{"id":850,"date":"2015-12-30T00:22:24","date_gmt":"2015-12-30T00:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ptpinc.com\/staging\/?p=850"},"modified":"2020-06-22T17:08:35","modified_gmt":"2020-06-23T00:08:35","slug":"are-you-monitoring-customer-reviews-during-the-holiday-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ptpinc.com\/staging\/uncategorized\/are-you-monitoring-customer-reviews-during-the-holiday-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Are you Monitoring Customer Reviews During the Holiday Season?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For the past decade my mother watched as my siblings and I learned how to text, take pictures, play games and browse the internet on our cellphones. On her 55<sup>th<\/sup> birthday, I gave my mother her very first smartphone.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-855\" style=\"margin-top: 15px;\" src=\"https:\/\/ptpinc.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/New_Image-300x159.jpg\" alt=\"New_Image\" width=\"350\" height=\"186\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ptpinc.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/New_Image-300x159.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ptpinc.com\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/New_Image.jpg 610w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/>As a baby boomer, she\u2019s had to embrace the technological divide between generations. Let me tell you, giving troubleshooting advice over the phone to a parent really emphasizes the age gap in technology. Many of you can relate I\u2019m sure \u2013 either being on the receiving or instructional end of that phone call. What I thought was a simple question, \u201cwhich smart phone do you want?\u201d turned out to be an experience in the concept of consumer reviews.<\/p>\n<p>After I asked my mom which phone brand she preferred, she responded, \u201cwhich one\u2019s better, the iPhone 6S or Samsung Galaxy S6?\u201d. Like many consumers do before making a purchase, I told her to go online and look at reviews for each phone.<\/p>\n<p>Consumers increasingly buy online and according to e-consultancy, 61% of customers read online reviews prior to making a purchase.<\/p>\n<p>Because consumers have endless access to information from any device, they spend more and more time online. During Christmas time, when buying for friends and family, reviews become even more important as stakes run high when trying to select the perfect gift.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Consumers read reviews to:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Determine what their needs are<\/li>\n<li>Understand the basic features and functions of the product<\/li>\n<li>Compare costs with similar products<\/li>\n<li>See how likeminded consumers feel about a product<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Determine their Needs<\/h3>\n<p>The first bullet alone should catch your attention. Product reviews have the ability to change a consumer\u2019s purchasing behavior. Consumers don\u2019t always know what they want when they look for product reviews; therefore, they look to the community to help them figure it out. Organizations that track consumer behavior online have a much greater understanding of selling attributes to improve upon products. They also gain key insight on marketing messaging that impacts consumer behavior.<\/p>\n<h3>Understand Product Specs<\/h3>\n<p>Of course your webpages and spec sheets on partner sites will highlight the best features of a product, but consumers purchasing a technology gadget will become Sherlock Holmes and will dig deep to get to know the basic functions and parts of the product they\u2019re interested in. For example, when reading reviews for smartphones online, my mother saw the word, \u201cRAM\u201d used in comparisons. Not being the most technologically savvy person, she looked up what RAM is, what it does, and then decided if it was important to her (FYI RAM stands for random access memory and is the memory that stores the data a phone is currently juggling; it\u2019s important because it effects the speed of your phone). If your consumers are digging for information and have to leave your website because you don\u2019t provide deep product insight \u2013 this could be unwanted friction to the customer. Your organization should provide baseline knowledge, so customers can have more trust that a product review is credible.<\/p>\n<h3>Determining How Much to Spend<\/h3>\n<p>It\u2019s important to keep your competitive price monitoring up to date as you can lose sales if you don\u2019t know where you&#8217;re priced in relation to your competitors. According to a study by NPD, 85% of consumers say the price needs to be right before they buy. Today, the cost of a product includes its price, brand and credibility. If you can\u2019t compete with the brand, compete on price.<\/p>\n<h3>Listen to the Community<\/h3>\n<p>The Boston Consulting Group reported that over 50% of B2B customers trust recommendations from friends and peers when making their purchasing decisions. Companies can invest in marketing campaigns, but the most powerful sales driver for many is a recommendation from a Brand Ambassador. The most important value Brand Ambassadors bring is trust, so you can\u2019t \u201chire\u201d real Brand Ambassadors, you must \u201cearn\u201d them and in turn transform your most loyal customers into your volunteer sales force. For example, many athletic brands give free products to consumers if they will take photos and post reviews of them \u2013 it\u2019s great advertising at a low cost. Also \u2013 depending on the review content, likeminded consumers will assess whether the product is worth the price.