Finding the Comfort Zone
Brands at the Bazaarvoice social commerce summit in Austin this spring spoke of using online customer reviews in myriad ways, but they all agreed on one thing: Asking the public what they really think can be a scary prospect.
“As a manufacturer, once you stick your toe out from behind the curtain, there’s no place to hide,” says Joe Harlan, executive vice president, consumer and office business, at 3M.
Still, that hasn’t deterred the company from soliciting reviews, even before a product has launched. Before a new item debuts, 3M reaches out to customers who have written reviews in the past, sends them samples, and asks them to try to review the item.
“One year ago a negative comment would have resulted in a lot of internal drama,” says John Travis, vice president of brand marketing at Adobe. “But one of the things we’ve learned is that you’re in a real conversation — it isn’t done once a comment has been posted.”
For example, after a blogger posted some negative feedback about a product, Adobe engaged him in a dialogue. He didn’t exactly turn into a brand advocate, says Travis. “But the tone of the conversation did change.”
L.L. Bean started its product review program in mid 2008, says Steve Fuller, senior vice president and CMO, noting that the prospect of customers posting reviews themselves initially made a lot of folks in the company nervous. Today, the retailer has over 300,000 reviews on file and even uses reviews — such as “I am in love with this doormat. Is it really wrong to love a doormat?” — in email copy.
Every one-or-two star review is sent to the product manager daily for review. Likewise, products that aren’t receiving many reviews are also reviewed, says Fuller, noting that it may be an early sign of an issue with the product description or even the product itself.
Newell Rubbermaid syndicates its product reviews out to other sites like Costco, Lowes, Home Depot and Walmart.
“At the end of the day, Rubbermaid.com is a great site, but it gets a fraction of the people who go to these other sites in droves,” says Bert Dumars, vice president of e-business and interactive marketing. “Consumers go to the retail sites because they expect more reviews to be there, rather than on the brand site.”
