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Business Mixes with Myspace
Like everything else on the Internet, e-commerce businesses see just how useful the social networking tools on Myspace and YouTube have become, and they're, well, "borrowing" them. A recent story in BusinessWeek shows how companies like Macy's, Procter & Gamble, and Petco are kicking user reviews up a notch. It makes sense. It's what customers want.
The online customer experience has evolved so that customers just about everywhere expect to be able to post reviews, share opinions, and get suggestions when shopping online. Beginning with Amazon.com and evolving into present-day Myspace, consumers have made the buying experience a collaborative and social experience. Helpful hints and honest reviews are worth a lot more than marketing messages, and companies want to bring that to the forefront.
More than 43 percent of e-commerce sites offered customer reviews and ratings, almost double the 23 percent figure at the end of 2005, according to New York research firm MarketingSherpa. And as much as 50 percent of customers aged 18 to 34 have posted a comment or a review on products they have bought or used, BusinessWeek reports.
Some e-commerce companies may be hesitant to join the trend because they don't want to give up control over their products. But in this day and age, it's foolish to think they have control in the first place. The best decision is give people a good product and a chance to spread word-of-mouth, and let the people speak for themselves. In the long run companies will get honest feedback, great new ideas, and a trusting customer base.
I fully agree with the growing importance of customer reviews and ratings. Essentially it is just another example of an age old practice finding its way online.
Since the beginning of marketing, the personal referral has always been king. It is the antidote to the forced interruption of mass marketing and even to some extent, the more targeted efforts that characterized variations on 1to1 marketing over the last decade. People have never been able to be dissuaded from their own direct experience by ads, jingles or clever copy.
The difference today is that the growth of social media and virtual communities has allowed the traditional face-to-face personal referral to define itself on the Web. I was reading about a new company that is planning to launch an online referral service that marries the Amazon style comparative shopping experience, complete with ratings, rankings and testimonials with the MySpace style social networking experience including streaming video to bring the participants to life.
For too long, companies have been under the impression that they have more control than they think. They have control of advertising and marketing, but they have never had control over what people actually think about their products and services. As you say, “Let the people speak for themselves”. I say they always have, now they just have a broader audience through technology. It’s up to the companies to listen.