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Consumer Reviews Come in Many Forms \u2013\u00a0 Track Them All<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>As my mother started her research, she saw that reviews came in many forms \u2013 unboxing videos, written, and the typical 5-star rating system. Each has its own merits.<\/p>\n<h3>Unboxing Videos<\/h3>\n<p>Unboxing videos allow readers to visually see the product live with a genuine feel from the reviewer. Live video has grown popular among the millennial generation and requires technologically savvy reviewers to record and post. The videos can get rather lengthy and detailed as the reviewer plays with the features of the product; however, consumers increasingly use these reviews over others because they get to see the excitement someone else has while enjoying the product. Emotion is a powerful persuader in consumer purchasing decisions. While it\u2019s harder for organizations to automatically extract insight from video footage someone else posts about a product \u2013including easily accessible video footage of consumers engaging with your products on your website is quickly becoming the norm.<\/p>\n<h3>Written Reviews<\/h3>\n<p>Written reviews vary greatly based on the writer and can easily be biased based on the customer service the reviewer experienced. The review can be as curt as a one line curse word or as lengthy as a passionate love letter of how a product has changed a consumer\u2019s life. The written review sums up how the product meets or fails to meet expectations, often citing performance, reliability, quality and defects. This is where your digital monitoring software will prove most helpful as you can monitor, pull reports and respond to consumers to extend customer experience beyond the product purchase.<\/p>\n<h3>Validity in Numbers<\/h3>\n<p>The 5 star rating system, as seen on Yelp and Google, is the simplest type of consumer review. Google is often the first place a customer goes to research reviews. They see it as unbiased and an easy way to access global input. Because of this, organizations pay attention to commentary left on it as a tier 1 digital channel.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why Consumer Reviews are Important<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Consumers complete product research ahead of time in order to identify which reviews are worth listening to. They pay attention to commonalities and are even aware that overly glowing or negative reviews don\u2019t contribute to a complete product picture. Often if they are reading a review, they have already made the decision to buy but need to determine which product suits them. The importance is in the detail.<\/p>\n<p>A local consumer review survey revealed that 85% of consumers say they read up to 10 reviews before feeling satisfied. Whether you already have an ambassador program, digital listening and response software or a website that is optimized to meet even Sherlock Holmes\u2019 needs, consumers will find the information they need to feel comfortable with their purchase. If not from you \u2013 from elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, my mother and I combed through 2 comparative websites, highlighting the features and functions of the iPhone 6S and Samsung Galaxy S6 and read consumer reviews from <em>Forbes<\/em> and <em>The New York Times<\/em>. Ultimately she chose the iPhone 6S, and when I asked her why she went with Apple instead of Samsung she said, \u201cBecause everyone in the family uses iPhones and if I have problems, I can call and ask you for help\u201d.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-50d4691b-3dc0-4632-95ae-424424b6f9b0\" class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\"><span id=\"hs-cta-50d4691b-3dc0-4632-95ae-424424b6f9b0\" class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-50d4691b-3dc0-4632-95ae-424424b6f9b0\"><a id=\"cta_button_1711012_3d5e51be-3886-47ae-9414-abe5e2bdd0ea\" class=\"cta_button btn blue\" title=\"Learn more about Social Listening &amp; Response\" href=\"http:\/\/cta-service-cms2.hubspot.com\/ctas\/v2\/public\/cs\/c\/?cta_guid=3d5e51be-3886-47ae-9414-abe5e2bdd0ea&amp;placement_guid=50d4691b-3dc0-4632-95ae-424424b6f9b0&amp;portal_id=1711012&amp;redirect_url=APefjpHy3hk3ifuDlxGBbZZYUyMol8nidvqFWmwpVubg-zBCd22LkD40EM-YbbCjmBXyVXZsLr3C76uaYNL25SGcAVlNDlYJxSvsQwApMi2jjwaKvEr26opA2Dwv9zmbIPfz10o3H5bmb1pKpai2GDFiuHQ-vb7PqxlWGAXPVOGHVfe2zgTl9ImdAeYzavSKZn6qd87UVbqL2jaB4A72oOfYM0LBbmSPqpepA-bYfMIA_uhvbovsuUEGQN-1mxPEfy-Bt-v7lRa9E8KkG1ZT7aqLgFIJJ6Bm31Oh8yGZYat5Rk9veKwoEQx-ciaTl09wUvC4gB9zO29n&amp;hsutk=d3fff708c1dedb19a4339f17e92fd753&amp;utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.ptpinc.com%2Fwhen-to-trust-customer-reviews&amp;canon=http%3A%2F%2Fwww2.ptpinc.com%2Fwhen-to-trust-customer-reviews\">Learn more about Social Listening &amp; Response<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the past decade my mother watched as my siblings and I learned how to text, take pictures, play games and browse the internet on our cellphones. On her 55th birthday, I gave my mother her very first smartphone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":855,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[50,32,49],"class_list":["post-850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-customer-reviews","tag-retail","tag-voc"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ptpinc.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ptpinc.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ptpinc.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ptpinc.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ptpinc.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ptpinc.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ptpinc.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ptpinc.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ptpinc.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ptpinc.com\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}