Week 2 part A:communication between Business and consumer

Social Medial allows consumer business reviews to be shared on multiple platforms. The popular review platform Yelp makes business reviews very visible, and very public, to potential future customers and the business (both positive and negative). In the past, had to call Customer Service and only the company would have access to know if you had a positive or negative experience. Consumers could read magazines like Consumer Reports on company reviews or you might see information if requested their Better Business Bureau Rating but this was a slow and time-consuming process. Using review platforms, consumers can instantly see the ratings of businesses quickly, total number of reviews, and comments about the business instantaneously.

While researching, I looked at total reviews, total customers, star rating of the business, and how they responded to complaints on social media. When I read about the business or a item I was interested in purchasing, I researched the consumer reviews. If I search the business or product, and use their services or purchase their products, I will sometimes post a review. I do see negative reviews on some occasions but I also consider that they may be from a person that is over-stating a situation so you need to take that into consideration. I think there’s probably a formula to look at total reviews in consideration to the actual ratings of the business, product, or service. If there are a thousand reviews, and the start rating is less than 2 starts, I think statistically, this is probably a poor organization to do business with. What really matters to me is the volume of reviews in conjunction with the overall rating.

When posting a review about a business, I stick to the facts and only share information in a professional way, even if the review is poor. While sharing the information, I also suggest ways that the business can improve. If the business treated me poorly, I wait a week to write the review, so my emotions are not involved in writing the review. I want to be fair to the business and I take into consideration that maybe someone I’m talking to at the business is possibly just having a bad day at work, I’m sure that happens to everyone. I think that if the review is poor, a quality business will respond to the review and ask how they can correct the issue or improve going forward. This also factors into how other consumers view a business, if you don’t address both negative and positive feedback, future potential customers may avoid you. If I have a great experience with a business or product, I’m very happy to provide positive feedback with a little detail on why my experience was really amazing. I think that a business should be rewarded with positive feedback to let them know when they do an outstanding job.

If I owned a business, I would honestly start my day by answering the tough reviews first. I think it’s important that a customer knows that you take their experience seriously, would like to correct the experience, and most importantly, respond on a timely basis. I would respond to negative feedback with factual information, what we can do to correct an issue or try to resolve a problem and have my customer service team reach-out to them if possible. Ideally, if I correct the deficiency and make it right for the customer, I would want them to update the review and hopefully provide a positive outcome so other future customers understand we do appreciate them and do address customer concerns. Positive comments are always a pleasure to read, it re-enforces that your business is going a good job and I don’t think it’s necessary to respond to all positive comments as I think that they speak for themselves. For customers submitting positive reviews, I think providing a future business incentive, when possible, helps them know you really appreciate their business and look forward to engaging with them in the future.