also talked with Andy about the "5 T's" that he suggests companies think about when implementing or improving their word of mouth strategy. There were two points that really stuck with me:

1. The first step is to find "Talkers"; people who will talk about your product. As Andy points out, this is not generally your regular customer that interacts with your brand/products all the time. This is often your new customer. This is someone who has just experienced what you have to offer and is excited to share their opinions. Of course, it can also be your regular customer experiencing something new about your product. If so, you want to make sure it's something they have asked for and that further supports all the reasons why they're already one of your loyal customers.
2. Negative reviews provide many opportunities for a very positive user experience. This is something Sam wrote about a couple weeks ago. Negative reviews can help another customer make a more satisfactory purchase decision, can help a manufacturer improve a product in a very distinct and focused way, or can provide the opportunity for a company to "Take Part" and simply say "we hear you and we're going to try to improve". 

Check out all of the webinar slides on Slideshare. We're also happy to share the full webinar with audio if you email lisa @ bazaarvoice.com for the download link, username, and password.

Andy also covered this on his blog.

Now, I have nothing against Sprint. But I find it fascinating that in this day and age the way we consume information is so dependent upon Web search results. We spend more time consuming media online than in any other medium. If you are considering Sprint as a customer and searching for "Sprint customer service" on Google to learn about the experience you may have with them, 30% of the first ten matches are negative and 20% are about them firing high maintenance customers.

This highlights a modern day challenge. Firing bad customers deserves more consideration in today's "global village". I'm guessing that Sprint made this decision on an almost purely financial basis. Some of these customers were calling them 24 times per month. Perhaps these are just high maintenance individuals. We all know them – no matter what you do, they are never happy. If I called my mobile provider's customer service department every time I had a dropped call, I would be calling them often – maybe even 30 times per month. And some customers probably do call every time there is a dropped call. I don't know if these 1,000 customers fall into that category or not. That is why I put "bad" in quotes for the title of this post. Only Sprint knows how bad these customers truly are.

But did anyone at Sprint consider the reputation impact of this cost-cutting action in today's networked world? If not, I'm sure they will next time. This story has been everywhere. First, I heard it on the radio. Then I saw it on CNN at the gym. And now it is literally all over the Web!

One of my most memorable classes at Wharton's MBA program was Dr. Eric Clemons' class on using information as a competitive weapon. He taught us about how credit card companies had used their superior customer database systems to identify and fire their worst customers (e.g., those that would have the highest debt write-off) by enticing them to transfer their balances to competitors. As bad customers transferred in droves, it almost put their competitors out of business as they didn't have the same type of customer forecasting capabilities and therefore couldn't proactively address the issue until it was too late.

So, I think back to what I learned in Dr. Clemons' class and Sprint's recent action. Perhaps Sprint knew that high maintenance customers would tell other high maintenance customers thus sending these bad customers to other mobile providers. Perhaps they calculated the word of mouth cost of this action before taking it. Perhaps they thought that this story would actually educate high maintenance customers not to come to Sprint in the first place. But given the way Sprint seems to be playing defense with the press instead of offense, my guess is that they didn't – it was probably a purely financial decision, a cost-cutting move.

In any case, I'm sure Sprint and other companies are now thinking about how networked the customer has truly become so that future cost-cutting actions take this issues into consideration. However, you can't satisfy everyone. This logic may seem outdated – it may run counter to some of the recent word of mouth practices. But it's true. Businesses are still in business to make a profit, and not all customers are a good fit.

At Bazaarvoice, I have learned that knowing who is writing a review is sometimes as important as the actual content. Is the review written by your best customer? Your worst? This puts into context the information. Not all word of mouth will be positive. That's a given. But when you are a merchant deciding on the actions to take from either highly positive or highly negative reviews, it is important to know who those customers are. One of our clients, PETCO, proactively contacts high-value customers when they write a negative review. The bottom line: digitally-archived word of mouth will be married with the time-tested methods of information strategy taught by Dr. Clemons.

Update 7/12: One of our Community Managers sent me this story at The Consumerist. There may be more to this than Sprint's PR people were willing to speak about publicly.

We've covered the topic on this blog and elsewhere. Over a year ago we discovered the Ratings J-Curve across our clients which still holds true today: 80% of reviews are positive. One of our first branded manufacturers, Burpee, commented that negative reviews actually help conversion. And I've written an article explaining other benefits of negative reviews in iMedia.

