What you write matters

When I wrote on Yelp complaining about the customer service on a company, I received a response right away from the regional manager.  I didn’t know that people from the company read and would respond to my complaint.  It told me two things:

1.       There are a lot of people reading Yelp.  Most people are small business owners, marketing managers and consumers.  In fact, these same people read reviews more than reading about the product itself.

2.       My opinion matters.  Your opinion matters. What we think and say about a service, product, company matters.  This gave me an idea.

I want to talk about reviewing.  A quality review makes a world of difference if you will receive a response or even your money back.  There are a few things you want to consider when writing a review worth writing:

·       Don’t troll.  You know who you are.  When you troll on places when reviews matter, you disqualify everybody’s review that would make a difference if the company or small business will change their product or service.  If you need to troll, there are other places on tumblr or reddit that you can put your opinions, which is what they are, opinions, not reviews.

·       Be fair.  There is no reason to discuss your childhood experience based on the product you purchased.  If there is a reason you need to give a negative review, stick to the product and not the bad luck you had about not making the football team when you were in high school. 

·       Use a time table format.  Write your review in a sequential order that leads to your reason you are writing about the product or service. A well written review will make a difference in the response of the company or individual.

Positive reviews are just as important as negative ones.  When a well written positive review is given, it tells the consumer what they are purchasing.  It gives the company or individual a chance to shine and possibly work harder for more positive reviews. It also informs the consumer the product has or doesn’t have the features the individual is looking for.  Not everything purchased is about price.  Quality does matter.

Reading a few of what other people wrote before you write yours can help you gauge what you want to focus on.  Suppose you purchased a mixer and everybody reviewed how easy it was to clean.  But how about the motor noise, the speeds, or the container made of glass or plastic?  This additional information can help the consumer understand if this is the right mixer, or if they should keep shopping.

Not every review has to be negative or positive.  But the stars…why do you need to rate with the stars?  Some companies will use this system to promote their product on websites based on how many “5 star rating average” they receive.  Its easy to pass a product that has only three stars.  Yelp caused an unfair practice with companies receiving one or two stars to sue individual f or defamation.  So everybody puts five stars but still writes a negative review (or a sarcastic positive one).  So, stars don’t matter anymore. 

But your opinion does matter.  We can change to way people behave or purchase any product or service just by typing a few words.  So don’t ignore your email when they want to you to review a recent purchase.  Your time spent will be worth it.