Are You Ignoring Bad Reviews?

My husband and I have a big anniversary coming up in a few months, so I’ve been spending some time online looking for romantic vacation ideas. Last night I found a deal on Groupon deal that seemed too good to be true: A Cabo Retreat Overlooking the Sea — 3 night’s stay for two for just $193. The pictures were beautiful! The pool, sparkling with its aqua-blue water, wound it’s way across the property–leading to a private beach with rows of lounge chairs awaiting my arrival. Ocean views and tiki huts. Swim-up bars and afternoon naps. It all sounded peaceful. Romantic. Perfect.

I scrolled down to read some of the reviews. Sure, the place looked spectacular, but how was the food? The staff? To my disappointment, there was nothing good to be said of the seemingly perfect paradise.

“Lovely, but needs a facelift,” “This lovely old hotel needs a facelift,” “Pool tiles and coping are missing, towels and kitchen/bath fixtures are badly worn, air conditioning was very noisy, beds were short-sheeted on the bottom…” You get the point. Bad reviews.

What did I do next, you ask? I closed the page and continued my search — for two reasons. First, that many bad reviews are a bit of a red flag for me. Second–and more important–there were no responses to any of the reviews from the hotel. Nada. All of those bad reviews were left hanging there, unanswered–sitting out there for vacation-seekers to use as a basis for determining whether they would spend their hard-earned vacation dollars on their hotel. Not good.

Hello? Are you out there?

Here’s something that may or may not be a surprise to you: Whether you’re participating in social media or not, people are talking about your company–your services.

You can’t be afraid of bad reviews. I know your mother told you, “You can please some people some of the time, but you’ll never please all of the people all of the time.” But when those naysayers share their thoughts online, don’t you want to know?

If the hotel in question had posted something — anything — that showed me the benefits of making my reservation–I might have dug a little deeper. If they showed any concern for the guests who had bad experiences, I might have given them a chance. Without the “other side of the story,” I was forced to click away from the page and move on to a competitor.

Creating customer evangelists

In the recent article from @MarketingProfs, “12 Predictions for 2012″, they share that in the near future “Customers and employees will become an extended part of companies’ marketing teams.”

“As social networks are used ever-more frequently for aggregating and sharing interests, expect opinions, positive or negative, about products and services to spread with lightening speed. As a result, businesses’ customer relationships will become increasingly focused on creating and managing perceptions.”

In 2012, companies will need to create customer evangelists to expand their brand recognition — and create buzz for their products and services.

But first, find out where your customers and prospects are present. Listen to what they’re saying and respond.

How do you respond to reviews of your product or service (good or bad?)? Are you sticking your head in the sand or are you listening to what your customers are saying?