People that sell products accepted years ago that customer purchases are heavily influenced by messages they do not directly control. These messages are usually summarized in a simple metric: number of stars and number of reviews.
Say, like me, you decide to buy a new bike lock on Amazon.
G2 Crowd recently launched consulting services reviews. Clutch is focused on software development, part of Highland’s offerings. Sites like Thumbtack combine a transactional platform with reviews for all sorts of specialized services, from vocal coaching to home contractors. The collective effect may be minimal at the moment, but when one or two sites emerge as the go-to location, beware.
Your customers already trust third party opinions more than what you say about yourself. Once a scaled, trusted, third-party consolidation of customer reviews exists, what you say won’t matter anymore.
What movie studios should do is obvious. Instead of blaming the reviews, make the experience great by producing better movies. Then the power of Rotten Tomatoes works in their favor instead of against them.
The same is true for your business. You can’t control your message for much longer. What you can control is a consistently excellent customer experience with your service, product, and organization.
Don’t Wait
The good news is that there are methods and tools to understand your current customer experience and imagine and create exceptional ones. Experienced practitioners — like Highland’s CX team — exist.
As more industries come to terms with the fact that they will lose control of their message, these methods will become common practice. For now, leading companies are using them to create a gap that will expand as Rotten-Tomato-like reviews take over your industry too.
