{"id":322,"date":"2017-01-03T12:15:35","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T12:15:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/us\/?p=322"},"modified":"2017-01-03T12:15:35","modified_gmt":"2017-01-03T12:15:35","slug":"keeping-customer-reviews-above-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/us\/keeping-customer-reviews-above-board","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Customer Reviews Above Board"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, the UK\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) reported the result of an investigation<\/a> into an online retailer found to have suppressed the publication of negative reviews for their products on their own website. It\u2019s the latest in a number of investigations looking at the way sites handle customer reviews and offer incentives to people to post favourable content about them.
\nCustomer submitted reviews of a product can be a great way to build \u2018social proof\u2019 for your brand, but you need to be willing to take the good with the bad if you want to avoid trouble with regulators.<\/p>\n

Why have online reviews<\/h4>\n

Reviews can have massive influence in purchase decisions. Review platform Bazaarvoice found that 54% of online shoppers read reviews before purchase<\/a>. This influence isn\u2019t just limited to online shopping, they also found that 39% people of people shopping in physical stores also consulted online product reviews before purchase.
\nUnfortunately, you can\u2019t please everyone all the time and every brand can expect negative reviews, no matter how good they are. The level of transparency customer reviews provide can be daunting for a lot of brands. Research has found bad reviews helped build trust<\/a> in a product, as long as they\u2019re in the right proportion to the positive reviews<\/a> of course.
\nInterestingly, recent research shows too many positive reviews can have a negative impact for online retailers \u2013 increased product returns as a result of lifted expectations of a product from positive reviews.
\nHowever, if you\u2019re transparent about how you handle the negative situations, user reviews (even negative ones) can reassure customers, by showing that if there is a problem your brand is willing to help. But of course, fail to pay attention to them or mishandle them and your brand could suffer.<\/p>\n

Staying compliant<\/h4>\n

In the UK there are consumer protection laws which govern how brands should approach online reviews of their products.<\/p>\n

If the way you manage or present reviews misleads consumers, your business could be in breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs), which prohibit unfair commercial practices that distort consumers\u2019 decisions. \u2013 CMA letter to retailers that host customer reviews on their websites<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Don\u2019t delay publishing submitted reviews.<\/strong>
\nYou can\u2019t \u2018unreasonably\u2019 delay publication of reviews.
\nCheck both positive and negative reviews to the same standard, and have a procedure for removing the fakes.<\/strong>
\nThe CMA has been looking into fake reviews for a while now, with a few high profile cases getting wide publicity
\nMake it clear to customers how reviews are collected and checked, how to get one published, and why one might not be published.<\/strong>
\nClear guidelines are an important ingredient in an online community. You need to have easy to understand guidelines about what is and isn\u2019t acceptable and these guidelines need to be available to everyone.
\nMake sure you clearly differentiate testimonials from reviews<\/strong>
\nTestimonials include instances where you\u2019ve offered incentives for positive reviews, including \u2018influencers\u2019.
\nDon\u2019t discourage reviews from people because their initial problem has been solved.<\/strong>
\nWhy avoid a chance for some to talk about how you made things right?
\nKnowing the rules is a great start but the best way to stay on the right side of the law is to make sure you your team is able to act in the right way. Key to this is having strong, clear guidelines on review moderation including how to identify and remove fake reviews<\/a>.
\nThe next element is making sure your team is properly trained in assessing reviews. After that you need to make sure that these policies are being followed through regular monitoring and quality checks.<\/p>\n

From reviews to social customer engagement<\/h4>\n

Beyond simply moderating, ensuring customer-submitted reviews are integrated into your customer service process is a logical next step and a great way to keep your customers happy. You\u2019ll need to make sure all elements of your customer service are connected and that your team has the authority to act to help those customers with issues.
\nIt might seem like a lot to think about, but if your brand is actively trying create a positive community around your products and services, you\u2019re more than likely within the rules anyway.
\nThe benefits of well-managed user reviews are definitely worth the time you put in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently, the UK\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) reported the result of an investigation into an online retailer found to have suppressed the publication of negative reviews for their products on their own website. It\u2019s the latest in a number of investigations looking at the way sites handle customer reviews and offer incentives to people…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","transcript_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[34,2,6,9,22],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nKeeping Customer Reviews Above Board - The Social Element USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Customer submitted reviews of a product can be a great way to build \u2018social proof\u2019 for your brand, but you need to be willing to take the good with the bad if you want to avoid trouble with regulators.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thesocialelement.agency\/us\/keeping-customer-reviews-above-board\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Keeping Customer Reviews Above Board - 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