The topic came up again in a great article from Joan Voight in adweek, titled "Negative Reviews are Really Positive". The article reports several of our branded clients carrying reviews:

The surveys come as many brands are joining Amazon.com and review sites such as yelp.com, tripadvisor.com and consumersearch.com in offering reviews on their web sites. In May, Toshiba joined Dell and Hewlett Packard in offering online reviews "to enhance the buying experience." Levi's will join Fair Indigo and EMS in the apparel space, offering customer reviews by the close of 2007.

Bill Blass, formerly of Sears and Lands' End wisely explains:

"If all reviews are good, customers question if the ratings are legitimate," Bill Bass, CEO of Fair Indigo, told Adweek. "Not only will people ignore the reviews, but it will hurt their trust in the brand. It would be better to have no reviews at all."

And John Lazarchik of PETCO has predicted:

"In two years customer reviews on branded sites will be more common," said John Lazarchic, Petco's vice president of e-commerce. "A few years after that if shoppers don't find reviews on a site, they'll just go shop somewhere else."

There were interesting and useful comments on the article in Retail Wire. Here are some of the highlights:

Consumers have a significant appreciation for the reviews because right or wrong, consumers tend to trust other consumers, more than they trust the advertised message. Advice to retailers and product manufacturers:

o Don't fight it. Reviews are a major factor in e-commerce. You will need to deal with it.

o Resist the temptation to write a review "from the company" because more times than not it comes across defensive and corporate.

o Read the reviews carefully and consider what criticisms are worthy, and take it to heart. Act accordingly. The online review process isn't scientific but in many ways, you are benefiting from a free focus group.

o Don't act defensively if a review knocks your product. The review might be real, or it might have been submitted by one of your haters or competitors. Let the review process take care of itself. In the end, if your product is attacked unfairly, others will come to your rescue. It happens almost all the time.

David Biernbaum, Senior Marketing and Business Development Consultant, David Biernbaum Associates

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Having customer reviews or feedback on site is just plain common sense. In some of the focus groups I have held, I found that most online shoppers have done their research before making the purchase and, therefore, if they can't find reviews of products on the store's site, they will go elsewhere for information. The biggest concern for online retailers is keeping customers on their site until the purchase is complete. Having reviews and feedback ensures the customer stays within that particular website…

Doron Levy, president, Captus Business Consulting

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Frank is right–companies need to listen to negative comments by customers. If customers are unhappy about something; especially if it appears to be widespread, then you know exactly what needs to be changed about your product to make it more attractive to customers. Research on persuasion indicates that people are more persuaded by by arguments if positive and negative points are presented. Word of mouth has always been an important part of customer decision making. Having customers post reviews is another form of word of mouth marketing. Ignoring what customers have to say about your products or trying to manipulate what customers say would be a dangerous move.

Camille P. Schuster, Ph.D., President, Global Collaborations, Inc.

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Regarding response to negative internet feedback, I think the retailer needs to respond as professionally as possible, speaking candidly and respectfully to those who criticize. It is also a great opportunity to learn; find were there is a misunderstanding of the intent or use of products and services, or gain an greater view of how the site (retailer) is doing a dis-service to the customer. I will admit that feedback is more available from online sources as the internet offer a great deal of anonymity.

Jerry Gelsomino, Vice President of Marketing and Brand Experience, Pratt Corporation

In short, we don't expect this question to go away, however I think over our nearly two years of experience serving reviews for retailers and branded manufacturers the evidence is overwhelming to suggest that negative reviews should not be feared.

But there's more to this topic. Is it possible that negative reviews help increase conversion? Definitive data is not in (yet), but I attended a shop.org Annual Summit several years ago where Amazon and eBags hinted in a panel discussion that products with mixed reviews helped conversion. Consumers we talk to say they look for negative reviews first to help them make the purchase decision. Without them, they lack the necessary information to move forward. And from this anecdotal focus group, they suggest that negative reviews rarely stop them from buying unless the reviews are all negative or include a negative comment of a feature that was important to them.

Don Zeidler, Director of Direct Marketing for the W. Atlee Burpee Co. (Burpee Seeds), believes negative reviews help their business. Burpee was one of Bazaarvoice's first manufacturer clients. That is to say they are featuring reviews on the products they sell — so they certainly have a lot riding on their customer reviews! Here's what he says:

"As for the product(s) with negative reviews – my experience is that negative reviews do not hurt a product as long as there are also positive reviews associated with it.  I'd guess that when customers see a mix of different ratings they are more apt to trust the review process. Second, as we all know as marketers (or should know) customers that are interested in a particular product are ONLY looking for affirmation or reassurance that the product is right for them, it's one they need to have.  Negative reviews help customers affirm they've vetted all concerns before making a purchase decision. As long as the reviews are not entirely and overwhelmingly negative — just nit picks that people decide they can live with (they usually are), — these negative reviews help customers pass through purchase paralysis."

Don Zeidler is the Director of Direct Marketing for the W. Atlee Burpee Co., a 130-year-old brand famous for revolutionizing home gardening in America. Beginning in the late 1800's Burpee's slogan—"Burpee Seeds Grow"—was the guarantee that raised the bar (and profits) in what was at the time a "seedy" business of selling to farmers in an agrarian society. Much has changed over the years but not the trusted quality the Burpee name means to home gardeners. Don is responsible for Burpee's web site development and management, e-mail marketing and programs, as well as e-commerce performance. His offline responsibilities include catalog circulation, advertising, and ancillary product merchandising. Don has close to 20 years direct marketing experience and brought Burpee online in 1996. His application of sound direct marketing strategies in a dot-com environment is a major component of Burpee's continued on-line success.

A concern of many Retailers is around Negative Reviews. How did you convince your peers and management to move forward with reviews despite this concern?

We showed them examples that indicated there aren't normally that many negative reviews. And if there are, they are isolated to small number of items. In fact, I have heard that Amazon initially thought they were going to have issues with negative reviews, but it turned out the resulting conversion rate was overwhelmingly positive. So even if there are some negative reviews, it made sense to put reviews on our site.

What was critical to BassPro and merchants in your choice of ratings/review solution?

They thought it was important the customer reviews were proofed before published. Everyone was open to constructive feedback on products which genuinely help other customers, but it isn't an appropriate forum for competitive comparisons or venting customer service issues. Overcoming that objection was easy with the focus Bazaarvoice has in this area.

What benefits did Merchandisers see coming from ratings and reviews?

They are very interested in the impact to returns. You don't necessarily know why people are returning the product. Reason codes aren't real and not specific. People don't think you'll accept the return, so they'll always choose “defective” or “wrong size”, even though the real reason is they didn't like a feature or shortcoming of the product.

How do you expect your merchandiser to use this data?

Some are extremely interested in this data, and others are just starting to look at it. We've seen buyers who are looking forward to getting the Bazaarvoice reports to determine what are people saying they really like, because you can look at expanding assortment in those categories.

For a couple items that we've seen significant negative reviews for, customers are commenting on the design. So merchandisers can use this data on where they should resource this type of product as well as evaluating our suppliers.

Bad Customer Reviews Makes for More Business for Villarenters.com

RUTLAND, England–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 7, 2006–"The housekeeper punched me in the face"

"The place was dirty"

"The owner kept arriving at the property unannounced"

"Although there were 4 beds there wasn't room for 4 eggs in the frying pan"

Every day self catering rental specialists Villarenters.com validate the reviews from renters returning from their holiday, these are checked against the booking and approved for publication providing they are not personal.

Managing Director Tim Coulton says "Many of our owners didn't like the open approach at first but as they have a right of reply it has become both a true reflection of their property and an opportunity for them to improve it – renters visiting our site see the bad reviews and then feel they can really trust the good ones and book a property with confidence."

"We are different from most sites that private owners advertise with in that we provide our owners with an online bookings system – this means we know who is staying at a property"

The Villarenters reviews, combined with an index score that reflects the owners performance, ensures renters really can trust that a property is 'luxury' and that they will have a great holiday if other renters have said the same…they can see also from owners replies that minor issues and irritations have been fixed.

So check out the thousands of privately owned properties on www.villarenters.com web site : look for the customer ratings (over 50% of properties have a review) and although you may have to scramble your eggs to fit in the pan – you can make sure you won't get punched in the face!